"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"
Released8 October 2001
GenreBritpop, alternative rock
Length5:53
LabelIsland
Producer(s)Scott Walker
Pulp singles chronology
"Party Hard"
(1998)
"Sunrise" / "The Trees"
(2001)
"Bad Cover Version"
(2002)

Background

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"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

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"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

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CD one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sunrise"Nick Banks, Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Mark Webber, Peter Mansell5:53
2."The Trees"Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber4:51
3."Sunrise" (Fat Truckers/Scott Free Mix)Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell4:07
CD two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Trees"Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber4:51
2."Sunrise"Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell5:53
3."The Trees" (Felled by I Monster)Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber5:27
12"
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sunrise" (All Seeing I - Middle of the Road Mix)Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber, Mansell6:08
2."The Trees" (Felled by I Monster)Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber5:27
3."The Trees" (Lovejoy the No Jazz Mix)Banks, Cocker, Doyle, Mackey, Webber4:47

References

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  1. ^ a b c Sturdy, Mark (2009). Truth And Beauty: The Story Of Pulp. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-85712-103-5.