Interview with Dean Mumford: ‘Morning Girl’ is about ‘your morning girl who doesn’t look rough with a hangover!’

‘Morning Girl’ by the band Regency is ‘about ‘your morning girl who doesn’t look rough with a hangover’, according to singer, songwriter and guitarist Dean Mumford, who is also the piano player for The Rifles.

The song, which hit Spotify this week, is ‘an upbeat tune I wrote when I was 16’, Mumford said. ‘It’s not written about a particular girl, just a girl who’s still beautiful in the morning after a night out.’

His lyrics attest to that:

‘Another day flies as my heart gets high,
Another place, in
the face of the modern times,
I never know,
whether to laugh or cry;
As she keeps on shining.

‘If you could stay, so beautiful,
I’d fall in love and never feel the fool,
If you could stay, so beautiful,
I’d fall in love,
With all of my morning girl,
She keeps on shining.
She keeps on shining on, and on, and on.’

Regency also has a number of singles in the pipeline, according to Mumford: ‘We have a string of singles coming out. The first one will be within the next few weeks, including our newly recorded version of Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ featuring rapping by Paul Karova! It’s been newly recorded last week!’

The Rifles have no plans for anything being released at this time but ‘new songs are being written for the next album’, he said.

The music industry continues to be badly hit by the coronavirus as gigs continue to be cancelled across the world. The Rifles had gigs lined up for November, which have been moved to next year, Mumford said. Regency was also due to support Marquis Drive in November – which hasn’t been cancelled yet – but ‘chances are it’ll be moved’, he added.

Impromptu jams have been known to happen, though. ‘I was in the Polar Bear pub in Hull having drinks a while back with Suggs (from Madness) and his mate who had organised the show that night. The band – whose name I don’t remember – invited us up to play, so we did ‘It Must be Love’. I borrowed a 60’s Telecaster from them. I’d never played one before! Suggs signed the wall at the end. I should have done that, too!’

The Rifles has played The Boogaloo in Highgate (London) every December for the last 12 years ‘but it’s small and people are crammed together, so don’t see it happening this year’, Mumford said. ‘We’re just waiting for some kind of return to normality. No-one knows what next year will be like.’