This Morning – Egmond

This Morning, the debut single, was also the very first song written by Egmond. The lyrics and melody were written between the years 1997 and 2003, following a sudden urge to put to music the words of a poem he had written for a friend titled “I Miss You Dearly”. The chorus found shape on the beach of Mosselbay, South Africa, during the 1997 December holiday with his family. After school, Egmond focused on writing poetry, but the melody of that chorus was still stuck in his head. In 2000, he spent the better part of a day off from working at a chocolate factory in Kings Lynn, England, to form the verses of the song in his diary. By 2002 he revisited the song while living on a farm outside of Modimolle, South Africa, and decided to put chords to the melody. In May 2003, the first demo version of the song was recorded and shared with friends.

The response was positive, and Egmond was put in touch with producer Bernie Millar in Johannesburg to discuss recording music professionally. During this time, he composed several new songs, and was invited to perform as a guest artist at a local resort outside Modimolle with this new repertoire of songs. This Morning was one of the songs regularly played acoustically. Upon meeting Bernie in May 2003, he presented the songs from his set-list, and This Morning was chosen as the first recording.

The song was recorded in June and July 2003 and completed in the first week of August. Glenda Millar (backing vocals) and Sandy Robbie (guitar), both members of Clout, were also part of the talents lent to the song. The song became a feature at the resort he had been performing at, and to coincide with the release of the CD single, a low budget one-take music video was filmed on site. The video, alongside remixes made by his friend Arnaldo Suarez, was included on the CD single that was available to purchase on Egmond.Co.Za. The single also saw to his first newspaper feature in Die Pos-Koerant in August that year, and he was invited to perform the song at a music talent competition.

This Morning‘s release and reception paved the way for a planned album with the working title Face Of A Star. Over 50 songs were written for the project and it was decided that the next single would be I’m A Flower. The date for the recorded was scheduled for December of that year. The climate in the Afrikaans music industry however brought forth the suggestion that This Morning be recorded in Afrikaans. Lyrics for the new Afrikaans version were completed in October 2003. The recording of I’m A Flower was cancelled and replaced by the aptly titled V’more (also meaning, “this morning”). This Morning was rereleased as a double A-side single with its Afrikaans counterpart in December, but with the focus on recording in Afrikaans, the song was retired. It would only be performed publicly a few times afterwards, with the last recorded time being 2006.

In 2013, a decade after its limited physical release, the single was made available on iTunes and other digital platforms. The digital release was accompanied by ‘n special remake of the original 2003 music video, aptly called the “iTunes Version”, from whence the single’s cover was taken. The song was included on the greatest hits album 1 Dosyn in 2015. In 2017 a remastered version of the original music video was released, launched the day after the Better Days music video premiered in November that year. With the technology finally available to the musician, the original idea of the video being “found security camera footage” of a secret party was revisited and the music video was finally released in wide screen format from its 2003 letterbox version.

This Morning was ultimately included as part of the EP LightsBlinding, a collection of his English-only songs. Shortly after the EP came out, a Christmas-themed version of the song was released with an accompanying music video. In 2020, the “iTunes version” of the music video got new life when it was utilized for the Arnaldo Suarez Remix, which finally had its first digital release on the album Remixed. In 2023, two decades after the song was released, a 20th anniversary edition was made available to commemorate the song’s 20th birthday. The original sleeve of the 2003 single was reused for this release that also included a new single edit, bonus tracks and a new music video of old previously unseen footage.

GET “THIS MORNING” HERE

I see you | smiling back at me | and I wonder if your eyes so blue | really wanna see | That I need you | more and more each day | tell me will I pull this through | speak my mind and say || And I wonder | is this winter gonna stay? | This Christmas for the broken-hearted | is never going away ||| You’re so far away | I miss you dearly | You’re the line around my pain | You lived a lie I turned to rain | This Morning | In my book of days | I wrote sincerely | A promise made in lovers’ lane | “Forever yours” was washed away | This morning ||| I’m calling | but your name falls with the snow | I used to be your morning star | and the sun’s blue afterglow | A disaster | a single tragedy | in a dream behind a door ajar | sadness waits for me || And I wonder | is this sadness gonna stay | This Christmas for the broken-hearted | is never going away || Na na na na na…