Sunday Morning (No Doubt song)

"Sunday Morning"

A grass covered background is fronted by a brightly designed No Doubt logo with the title of the song below.

Artwork for most European releases
Single by No Doubt
from the album Tragic Kingdom
A-side
B-side
  • "Different People"
  • "Tragic Kingdom"
Released May 27, 1997
Format
Recorded 1994
Genre
Length 4:31
Label Interscope
Writer(s)
Producer(s) Matthew Wilder
No Doubt singles chronology
"Happy Now?"
(1997)		 "Sunday Morning"
(1997)		 "Hey You!"
(1998)

"Sunday Morning" is a song recorded by American rock band No Doubt. It was released as the sixth single from their third studio album Tragic Kingdom (1995). The single was made available as a CD single, cassette single, and VHS single on May 27, 1997 through Interscope. Lyrically, the song is about Gwen Stefani's relationship with Tony Kanal, and their breakup that followed. The track was written by band members Kanal, Gwen Stefani, and Eric Stefani, while production was handled by Matthew Wilder.

The single was well received by many music critics, with one of them calling it a "standout track". It also performed well commercially, peaking in the top 50 in several countries, including the UK, Canada, and Australia; the song was certified gold in the latter country for sales of over 35,000 copies. Musically, "Sunday Morning" is a ska punk and reggae rock song. A music video for the single was released in 1996 and directed by Sophie Muller; it features the band members preparing a large feast before getting into a food fight.

Background and recording

Recording sessions and meetings for No Doubt's third studio album Tragic Kingdom (1995) began in 1993 between members Eric Stefani, Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont, Adrian Young, and musician Gary Angle.[1] The material produced with Angle was hugely rejected by Interscope Records' officials, and had the members work with producer Matthew Wilder instead.[2] Upset with working with someone outside the band, Eric eventually stopped recording with the band, and encouraged the remaining members to write the group's songs, as he felt threatened when he did so.[3] After Kanal broke off his seven-year relationship with Gwen, both of them wrote several more songs, until there was enough material for an album.[4] The single's inspiration came when Kanal was having a fight with Stefani, his then-girlfriend, through the bathroom door of his parents' house in Yorba Linda, California; Stefani later revamped the lyrics to discuss her breakup with Kanal.[5]

Composition

"Sunday Morning" was written by Kanal, Gwen Stefani, and Eric Stefani, while production was handled by Matthew Wilder.[6] The song is a ska punk and reggae rock song, with one critic comparing it to Motown music.[7] According to Chris Heath of Rolling Stone, the single "erupts delightfully from its opening harmonies into a thumping combination of Motown and pop cheese, is especially spirited"; he later compared it to Kim Wilde's 1981 single "Kids in America".[7] Kenneth Partridge, writing for Billboard, stated that the song allowed Gwen to go "from victim to victor", especially in the lyrics "Thank you, now you're the parasite";[8] in Partridge's The A.V. Club review, he described it as "a straight-up ska track" that "didn't chart as high, but the damage was done".[9]

Critical reception

After its release, "Sunday Morning" received general acclaim from music critics. Kenneth Partridge of Billboard appreciated Gwen "constantly gaining and losing the upper hand in her romantic adventures".[8] Thomas Bleach, writing for his self-titled blog, also enjoyed the track, calling the "infectious chorus, fast pace and cheeky nature of the song appeal[ing]".[10] A critic writing for The Diamondback favored the "defiant" sound of the track,[11] while a reviewer from Punk News titled the song a "gem", but predicted that "on a weaker album, [it] would have made more of a splash."[12] Mike Boehm of the Los Angeles Times cited the song as an "example of the band's improved craft" and claimed that it "help[s] carry the album's thematic current" of "enthusiastic music".[13] Similarly, Nicholas Jones of The Odyssey Online called it a "standout track", due to it being "lyrically clever".[14]

