# The 1971 track with “the greatest opening line to any song ever written”, according to Paul Rodgers

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/the-1971-track-with-the-greatest-opening-line-to-any-song-ever-written-according-to-paul-rodgers/
- Published: 2026-11-11T11:02:37+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-11T11:22:10+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/greatest-opening-line-ever-written-paul-rodgers-1971/
- Topics: Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Paul Rodgers chose “Morning Has Broken” as music’s greatest opening line.
- The lyric originated in a 1931 Christian hymn.
- Yusuf/Cat Stevens adapted it for his 1971 recording.

## Summary

Paul Rodgers named the opening words of “Morning Has Broken” as the greatest first line in any song, saying they evoke the world’s first morning and a sense of wonder. The song is best known through Yusuf/Cat Stevens’s 1971 recording, whose appeal lies partly in how its arrangement and delivery give the words emotional force.

The lyric comes from a Christian hymn written in 1931, which Stevens adapted about 40 years later. Rodgers praised its biblical feel, while the article also frames Stevens’s version as an example of how borrowing and reworking older ideas can help music evolve.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.