One Too Many Mornings ranks among my favourite Dylan songs, recorded in 1963 and first appearing on his 1964 album ‘The Times They Are a-Changin’. It was also one of a number of duets he would later record with Johnny Cash in Nashville (1969).
The song is often cited as one of Dylan’s most melancholy which finds the newly famous 22-year-old folksinger walking home through Greenwich Village in the early hours, as it finally dawns on him that a relationship is over.
Jason Mcniff recently released a double A-side single featuring a cover of the song backed with “Tom”, a track from his new album Dust of Yesterday which was reviewed by David Pratt here who concludes:
“Having successfully mined his personal experiences, Jason McNiff has delivered another work of truly great merit. Dust Of Yesterday is a well-crafted and beautifully performed album and provides a compelling argument for the artist to gain even wider recognition.”
While maintaining a strong Dylan influence on his cover of One Too Many Mornings, McNiff re-imagines the song being recorded little later with an ensemble of musicians that would have crowded into Studio A of Columbia Records, 799 Seventh Avenue, New York City for the recording of Like a Rolling Stone in 1965 (from Highway 61 Revisited). There’s even an Al Kooper-like Hammond organ, the effect is quite dramatic, lightening the load – a feeling of acceptance rather than regret. McNiff called on producer Roger Askew (Christy Moore, Joe Strummer, Wilko Johnson) for his reimagining – you couldn’t really ask for better results.
McNiff tells us: “One Too Many Mornings is the first track from a covers album that I’m currently in the process of making, which will be coming at the end of this year/early 22. I love pretty much everything Dylan ever did and does, but this one is a bit special for me as it comes from the first record I ever bought with my own money. It takes me right back to being 17 when, surrounded by Guns n Roses and Pearl Jam and other stuff I’d been pretending to like, I came across the power of one voice and an acoustic guitar.”
The single is available on streaming services now.
Website: https://www.jasonmcniff.com/