"Morning Sun" is the third and final official single from British singer-songwriter

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

' eighth studio album, ''

Reality Killed the Video Star ''Reality Killed the Video Star'' is the eighth solo studio album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, released in November 2009. The album was produced by Trevor Horn and recorded between September 2008 and August 2009 in London and L ...

''. It was released on 8 March 2010, and it is the official

charity single A charity record or charity single is a song released by musicians with most or all proceeds raised going to a dedicated foundation or charity. George Harrison's "Bangla Desh" single in 1971 is commonly acknowledged as the first ever purpose-made ...

for Sport Relief 2010. Written around the time of pop star

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's death, the song was originally meant to be a tribute to the late star, co-written by Don Black who wrote Jackson's 1972 song "Ben". However, Williams' later commented that it was more about himself. The song's title could likely be a reference to

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

1970 song, " Can I See You in the Morning?" which references the lyric, "morning sun".

Background and composition

"Morning Sun" was initially penned for Williams by Richard Scott and Scott Ralph, Williams tried to re-write some of the lyrics to fit towards a perspective of his own interpretation. The Death of Michael Jackson helped Williams overcome

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

. According to Chris Heath's 2017 Williams biography, Reveal: Robbie Williams, the song was inspired by an affinity Williams had with Jackson and

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: "

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hit me", Williams stated: "And how close I must have come to being in the same place. And that scared me".

Music video

The music video for the single was directed by Vaughan Arnell and filmed at

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...

. It shows Williams as an astronaut on a mission in the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ( ...

Critical reception

UK website Digital Spy gave the song three stars out of five and commented that: " orning Sunis a bit like something from mid-'90s Britpoppers Electrasy – a straightforward trad-rock song complete with metronomic piano chords, swooning strings and the rest. Two minutes in, it gets close enough to '

I Am the Walrus "I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film ''Magical Mystery Tour''. Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to the single "Hello, Goodbye" a ...

' for

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...

to consider giving his lawyer a bell. Sure, it's the most adventurous release of Williams's career, but it's pleasant to its bones and the lyrics have just enough about them to avoid the trap of self-regarding introspection that marred the likes of ' Strong' and ' Come Undone' in the past."

Promotion

Williams performed the song on 23 January 2010 at the

NRJ Music Awards An NRJ Music Award (commonly abbreviated as an NMA) is an award presented by the French radio station NRJ to honor the best in the French and worldwide music industry. The awards ceremony, created in 2000 by NRJ in partnership with the televisio ...

where he also received two awards for International Male Artist of the Year and the NRJ Award of Honour. "Morning Sun" was performed on 13 February 2010 (Williams' 36th birthday) on the UK TV show ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and ha ...

''. The song was also performed as part of a greatest hits medley at the

2010 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2010 was the 30th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court in London for the last time. The ceremony was broadcast live on ITV on Tuesday 16 February 2010. It wa ...

where Williams won the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Music Award on 16 February. "Morning Sun" was performed by Williams at the 2010

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

Awards in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

on 4 March, where he won the award for Best International Male Artist. He performed the single yet again on appeal night for Sport Relief 2010.

Track listing

;International CD single # "Morning Sun" (radio edit) – 3:50 # "Elastik" – 4:37 ;Digital EP # "Morning Sun" (album version) – 4:03 # "Morning Sun" (Live from '' BBC Electric Proms'') – 3:57 # "Elastik" – 4:37

Chart performance

References

External links

RobbieWilliams.com
– Robbie Williams official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Morning Sun (Song) 2010 singles Charity singles Robbie Williams songs Songs about Michael Jackson Songs written by Robbie Williams Songs with lyrics by Don Black (lyricist) Pop ballads Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Comic Relief singles