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THE PURPLE HEARTS
Early In The Morning (Traditional, arr. Purple Hearts) Australia 1966 #9 Melbourne #13 Brisbane The Purple Hearts emerged in Brisbane 1963-64 and removed briefly to Sydney before becoming a popular live band in Melbourne from 1966. Founding members Mick Hadley and Bob Dames, recent arrivals from the UK, had first-hand experience of the London R&B scene, and the band was strongly influenced by the likes of John Mayall, Graham Bond, the early Rolling Stones and - through them - authentic American blues. Essential to the Purple Hearts' image as an uncompromising R&B band were vocalist Hadley and lead guitarist Barry Lyde, later known as Lobby Loyde. Lobby Loyde, interviewed at Wild About You, says that although he knew Graham Bond's British version of Early In The Morning he was already familiar with the traditional song through his father's collection of records which included prison work songs. The B-side of Early In The Morning was Rosco Gordon's Just A Little Bit. See also Of Hopes And Dreams And Tombstones. References: 1. Ian McFarlane, Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop (1999), pp. 500-501. 2. Purple Hearts history and discography at Milesago. 3. Purple Hearts history at Howlspace. Further reading: 1. Interview with Lobby Loyde at Wild About You (I’d actually heard the original of 'Early In The Morning' – which was kind of like a prison work song — the Graham Bond Organisation had a version... that was sort of off-beat 6/8. And ours sort of fell in the middle between the American and the English versions I guess). 2. Purple Hearts by Mick Hadley at AintGotNoFeelin.com.
CHANTS R&B
Early In The Morning (Traditional) New Zealand 1966 Christchurch band, originally known simply as Chants, resident at Christchurch venue The Stage Door. Late in 1966 the band moved to Melbourne where they broke up a few months later. A notable founding member was Mike Rudd, later with Australian bands Party Machine, Spectrum, Ariel and Mike Rudd & The Heaters. Early In The Morning was recorded in 1966 but appears to have been unreleased until the CD collection Stage Door Witchdoctors in 2000. See also I Feel Good. References: 1. David Johnston, The Music Goes Round My Head, p. 111. 2. Chants R&B page at Bruce Sergent's NZ music site. 3. Stage Door Witchdoctors track listing at Wikipedia. Further reading: 1. ChantsRandB.com 2. Story of Chants R&B in Melbourne at MikeRuddBillPutt.com. See also reminiscences by fans of Chants R&B.
THE GRAHAM BOND ORGANISATION
Early In The Morning (Traditional, arr. Ginger Baker) UK 1965 Influential version On Columbia album The Sound Of '65. This is a vocal version, unlike earlier versions by Graham Bond and Alexis Korner (see below). References: 1. The Sound of '65 album details at Discogs.com. 2. Excerpt from Harry Shapiro’s 1992 biography of Graham Bond at Graeme Pattingale's GBO pages. Further reading: Album review by Chris Welch at Repertoire Records.
THE GRAHAM BOND ORGANISATION
Early In The Morning (Traditional, arr. Ginger Baker) UK 1964 Recorded live at West Hampstead venue Klook's Kleek, October 1964, apparently unreleased at the time but later included on retrospective collections, for example on the Charly reissue label. By now Ginger Baker, arranger of Early In The Morning, was with The Graham Bond Organisation. The song is introduced as one of Ginger Baker's own numbers... based on a prison work song. Ginger Baker later recorded Early In The Morning on the 1970 live album Ginger Baker's Air Force. The songwriter credit for this recording is often shown as W. Harris - B. Darlin (sic), a mix-up with the Woody Harris - Bobby Darin composition recorded by Bobby Darin and by Buddy Holly (see below). Reference: Ginger Baker Discography - LPs - Part 1 at ginger-baker.com. Further reading: Klook's Kleek background and reminiscence at Down the Lane - The Blog.
ALEXIS KORNER'S BLUES INCORPORATED
Early In The Morning (Traditional, arr. Ginger Baker) UK 1964 Influential version On Decca album R&B, August 1964, a collection of tracks by various British rhythm'n'blues bands. I believe this is the track that later appeared as a bonus on the CD reissue of Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated [Amazon The arranger is drummer Ginger Baker who was with Blues Incorporated before joining the Graham Bond Organisation (see above). Later and most famously he would form Cream with Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce. References: 1. R&B album details at Discogs.com. Further reading: Record Reviews at GrahamBond.net.
HARD HAIR, LITTLE RED & TANGLE EYE (PRISONERS AT PARCHMAN FARM)
Early In The Mornin' (Traditional) USA 1947 Original version Prison work song, also known as The Woodpecker and perhaps also as Ro-Berta. Field recording made in 1947 by Alan Lomax (1915-2002) at Mississippi State Penitentiary (Parchman Farm), released on the album Negro Prison Songs in 1959. Lomax's field recordings were well-known and influential in the American and British folk scenes. A number of prison worksongs entitled Early In The Morning have been collected by folklorists, but this one is clearly the source of the song recorded by British r&b bands in the 1960s. Lobby Loyde of Australia's Purple Hearts also knew this traditional song. I am indebted to some well-informed threads at the Mudcat Cafe forum. See especially posts by Barry Finn in 1997 and in 2008 which include lyrics that intersect in several places with the 60s r&b song. Finn refers to the song as a "double axe cutting prison work song". See also this 2009 thread at Mudcat which includes a further post by Barry Finn about other work songs called 'Early In The Morning'. To hear or download Lomax's recording, search an online music store such as Amazon.com or iTunes. There is an audio sample at Rounder Records, for example: link. Be aware, though, that Alan Lomax's recording of 'Early In The Morning' by prisoner Johnny Lee Moore is a different song. It appeared on the album Southern Journey, Vol. 5: Bad Man Ballads (1959: audio here Further reading: 1. Alan Lomax discography and list of field trips at CulturalEquity.com. 2. Wikipedia articles on Lomax and Parchman Farm. 3. External Links at Wikipedia's Alan Lomax article. Audio: NPR tribute to Alan Lomax, 2002.
BUDDY HOLLY
Early In The Morning (Woody Harris - Bobby Darin) 1958 Red herring #32 USA Same title but not the same song as 'Early In The Morning' by The Purple Hearts. First released (for complicated reasons) by Bobby Darin himself as The Ding-Dongs and later as The Rinky Dinks (1958, #24 USA).
References: 1. Session notes for 'Early In The Morning' at BobbyDarin.net. 2. Song history by Arnold Rypens at The Originals. Corrections or comments? Contact the writer. |
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Need it be said that the song title Early In The Morning is a rich source of Red herrings? Too many for me to list, certainly. If you see a recording of Early In The Morning don't assume it's the same as the Purple Hearts' song.