/>I was saddened to hear of the passing of Mark Sandman in 1999, thereby bringing to a close the band Morphine. I won't pretend to be a fan of their jazz-rock sound – no guitars but a wailing saxophone – but I know they were unique to my undergraduate station and, more so, to the host of What's New Wednesday (WNW).
Starting in 1996 the station began a series of one-hour specialty programs during the last hour of the broadcast day (11pm). The first program we developed was by far the best, aiming to break out of our usual playlist milieu and venture through tracks not in rotation and often breaking the mildly strict format borders. The program director at the time, a guy named John Fletcher (Syd "the Kid's" successor), hosted the program the first year and really put a lot of time and effort into the music – trying to DJ out of the box, if you will. One could say WNW was an attempt at bringing back the sounds of the Pit (see Kill the Crow), underground artists that had not over saturated our station or made a dent in commercial radio. John would essentially pull two or three recent preview discs, or any recently received albums, and listen to a few cuts to discover what was out there. I mean, really out there.
One week in the spring of 1997, a package from Dreamworks brought us Like Swimming, Morphine's major label debut, featuring the track Early to Bed. Morphine had actually formed seven years prior in Massachusetts and by this time featured Sandman, sax man Dana Colley and multi-percussionist Billy Conway. I tend to think there were a few other cuts that we played but I'm reminded that Early to Bed often made an appearance at the end of the broadcast day with John playing it as a midnight lullaby to our listeners.
If there was a problem with WNW it was that once John graduated, the music he had accumulated was not immediately entered into regular rotation. It floated around the office for a few months, until we updated our computer playlist software. Of course, John was long gone and each subsequent host put less effort than the predecessor into planning What's New Wednesday and soon the program faded into memory within a few long semesters. More so, by this time Morphine had disbanded with Sandman's exit, off to never-never land.
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Early to Bed
(Mark Sandman)
Morphine
From the album Like Swimming
1997
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
One drink call it a early night
Soon you're curled up beneath the reading light
Or you bathe in the TV's blue tint
On your pillow an after-dinner mint
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed so you can wait
For three buses a trolley and a train
I think it's worth it for you to stay awake
Maybe tomorrow you'll be a little late
But early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man or woman miss out on the night life
You'll miss out on the night life (x2)
