Lyrics:

The Song:

"Sunday Morning" is the opening track from Velvet Underground's stunning debut album, Velvet Underground + Nico. Beck took to playing the song live during 2002 and some of 2003.

Then, in April 2009, Beck started his Record Club. The first album they covered was VU + Nico, and so "Sunday Morning" was the first Record Club song to be released (it's the first song on the album). "Sunday Sun" was then pressed on to a limited single, and included as a bonus with a One Foot In The Grave Deluxe vinyl package. (So far, this is the only Record Club track to get an actual product release.)

The recording was made with Nigel Godrich, Chris Holmes, Giovanni Ribisi, Icelandic singer Þórunn Magnúsdóttir, and some of Beck's touring band (Brian Lebarton, Joey Waronker and Bram Inscore). They play a fairly faithful interpretation of the song. All the keyboards add a nice touch, while Beck and Þórunn sound cool together.

The song meanwhile also continues to show up on the rare occasion in Beck's setlists on stage.

Live:

Played live 28 times:
Earliest known live version: February 22, 2002
Latest known live version: July 6, 2013

EARLY 2002: IT'S NOTHING AT ALL BAND VERSION

Beck covered this song for the first couple of times in February 2002. Once, he did it as a power trio with Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Jon Brion. The other time, he played it with his fuller band. I have not heard either of these first two performances.

AUGUST 2002: ALWAYS SOMEONE AROUND YOU PIANO DUET VERSION

Beck's next tour, in August 2002, Beck played "Sunday Morning" at eleven of his twenty shows. Beck tended to sing the song much slower than VU's original. It's much more haunting and drawn-out. It is really quite pretty, and was a popular cover choice. Usually Beck played it near the end of the show, which is an excellent place for it. Beck always played piano and sang on the song. At one show, Smokey added keyboards; at a couple of shows, Smokey didn't join in at all; and at the other 7, he added acoustic guitar and maybe backing vocals.

2002 and 2003: BRING THE DAWN BAND VERSION

The last version on August 30 in Los Angeles had Beck's old Odelay band join him for much of the show. So their version of "Sunday Morning" which closed the show had drums and bass and keyboards. They handle it with a delicate, light touch. Terrific version of the song.

Beck then played the song only twice with the Flaming Lips backing him on it.

The best band version of the song might be on March 31 2003. It is very similar to the August 30 one (and had much the same band members), but with a little more energy.

FALL 2002: RESTLESS FEELING ROBOT VERSION

A couple of "Sunday Morning"s showed up during the solo portion of his shows with the Flaming Lips. On October 17 and 18, Beck used his vocoder robot vocal effect to sing it acapella (perhaps there is synth in there too?). On both nights, Beck just did a short take of the song this way. It sounds really cool!

SPRING 2003: WORLD'S BEHIND YOU SOLO VERSION

Beck played "Sunday Morning" five times during his eleven solo Europe shows in April 2003. I'll assume Beck performed it on piano, as usual.

2007-2008 EARLY DAWNING VERSION

"Sunday Morning" showed up at a couple special shows in this time: once in Japan (where he often experiments with setlists) and once at a radio show in Chicago (with MGMT joining his band).

2013 BY MY SIDE VERSION

In summer 2013, Beck played a couple super minimal shows. At the show in Paris, Nicolas Godin from Air joined Beck on stage and they did "Sunday Morning" as a two-man band (NG played piano). A week later in Cambridge, England, Beck played it again but this time with a pianist and bassist (Vincent Taurelle & Rory McCarthy were his band for the show).

Notes: