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4.00pm
11 August 2018
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Since I am not a native speaker of English, I have always been intrigued by the pronunciation: “Good morning, good morning, good morningAH”.
Why do they do this? Is this for comic effect? Does it sound ridiculously posh or something?
11.59am
14 December 2009
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Might be a little comic poshness there, but I think it’s just done for musical effect – adding that extra syllable just to help emphasize the rhythm of the song.
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6.04am
14 June 2016
Offline Von Bontee said
Might be a little comic poshness there, but I think it’s just done for musical effect – adding that extra syllable just to help emphasize the rhythm of the song.
Agreed. It works better this way.
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7.10pm
8 December 2015
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Has the specific Kellogg’s commercial which put “Good morning, good morning” into Lennon’s head ever been identified?
(It might not even have been a Corn Flakes commercial. “Good morning” is probably associated mostly with Corn Flakes, but it seems there was at least one 1960s Kellogg’s commercial which used “good morning” to push Rice Krispies. In case that link breaks, the description says that it’s ‘[f]rom “The Magic Land of Allakazam” in the early 1960’s.’ and the jingle lyrics are “A Kellogg’s good morning, the best to you each morning”. That’s probably not the one Lennon saw while writing Pepper songs, however, as it’s reportedly early-’60s and probably US- or North America-exclusive. And in the 1980 Rolling Stone interview Lennon does say that it was a Corn Flakes ad, though it’s possible that he misremembered after over a decade.)
In any case, while the Kellogg’s jingle may have given Lennon “good morning, good morning” and set him going I suspect it wasn’t actually the main inspiration Lennon ended up drawing on for this song: I think that was likely something else. [EDIT: updated the YouTube link. For the next time it breaks, the song is
Petula Clark’s “Downtown”, written and produced by Tony Hatch
10.44pm
4 September 2019
Offline leoc said
Has the specific Kellogg’s commercial which put “Good morning, good morning” into Lennon’s head ever been identified?
That’s a great question. It seems obvious, but I’ve never heard of anyone who has thought to ask it before.
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1 May 2011
Offline Pretty sure it’s in the 1987 (or 1992, I think there are differences) ‘Pepper’ documentary.
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6.41pm
8 January 2015
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leoc said
Has the specific Kellogg’s commercial which put “Good morning, good morning” into Lennon’s head ever been identified?In any case, while the Kellogg’s jingle may have given Lennon “good morning, good morning” and set him going I suspect it wasn’t actually the main inspiration Lennon ended up drawing on for this song: I think that was likely something else.
Ever since I first heard the song in my late teens (I was a late Beatles bloomer lol) this question has tugged at my memory, there’s something buried that remembers a connection but I don’t know what it is. I have a neurodiverse ability to store away jingles and musical phrases like musical memes since I was very small in the mid to late 60’s so perhaps I could have heard whatever it is Lennon is winking at (or perhaps not if it was a specific UK wink) and it’s the Good MorningAH that’s the thing, he’s making an allusion to something but what is it?! Maybe it’s something US from one of the tours?
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but I may have to get more specific in the future.
5.37am
26 January 2017
Offline I recall hearing a brief soundbite in something like the anthology or the pepper audio documentary. I think it was accompanied by a video, but I can’t recall exactly what or when it appeared. Sorry I can’t be more specific, but I do think its out there somewhere.
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8.29am
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1 May 2011
Offline To identify the specific commercial would probably mean having to delve into what commercial(s) were playing around the time John wrote the track.
One, with a male voice doing the jingle, is here (as posted in this thread), another, this time a female voice, can be seen in the ‘Pepper’ documentary (here @ 38:12).
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6.26am
7 November 2022
Offline Paul’s style of electric guitar solo on this song reminds me of the story of Steely Dan’s search for the right guitarist to plug in a solo for their song “Peg” (my favorite SD song). They went through 7 guitarists before settling on Jay Graydon. What distinguished him was that he didn’t launch into a normal solo with the usual excellent technical skill like all the others, but rather came in out of left field with a bizarre approach.
Similarly, it’s almost like Paul was thinking the same way. Tasked with filling in a spot with a solo, he didn’t seem to approach it normally, but in a decidedly abnormal way — and somehow it fits perfectly.
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1.15am
7 November 2022
Offline My ear tells me the “brass” in this song is mostly saxophones. Here’s a quote from Joe’s description (quoting Richard Lush, tape operator):
They spent a long time doing the overdub, about three hours or maybe longer, but John Lennon thought it sounded too straight. So we ended up flanging, limiting and compressing it, anything to make it sound unlike brass playing. It was typical John Lennon – he just wanted it to sound weird.
It could be the “flanging” and compression created a more homogenous sound so I can’t pick out the trombone & French horn from the mainly saxophone sound.
Incidentally, Joe’s notes on Savoy Truffle indicate a similar thing. He quotes George Martin’s assistant Chris Thomas, who said:
The session men were playing really well – there’s nothing like a good brass section letting rip – and it sounded fantastic. But having got this really nice sound George turned to Ken Scott and said, ‘Right, I want to distort it.’ So I had to plug-up two high-gain amplifiers which overloaded and deliberately introduced a lot of distortion, completely tearing the sound to pieces and making it dirty.
The musicians came up to the control room to listen to a playback and George said to them, ‘Before you listen I’ve got to apologise for what I’ve done to your beautiful sound. Please forgive me – but it’s the way I want it!’ I don’t think they particularly enjoyed hearing their magnificent sound screwed up quite so much but they realised that this was what George wanted, and that it was their job to provide it.
In this case, the only brass were saxes (6 total).
At any rate, I notice another famous artist seems to have done something similar to his saxophones — Paul Simon, on his song “Paranoia Blues”:
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4.52am
30 August 2021
Offline leoc said
Has the specific Kellogg’s commercial which put “Good morning, good morning” into Lennon’s head ever been identified?
I clearly remember a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes commercial which played in Australia that I’ve always assumed was the inspiration for the song.
What nobody ever seems to mention is that that commercial was itself derived from a song from Singin’ in the Rain (although it was evidently written even earlier.)
Good Morning (1939 song) – Wikipedia
1080p HD “Good Morning” – Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (youtube.com)
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11.05pm
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1 May 2011
Offline At least part of the Kellogg’s advert with “Good morning, good morning” was included in the 1992 ‘Pepper’ TV special, it preceded George M talking about the Beatles song.
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12.41am
14 December 2009
Offline Mr. Moonlight said
leoc said
Has the specific Kellogg’s commercial which put “Good morning, good morning” into Lennon’s head ever been identified?
I clearly remember a Kellogg’s Corn Flakes commercial which played in Australia that I’ve always assumed was the inspiration for the song.
What nobody ever seems to mention is that that commercial was itself derived from a song from Singin’ in the Rain (although it was evidently written even earlier.)
Good Morning (1939 song) – Wikipedia
1080p HD “Good Morning” – Singin’ in the Rain (1952) (youtube.com)
The song has also been used to advertise erectile-dysfunction medication
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11.27am
14 June 2016
Offline The instrumental and changing signature are amazing on this one. I also like how the lyrics show John’s nostalgic side.
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