Some Velvet Morning

"Some Velvet Morning" is a psychedelic pop song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' with Nancy. The song has been covered many times since, almost always as a duet. Although "Some Velvet Morning" is one of the more famous duets Hazlewood and Sinatra recorded together, it is considered a departure from their usual fare, as it is decidedly less influenced by country & western music. The single peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1968.

The version of the song now available on the albums Movin' With Nancy and Lightning Girl comes from a TV special. The older version available at the time as a single and played on radio was different from the TV version. It was longer, and included one verse that went, in part, "Some velvet morning when I rise, / I'm gonna open up your eyes."

As with many psychedelic songs, its overall meaning is somewhat obscure. The lyrics consist of the male part describing a mysterious, powerful woman named Phaedra, who educated the speaker in the ways of love. The male part alternates with the female part, who identifies herself as Phaedra and speaks over ethereal, twinkling music about beautiful nature imagery — "flowers growing on a hill / dragonflies and daffodils" — and about the secrets held by an unknown collective "we."

A possible explanation for the song is that the alternating male and female parts represent the differences between men and women, especially in regards to sex. The implication is that women know more of this subject and men must learn to respect women in order to understand this knowledge. However, another view posits that the male and female parts represent humanity and nature, respectively. The female parts are evocative of a supernatural setting, perhaps one might associate with the nymphs of Greek mythology. This interpretation seems especially valid, as Phaedra is a character from Greek lore, who, upon being scorned by her lover Hippolytus, commits suicide. Thus, the song may be imploring men to respect the women they love, lest they end up like the classical Phaedra.

The song was featured in the 1967 TV special: Movin' With Nancy, starring Nancy Sinatra, released to home video in 2000.

Selective list of recorded versions

• 1968 Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood, US #26
• 1968 Gabor Szabo - guitar instrumental on Bacchanal
• 1969 Vanilla Fudge on Near the Beginning
• 1982 Lydia Lunch and Rowland S. Howard, 12" single later issued on Honeymoon In Red
• 1986 Peter Zaremba's Love Delegation on Spread the Word
• 1990 Eedie & Eddie and the Reggaebots programmed by Peter S Langston; featured in Computing Systems Quarterly Vol. 3 No. 2
• 1992 Starpower ex-Primitives spinoff band (probably the most psychedelic version recorded)
• 1993 Slowdive on Souvlaki
• 1995 Thin White Rope on Spoor
• 2001 My Dying Bride on Peaceville X & Meisterwerk 2
• 2002 Primal Scream and Kate Moss on Evil Heat. A different version was released as a single in 2003 and included on Primal Scream's compilation Dirty Hits
• 2002 The Webb Brothers on the Lee Hazlewood tribute album, Total Lee!
• 2002 Entombed on Sons Of Satan Praise The Lord
• 2004 Firewater on Songs We Should Have Written
• 2007 Lee Hazlewood & Phaedra Dawn Stewart (his granddaughter) on Cake or Death

Other notes

• The song is featured briefly in the Internet cult video A Charlie Brown Kwanzaa.
• In November 2003 music critics working for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph put the single at the top of a list of the 50 best ever recorded duets.
• A London based indie band has named themselves after the song.
• The older, more complete version of the song is featured in Lynne Ramsay’s film Morvern Callar
• The song has been played as bumper music many times when Art Bell hosts the weekend version of the radio show Coast to Coast AM.

External links

• "Some Velvet Morning" named best song ever by Cult Cargo