"Light of a Clear Blue Morning" is a song written and recorded by American entertainer Dolly Parton. The song first appeared on her 1977 New Harvest...First Gathering album, and provided a top twenty country music hit for her as a single. As Parton has told interviewers over the years, the song came out of the pain from her break with longtime musical and business partner Porter Wagoner[citation needed]. Parton left Wagoner's band in 1974, in an effort to aim her career in a more mainstream pop direction; Wagoner responded by taking legal action, and the next couple of years were reportedly painful for both performers[citation needed]. According to the unauthorized 1978 biography, Dolly, by Alanna Nash, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" was written as Parton felt the figurative clouds lifting, as the fruits of her sacrifices of the previous few years were becoming apparent.
| "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Dolly Parton | ||||
| from the album New Harvest...First Gathering | ||||
| B-side | "There" | |||
| Released | March 21, 1977 | |||
| Recorded | 1976 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 4:53 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Dolly Parton | |||
| Producer(s) | Dolly Parton | |||
| Dolly Parton singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Light of a Clear Blue Morning" was released as a single from New Harvest...First Gathering in March 1977, the song just missed the top ten on the U.S. country charts, peaking at number 11.
Parton would rerecord the song to include in her 1992 film Straight Talk; for this recording, she changed the lyrics of verse two. A third recording of the song appeared on an album of spirituals Parton released in 2003 titled, For God and Country.
Critical reception
Mark Deming of Allmusic declared that, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning, is a sophisticated piece of adult contemporary songcraft".[1]
Chart performance
| Chart (1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard)[2] | 11 |
| US Billboard Hot 100[3] | 87 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 4 |
Covers and other appearances
Glen Campbell covered the song on his 1991 album Unconditional Love. The Wailin' Jennys covered the song on their 2017 album Fifteen.
Miley Cyrus covered the song on the May 8, 2021 episode of Saturday Night Live as a Mother's Day tribute. Cyrus honored her godmother, Parton, during the tribute along with her own and the cast member's mothers.
Morgan James covered the song in the May 14, 2021 airing of a PBS Special called We Are Family: Songs of Hope and Unity.
References
Further reading
- Nash Alanna, 1978. Dolly. Cooper Square Press, New York. ISBN 0-8154-1242-8
External links
