The track, written by Martin Carr, is an upbeat guitar-pop song about the change from summer to autumn, contrasting the narrator's optimism ("Wake up, it's a beautiful morning") with his companion's pessimism ("You have to put the death in everything").

After pressure from Creation Records, they re-recorded it at Rockfield Studios, where they were inspired to use a Motown beat after listening to a Style Council b-side.

[4] On the album version of the song, the "Wake up, it's a beautiful morning" refrain is performed as an a cappella round as a prelude to the main track; this is absent from the single edit, which is otherwise identical.

In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton said, "All of a sudden the bunch of Liverpudlians have turned on the magic and released what has to be the best single of the year so far, and then some.

Quite simply it is the perfect piece of exuberent pop, an exquisite pastiche of the Liverpool beat bands that inspired a whole generation before them, complete with Beatlesque harmonies and a melody that could have been lifted from every Monkees record ever made.

"[5] Caitlin Moran from Melody Maker named it Single of the Week, praising it as "the First Pop Moment of 1995, and it's horny and glorious and confident".

With Motown beats, sprightly horns, Mamas and Papas harmonies and a positive — ie, non-depressing — lyric, The Boo Radleys are at one with nature, offering you a near-perfect lump of sugar.

and several moments of ludicrous, swishy choirboy harmonies, before thunderously erupting into a big horn intro and a beaty bounce-along three minutes of pop to sell your auntie for.