"Sunrise" is a song by British rock band Pulp, from their 2001 album We Love Life. It was released as a double-A single with "The Trees" on 8 October 2001 ahead of the album, charting at #23 in the UK Singles Chart. "Sunrise" is also used in the award-winning BBC animated satirical comedy sketch show Monkey Dust.
| "Sunrise" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Pulp | ||||
| from the album We Love Life | ||||
| A-side | "The Trees" | |||
| Released | 8 October 2001 | |||
| Genre | Britpop, alternative rock | |||
| Length | 5:53 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Producer(s) | Scott Walker | |||
| Pulp singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
edit"Sunrise" was one of the first songs written for We Love Life and was debuted at the 2000 Reading Festival.[1] Cocker explained of the song's meaning:
They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn, don't they? ... I always hate it when you've been at an all-night party and then suddenly the sun starts coming up and you think, 'Why didn't I go home an hour ago?' You feel unnatural because every other creature's just waking up and the birds start doing the dawn chorus ... So on a simple level the song's about trying to react to the sunrise in a better way.[1]
Release
edit"Sunrise" was the favorite of the band to be We Love Life's first single, due to its having a "life of its own" and "a real vibe," according to Island Records' Nigel Coxon. In the end, the song was released as a double-A side with "The Trees" at the insistence of the record company. Coxon explained, "'Sunrise' seemed to have a momentum of its own, but no one in the record company... got it. We all thought it was brilliant and it should be a single... but the record company, being very timid possibly, thought, 'Sunrise', six minutes, two-minute outro, no chance."[1] As a compromise, the two songs were released as a double-A side, which meant, according to Coxon, that "that single got slightly diluted". The single reached number 23 in the UK, a relative disappointment for the band.
The Fat Truckers remix of "Sunrise" is notable for removing the instrumentation from the original recording and using loops and quick-cuts of Jarvis Cocker sighing and breathing heavily to replace it.
Track listings
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunrise" | Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Mark Webber, Peter Mansell | 5:53 |
| 2. | "The Trees" | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber | 4:51 |
| 3. | "Sunrise" (Fat Truckers/Scott Free Mix) | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell | 4:07 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Trees" | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber | 4:51 |
| 2. | "Sunrise" | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell | 5:53 |
| 3. | "The Trees" (Felled by I Monster) | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber | 5:27 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sunrise" (All Seeing I - Middle of the Road Mix) | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell | 6:08 |
| 2. | "The Trees" (Felled by I Monster) | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber | 5:27 |
| 3. | "The Trees" (Lovejoy the No Jazz Mix) | Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber | 4:47 |
References
edit- ^ a b c Sturdy, Mark (2009). Truth And Beauty: The Story Of Pulp. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-103-5.
- "Sunrise/The Trees" at Discogs (list of releases)