In a poll held by Rolling Stone, Brittany Spanos asked readers to vote on "The 10 Best Gwen Stefani Songs"; "Sunday Morning" took fourth place and its consensus stated "Stefani is a powerhouse on the raucous, bitter single. [...] From the moment Adrian Young's opening drum solo builds up, the song grows more and more massive and searing."[15]

Commercial performance

"Sunday Morning" was moderately successful, with it charting in several countries. In the United States, the song did not enter the Billboard Hot 100, but entered the Mainstream Top 40 component chart, where it peaked at number thirty-five.[16] In Australia, the single peaked at position twenty-one, and lasted on the chart for a total of nineteen weeks;[17] it was later certified gold by the ARIA for sales of over 35,000 copies.[18] In Canada and the New Zealand, it peaked at numbers thirty-three and fifty, respectively.[19][20] In Europe, the track also performed moderately well, with it peaking at number fifty in the United Kingdom and at number fifty-five in Sweden.[21][22]

Music video

An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller and premiered in 1996;[23] Muller was initially asked to produce a video for Tragic Kingdom's lead single "Just a Girl", but nothing came of it.[24] "Sunday Morning" marked Muller's second collaboration with the band, following "Don't Speak". In a 2012 interview with OC Weekly, Muller spoke of the result of the single's music video:

"Of all my videos, I suppose 'Sunday Morning' is the most like them. It's the most honest–where they are all hang out together, that feels very real to me. They all get on and they're very good friends and have very different lives. When I met them some of them were still living with their parents! (Well, some of them.) They hang on to each other in the sense of that when they got huge across the world, there was already a sense of family between them."[24]
The band gets into a food fight in the video.

The video was filmed at Gwen Stefani's grandparents' house in Anaheim, California, in a one-day shoot. Band member Dumont stated that the video "was really normal for us before this weird success", listing their routine of rehearsing in a garage and later having a big dinner and how that was average for them.[25]

Synopsis

The video commences with a scene of the band beginning to perform the song in a house's detached garage. When the first verse starts, Stefani's ex-lover (Terry Hall) walks by the house before sitting down on a swing.[8] Stefani changes her shoes as the song's chorus is played; she walks away from the garage and down a street to a grocery store. At the store, she purchases four cans of tomato sauce, and quickly leaves. Meanwhile, Dumont, Kanal, and Young prepare a large dinner for the band as Stefani reenters the home. Stefani slices tomatoes, Dumont cooks some spaghetti noodles, Kanal cuts up a few onions, and Young sets the table. At the song's bridge, Stefani accidentally cuts herself with a knife and Kanal drops a pot of pasta sauce; both of them promptly clean up their messes as dinner is served. Dumont initiates a food fight, and touring members Gabrial McNair and Stephen Bradley join in. The video ends with the ex-lover sitting alone on the swing.

Track listings and formats

US CD single[26]
  1. "Sunday Morning" (Radio edit) – 4:14
  2. "Sunday Morning" (Album version) – 4:26
US VHS single[27]
  1. "Sunday Morning" (Radio edit) – 4:14
Australian and Swedish CD single[28]
  1. "Sunday Morning" (Radio edit) – 4:14
  2. "Just a Girl" (Live) – 5:37
  3. "Don't Speak" (Live) – 5:26
  4. "Hey You!" (Live) – 3:20
  5. "Get on the Ball" – 3:32
European CD single[29]
  1. "Sunday Morning" – 4:32
  2. "Sunday Morning" (Live) – 9:20
  3. "Oi to the World!" – 2:42
  4. "By the Way" (Live) – 3:54
French CD single[30]
  1. "Sunday Morning" (Radio edit) – 4:14
Philippines cassette single[31]
  1. "Sunday Morning" (Radio edit) – 4:14
  2. "Just a Girl" (Live) – 5:37
  3. "Don't Speak" (Live) – 5:26
  4. "Hey You!" (Live) – 3:20
  5. "Get on the Ball" – 3:32
Spanish CD single[32][33]
  1. "Sunday Morning" – 4:26
UK CD single[34]
  1. "Sunday Morning" – 4:32
  2. "Different People" (Live) – 6:31
  3. "Tragic Kingdom" (Live) – 4:03
  4. "Sunday Morning" (DVD music video) – 4:32

