About The Song
“Morning Desire” is a mid-1980s country-pop single recorded by Kenny Rogers and written by American singer-songwriter Dave Loggins. It was released in late 1985 as a single from Rogers’ album The Heart of the Matter, issued on RCA. The track runs just under four minutes and arrived at a time when Rogers was firmly established as a crossover star, regularly placing songs on both the U.S. country charts and adult-contemporary radio playlists.
The parent album The Heart of the Matter was released in 1985 and produced by George Martin, best known for his long association with the Beatles. The project continued Rogers’ early-1980s pattern of working with high-profile producers and Los Angeles/Nashville session players, giving his records a polished sound that could sit comfortably beside mainstream pop as well as contemporary country. Within the album’s sequence, “Morning Desire” is positioned as one of the key ballads, balancing more uptempo tracks and contributing to the record’s overall romantic tone.
As a single, “Morning Desire” performed very strongly on country radio. In the United States it reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, adding another country chart-topper to Rogers’ already long list. It spent several months on the country chart and also made a respectable showing on adult-contemporary playlists, reflecting his continued appeal with listeners who followed softer pop as well as country. In Canada the record likewise charted on national country listings, helping to keep his mid-1980s run of hits going across North America.
The lyric deals with a mixture of physical attraction and emotional dependence at the start of the day. The narrator wakes up before dawn and admits that his first thoughts are of the person lying beside him. Lines describe how that presence gives him the strength to face the rest of the day and how much he wants to stay in that moment rather than rush out to work and obligations. Instead of a detailed storyline with specific events, the text focuses on the mood of early-morning intimacy and on the sense that this relationship has become the central anchor in his life.
Musically, “Morning Desire” is built as a smooth, mid-tempo ballad aimed at both country and adult-contemporary audiences. The arrangement uses electric piano and keyboards for the main harmonic bed, supported by bass, drums and clean electric-guitar figures. Subtle string or synth-pad textures appear in the choruses, and there are melodic instrumental lines that give the track a soft-rock feel. There is less emphasis on traditional country instruments such as fiddle or steel guitar; instead, the production leans toward the polished 1980s sound that characterised much of Rogers’ work in this period, while his slightly rough, conversational vocal keeps the song grounded.
Dave Loggins’ songwriting provides a compact structure with clear verses and a memorable chorus hook, making the song easy for radio programmers to schedule and for listeners to remember. Loggins was already known in both pop and country circles for songs that combined direct, everyday language with strong melodies, and “Morning Desire” fits neatly into that pattern. For Rogers, recording one of Loggins’ compositions added another link to the group of writer-performers who were shaping mainstream country-pop in the mid-1980s.
Within Kenny Rogers’ broader catalogue, “Morning Desire” is often grouped with other romantic ballads from the period, such as “Crazy” and tracks from We’ve Got Tonight and What About Me?. It appears on later compilations and love-song collections that focus on his work from the early- to mid-1980s and is regularly included in playlists that highlight his country No. 1s. For listeners exploring this era, the track offers a clear example of how Rogers combined adult themes, accessible melodies and crossover production to maintain his place on country radio while appealing to a wider pop audience.
Video
Lyric
Here it is seven in the a.m.
It’s gonna take more then wakin’ to rise me
I wake up with this need again
But feel the love of the woman beside me
It’s just one of those days
When I wanna lay here with her
And love her before I leave
And listen to the rain fall on the roof
And the thunder sounds like horses hooves
Oh, I listen to her breathe
And it makes me wanna wake her up
And tell her that I’m on fire
With morning desire
It looks like I’m gonna be late again
And I gonna give up and get movin’ and I’m tryin’
But the longer I keep stalling
The more I think about callin’ in and lying
It’s just one of those days
When I wanna stay here with her
And watch her while she sleeps
And listen to the rain fall on the roof
And the thunder sounds like horses hooves
Oh, I listen to her breathe
And it makes me wanna wake her up
And tell her that I’m on fire
With morning desire
Well, I love to hear the rain fallin’ on the roof
And the thunder sounds like horses hooves
Oh, I listen to her breathe
And it makes me wanna wake her up
And tell her that I’m on fire
With morning desire, with morning desire
Listen to the rain
Listen to the rain
Listen to the rain
…