Morning Dew

For other uses, see Morning dew (disambiguation).

"Morning Dew"
Song

"Morning Dew", also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew", is a post-apocalyptic folk rock song written by Canadian folk singer Bonnie Dobson and made famous by the Grateful Dead.

The song is a dialogue between the last man and woman left alive following an apocalyptic catastrophe: Dobson has stated that the initial inspiration for "Morning Dew" was the film On the Beach which is focused on the survivors of virtual global annihilation by nuclear holocaust. The actual writing of the song occurred in 1961 while Dobson was staying with a friend in Los Angeles: Dobson would recall how the guests at her friend's apartment were speculating about a nuclear war's aftermath and "after everyone went to bed, I sat up and suddenly I just started writing this song [although] I had never written [a song] in my life". Dobson premiered "Morning Dew" in her set at the inaugural Mariposa Folk Festival that year with the song's first recorded version being on Dobson's At Folk City live album in 1962. Dobson would not record a studio version of the song until 1969, that being for her Bonnie Dobson album.

"Morning Dew" was not published until 1964 when Jac Holzman of Elektra Records contacted Dobson with an offer to sign her as a songwriter as Elektra artist Fred Neil had heard "Morning Dew" and wished to record it. The first studio recording of "Morning Dew" appeared on the 1964 album Tear Down The Walls by Fred Neil and Vince Martin. It was this version which introduced the song to Tim Rose who in 1966 recorded "Morning Dew" for his self-titled debut album after soliciting permission to revise the song with a resultant co-writing credit. Dobson agreed without having any intended revision specified and was subsequently much discomforted to learn that the changes were minimal. As of the February 1967 release of the Tim Rose single version of "Morning Dew" the standard songwriting credit for the song has been Bonnie Dobson and Tim Rose: Dobson, who in 1998 averred she'd never met Rose (d. 2002), has stated that she's received 75% songwriting royalty as she retains sole writing credit for the song's music.

"Morning Dew" became a signature song of the Grateful Dead whose frontman Jerry Garcia was introduced to the Fred Neil recording by roadie Laird Grant in 1966. The Grateful Dead introduced "Morning Dew" into their repertoire as their opening number at the Human Be-In in January 1967: that same month the group recorded their self-titled debut album featuring "Morning Dew" and released that March.

In 1968 "Morning Dew" became a Top 20 single in Ireland via a recording by Sugar Shack which reached #17 that February: a UK release of the single was planned but cancelled. In the summer of 1968 Lulu charted in the US with her version of "Morning Dew" taken from her 1967 album Lulu Sings 'To Sir With Love: the track was ranked as high as #8 at key Top 40 station 93 KHJ in LA but typically was afforded moderate ranking on lesser market hit parades with an achieved national peak of #52. In Australia "Morning Dew" charted with a #59 peak. In 1969 Lulu's version of "Morning Dew" later served as the B-side of her Spanish language recording of "Boom Bang-a-Bang" with the former being subtitled "Rocío De La Mañana" although it was Lulu's original English language recording of "Morning Dew" and not a translation.

Jeff Beck also covered Morning Dew in his 1968 debut album Truth

Another version is by Allison Durbin (dubbed "Australia's Queen of Pop" in the 1960s) on her 1968 album I Have Loved Me a Man.

External links

• The Story of Bonnie Dobson's Morning Dew (CBC hour-long radio documentary Inside the Music)
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics