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One Sunday Morning (Song For Jane Smiley's Boyfriend)


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Or - it could be told from the point of view of a completely made-up character that was created by Tweedy, a character inspired at least in part by that real-life conversation he had with the boyfriend of the song's title.

This is how making stuff works.

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i hope so too, but i think it will be a jeff solo staple for sure.

 

Agree, kind of a sunken treasure for the new decade. Really starting to love this song. Makes 12 minutes fly. Am hoping the vinyl version turns out to be longer like I have heard in other interviews.

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After listening to the 9/20 show, I am now sure I do not want to hear One Sunday Morning live. The whooping of the various douchebags in the audience are absolutely horrible.

 

This is one song that deserves to be delivered and heard with absolute silence from the audience. The only thing I can think of that would more inappropriate is some hippy chick doing the rolling dance in the aisles.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Now that I've had a couple weeks to fully absorb the impact of The Whole Love, I'm ready to "wax poetic" over it. (Hope you're reading this, Crow Daddy Magnus). While I love most of the songs on the record (still lukewarm to Open Mind, but even Capitol City has grown on me), for me the real standout is One Sunday Morning.

 

This song is a miracle. It creates its own universe. When I wander into it, everything else fades. It feels like going to a matinee movie, one you get totally absorbed in, and then leaves you blinking in the bright light wondering how it's possible that outside the theater is just an ordinary afternoon. One Sunday Morning is like that for me. I'm finding myself listening to it only once in a while, so I can savor its effect and keep it from becoming less magical.

 

The melancholy tone of the lyrics wants to weigh you down, but the light touch of the skipping melody, the bells and the shuffle beat (right term?) of the drums keep it from leaving you in a devastated heap on the floor. The contrast of the dark lyrics and light music add to the song's impact. Your heart gets pulled in two directions at once, you feel the narrator's loss and redemption, and at the end of the shortest 12 minutes you might live all day, you shake your head and ask, what the fuck just happened?

 

It bears repeating -- One Sunday Morning is a miracle.

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How random is this...

We're redoing the backyard, so my mother-in-law brought over some magazines for us to get some ideas from for landscaping options. One of the magazines (from 2008) was Sunset Magazine. This of course made me chuckle, the irony of her unknowingly bringing me a magazine with a latent Wilco connection on the same weekend I just got the new album. So I pick it up and what's on the first page I randomly open to? An article about Jane Smiley going on vacation... with her boyfriend.

Weird.

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Now that I've had a couple weeks to fully absorb the impact of The Whole Love, I'm ready to "wax poetic" over it. (Hope you're reading this, Crow Daddy Magnus). While I love most of the songs on the record (still lukewarm to Open Mind, but even Capitol City has grown on me), for me the real standout is One Sunday Morning.

 

This song is a miracle. It creates its own universe. When I wander into it, everything else fades. It feels like going to a matinee movie, one you get totally absorbed in, and then leaves you blinking in the bright light wondering how it's possible that outside the theater is just an ordinary afternoon. One Sunday Morning is like that for me. I'm finding myself listening to it only once in a while, so I can savor its effect and keep it from becoming less magical.

 

The melancholy tone of the lyrics wants to weigh you down, but the light touch of the skipping melody, the bells and the shuffle beat (right term?) of the drums keep it from leaving you in a devastated heap on the floor. The contrast of the dark lyrics and light music add to the song's impact. Your heart gets pulled in two directions at once, you feel the narrator's loss and redemption, and at the end of the shortest 12 minutes you might live all day, you shake your head and ask, what the fuck just happened?

 

It bears repeating -- One Sunday Morning is a miracle.

This is such a great example of why I'm addicted to this board. I love how you expressed (so much better than I could) what's so magical and delicate about this song. I also love the way his voice goes in the line where he says "something sad keeps moving, so-o-o-o I-I-I. . .wandered around." That's one of my favorite vocal parts from the song. I noticed when he's sung it live recently sometimes he draws it out like on the record and other times he doesn't.

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  • 10 months later...

I'm not really surprised, but a little disappointed that One Sunday Morning has all but disappeared from the setlists.

 

While this is a truly wonderful song and was one of the highlights of the show I can see how it doesn't work in a live setting. When played with Poor Places and Art of Almost, it is dramatic and offers a definite emotional statement of purpose.

 

Set opener or encore showcase, it seems to simply be too emotional and quiet to really work without certain contextural accomodations.

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If they could cut it to three minutes and stick it in the middle of two other songs as you mentioned I could deal with it being played in concert. It is way too long and takes up too much concert time for my taste for a song that is so repetitive and kind of boring after that three minute mark. I know people love it but I don't really get the same thrill on this one.

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Agreed Crow .. both times I have heard it live were highlights for me

 

 

I'm not really surprised, but a little disappointed that One Sunday Morning has all but disappeared from the setlists.

 

While this is a truly wonderful song and was one of the highlights of the show I can see how it doesn't work in a live setting. When played with Poor Places and Art of Almost, it is dramatic and offers a definite emotional statement of purpose.

 

Set opener or encore showcase, it seems to simply be too emotional and quiet to really work without certain contextural accomodations.

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I haven't closely followed the setlists at end of summer, but they opened with it at MassMoCA, how many shows after that did they not play it? I love the song, but commented at the time I didn't think it was a great opener. I was right u

P front, just seemed to me like it's a difficult song to play. But of course I have no idea.

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+1 for more Sunday Morning! It's one of those songs that even though it is long it doesn't feel long or tiring to me. Impossible Germany on the other hand, I could do with less noodling.

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I saw three shows this leg of the tour, and was surprised to not see it even once. However, they played it all three of the shows i saw in 2011, but still love seeing it. It might not be the best wilco song live, but it's certainly one of the best songs Tweedy's written in the last 10 years.

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I would love to see it played live once, but that would be it.

 

Sort of like when they opened with Sunken Treasure three out of the four times I saw them in recent years. I love the song and everything, but after the 3rd time in a row I was like "really?".

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It wouldn't be anywhere near as good if it were a lot shorter.  The length and repetition are crucial to the song's impact, in my opinion.

 

I agree.

 

The one time I heard it live was when they moved it from later in setlists to be the first song (late last year). The placement change was a good idea--the audience was attentive early in the show. Beautiful song to hear live, although I can see why it doesn't work so well live long-term, for reasons given above.

 

On the album, though, it pulls me in most every time. I'll finish up The Whole Love and think, I'm not in the mood for something somber. However, if I don't stop the CD before those guitars kick on for OSM, I'm pulled into the musical flow and the story in the song. 

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