Morning Has Broken

Music piece by:
Cat Stevens, based on a traditional Gaelic hymn; lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon
Testimony by:
Luis Cifuentes Seves
Experience in:
Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, September - November 1973

At the time of the coup in 1973, this song was world-famous and frequently played on the radio.

As transistor radios were quite small, many people were arrested with one of these in their pockets, and a significant number were not searched and confiscated by the military. This explains why, when we were in the National Stadium, we were able to listen to them, keep track of the news and listen to music.

I was particularly fond of this song and I still am. While I was a political prisoner in the Stadium, I was able to listen to it on more than one occasion on radios people lent me.

I must say it brought me brief moments of peace and pleasure among all the horror, at a time when torture and murder were a daily occurrence.

This and other songs became little oases of sanity in the midst of the criminal madness that ruled over us.


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Published on: 25 April 2015

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day.

Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.

Related testimonies:

  • Run Run Went up North (Run Run se fue pa'l norte)  Ernesto Parra Navarrete, Campamento de Prisioneros, Estadio Nacional, 9 November 1973

    Run Run... On the big pitch, mild summer weather was in the air.

  • Zamba so as Not to Die (Zamba para no morir)  Ana María Jiménez, Villa Grimaldi, April 1975

    I want to recall a night at Villa Grimaldi.

  • Lucky Devil (El suertúo)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974

    This cueca was composed at Chacabuco sometime between November 1973 and February 1974 and was sung by Los de Chacabuco, of which Víctor Canto and I were members.

  • A Cocky Fellow (El puntúo)  Luis Cifuentes Seves, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, November 1973 - February 1974

    This cueca was composed in Chacabuco between November 1973 and February 1974, and was sung by the band Los de Chacabuco, to which Víctor Canto and I belonged.

  • The Crux of the Matter (La madre del cordero)  Servando Becerra Poblete, Campamento de Prisioneros Chacabuco, 9 November 1973 - 10 November 1974

    I recited this poem in the National Stadium. I continued to do so in the Chacabuco prison camp, earning the nickname of “Venancio” from my fellow prisoners.

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