Contents

July Morning (song)

This article is about the Uriah Heep song. For the annual Bulgarian festival, see July Morning.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "July Morning" song – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

"July Morning"
SinglebyUriah Heep
from the album Look at Yourself
B-side	"Love Machine"
Released	June 1972 (Japan) [1] May 1973 (live single) (US) [2]
Genre	Progressive rock[3] hard rock
Length	10:32 (album version) 3:31 (single version)
Label	Bronze (Japan) Mercury (US)
Songwriter(s)	David Byron, Ken Hensley
Producer(s)	Gerry Bron
Uriah Heep singles chronology
"Spider Woman" (1972) "July Morning" (1972) "Stealin'" (1973)

"July Morning" is a song by the English rock band Uriah Heep. It is the third track on their 1971 album Look at Yourself.

The song was written in July 1970 by the band's keyboardist Ken Hensley and lead singer, David Byron.

The song is written in the key of C minor. The song has four verses and four choruses, featuring an organ introduction and a guitar solo. There is a guitar bridge between the first and second parts of the song.^[4]

AllMusic contributor Dave Thompson described the song as the best produced by Uriah Heep, with a "magnificent arrangement and performance",^[5] and in 1995, Radiomafia added "July Morning" to their list of "Top 500 Songs".^[6]

"July Morning" was first released on the Look at Yourself album and as a single in Japan and Venezuela.^[7] The Venezuelan single split the song across both sides of the 7", while the Japanese single featured an edited version of the song, which was later released on the band's greatest hits album Your Turn to Remember in 2016. The live version from Uriah Heep Live was released as a single in the US.^[8] In 2009 the band released a new version of the song on the album Celebration.^[9]

Uriah Heep's manager Gerry Bron thought Manfred Mann not only played an important part in the original studio recording, but also played a crucial role in its development.^[10]

• Soviet group VIA Iveria recorded the song on their 1975 album Iveria.^[11]
• Hideki Saijo西城秀樹(1955~2018), a Japanese singer and an actor performed the song in his solo stadium concert『BIG GAME '80』in Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/BIG_GAME%2780_HIDEKI
• German heavy metal guitarist Axel Rudi Pell recorded this song on his album The Masquerade Ball in 2000.
• OnBBC Radio's Friday Rock Show, Tommy Vance played "July Morning" in tribute of David Byron.
• Every year on 30 June in Bulgaria, people from all over the country travel to the Black Sea coast to watch the sunrise on 1 July. During the event people often sing "July Morning". Until his death in 2021, John Lawton performed the song at these events, backed by the Bulgarian band BTR.
• Polish band Kult covered this song on remastered version of their album Kaseta.

The song has been appeared on many Uriah Heep live, compilation and studio albums and videos.^[5]

• David Byron – lead vocals
• Mick Box – lead guitar, acoustic guitar
• Ken Hensley – keyboards, backing vocals
• Paul Newton – bass guitar
• Ian Clarke – drums
• Manfred Mann – Minimoog synthesizer

• July Morning