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the Tragic Kingdom liner notes.[6]

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (1997) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[17] 21
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[19] 33
Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[35] 21
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[20] 42
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[36] 41
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[22] 55
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[21] 50
US Mainstream Top 40 (Billboard)[16] 35

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[18] Gold 35,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Country Date Format Label Ref.
United States May 27, 1997
  • Cassette
  • CD
  • VHS
 Interscope [37]

References

  1. ↑ "No Doubt". AllMusic. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "No Doubt". Behind the Music. VH1. April 9, 2000.
  3. ↑ Heath, Chris (May 1, 1997). "Snap! Crackle! Pop!". Rolling Stone. New York (759). ISSN 0035-791X. OCLC 1787396.
  4. ↑ "Gwen Stefani". Born to Be. MuchMusic. March 2000.
  5. ↑ Montoya, Paris and Lanham, Tom. "Sunday Morning". 2003. The Singles 1992–2003 liner notes.
  6. 1 2 Tragic Kingdom (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: 6 0694-92580-2 3). 1995.
  7. 1 2 Heath, Chris (May 1, 1997). "No Doubt: Inside the Tragic Kingdom". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Partridge, Kenneth (October 10, 2015). "No Doubt's 'Tragic Kingdom' at 20: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ Partridge, Kenneth (March 25, 2014). "With Tragic Kingdom, No Doubt gave ska a chance". The A.V. Club. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  10. ↑ Bleach, Thomas (July 23, 2014). "Classic Album Review: No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom". thomasbleach.com. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  11. ↑ dlevy (May 4, 2015). "No Doubt's 'Tragic Kingdom' still creates pop magic after 20 years". The Diamondback. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  12. ↑ nickEp (June 11, 2015). "No Doubt – Tragic Kingdom (1995)". punknews.org. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  13. ↑ Boehm, Mike (November 13, 1995). "Album Reviews : 'Kingdom' Is Band's Best Yet, No Doubt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  14. ↑ Jones, Nicholas. "No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom: Track By Track". The Odyssey Online. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  15. ↑ Spanos, Brittany (March 23, 2016). "Readers' Poll: The 10 Best Gwen Stefani Songs". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  16. 1 2 "No Doubt – Chart history" Billboard Pop Songs for No Doubt. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Australian-charts.com – No Doubt – Sunday Morning". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  18. 1 2 "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1997 Singles". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  19. 1 2 "Top RPM Singles: Issue 3274." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  20. 1 2 "Charts.org.nz – No Doubt – Sunday Morning". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  21. 1 2 "No Doubt: Artist Chart History" Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  22. 1 2 "Swedishcharts.com – No Doubt – Sunday Morning". Singles Top 100. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Videos Directed by Sophie Muller". NDIFC Videography and Video Facts. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  24. 1 2 Bose, Lilledeshan (September 13, 2012). "Sophie Muller on Filming No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom Days". OC Weekly. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  25. ↑ Nostro, Lauren (September 25, 2012). "No Doubt Tells All: The Stories Behind Their Classic Records". Complex. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  26. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: INT5P-6157). 1997.
  27. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records, Geffen Records. 1997.
  28. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: 0 602537 306329). 1997.
  29. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: 606949556624). 1997.
  30. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: MCAF0029). 1997.
  31. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: NC 7306.6). 1997.
  32. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: IND 76064). 1997.
  33. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: M-22366-97). 1997.
  34. ↑ Sunday Morning (Liner notes/ CD booklet). No Doubt. Interscope Records (Barcode: 6 06949 5560 0). 1997.
  35. ↑ "Top RPM Rock/Alternative Tracks: Issue 3251." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  36. ↑ "Archive Chart: 1997-12-14". Scottish Singles Top 40. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
  37. ↑ Jenny (September 27, 2015). "TK20: 'Tragic Kingdom' Singles Ranked". Beacon Street Online. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
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