Light of a Clear Blue Morning

"Light of a Clear Blue Morning" is a song written and recorded by American entertainer Dolly Parton. The song first appeared on her 1977 New Harvest...First Gathering album, and provided a top twenty country music hit for her as a single. As Parton has told interviewers over the years, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" was her "song of deliverance," coming out of the pain from her break with longtime musical and business partner Porter Wagoner.^[1] Parton left Wagoner's band in 1974, to aim her career in a more mainstream pop direction; Wagoner responded by taking legal action, and the next couple of years were reportedly painful for both performers^{[citation needed]}. According to the unauthorized 1978 biography, Dolly, by Alanna Nash, "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" was written as Parton felt the figurative clouds lifting, as the fruits of her sacrifices of the previous few years were becoming apparent.

Parton has recorded "Light of a Clear Blue Morning" three times. It was released as a single in March 1977 from the album New Harvest...First Gathering. The song just missed the top ten on the U.S. country charts, peaking at number 11. Parton rerecorded the song to include in her 1992 film Straight Talk; for this recording, she changed the lyrics of verse two. A third recording of the song appeared on an album of patriotic and religious songs Parton released in 2003 titled, For God and Country.