Sir George Ivan Morrison OBE (born 31 August 1945) singer-songwriter

Van Morrison

Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (Belfast, 31 agosto 1945) è un cantautore, polistrumentista e paroliere nordirlandese.
Suona diversi strumenti tra i quali chitarra, armonica a bocca, tastiere, sassofono e occasionalmente anche la batteria.
Dopo gli esordi blues rock con i Them, Morrison intraprese una carriera solista in bilico tra la passione giovanile per la musica nera, una forte vena creativa (che lo ha portato a sconfinare spesso in territori jazz) e uno stretto legame con la musica tradizionale della sua terra d'origine. A rendere unico il suo stile contribuiscono la sua caratteristica vocalità e una intensa poetica che abbraccia musica e parole in modo altamente espressivo.
La rivista Rolling Stone lo classifica quarantaduesimo nella sua lista dei cento migliori artisti di sempre nonché ventiquattresimo in quella dei cento migliori cantanti. Le sue esibizioni dal vivo, al suo meglio, sono state definite come mistiche e trascendenti. Due suoi album, Astral Weeks e Moondance, compaiono nella lista dei 500 migliori album di sempre, ancora secondo Rolling Stone.

Biografia

Cresciuto in una famiglia protestante di Belfast, Morrison ascolta molta musica sin dalla più tenera età: sua madre era una cantante mentre il padre era collezionista di album statunitensi di jazz e blues.
I loro artisti preferiti erano Ray Charles, Leadbelly e Solomon Burke; nel 2005, in un'intervista concessa a Rolling Stone, Morrison afferma che «Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now» ("Quegli artisti hanno ispirato i miei inizi. Se non fosse stato per quel genere di musica, oggi non farei quello che sto facendo").

Anni sessanta

Morrison va via di casa a 15 anni per intraprendere la sua carriera musicale. Suona in diversi locali con complessi skiffle e rock and roll prima di entrare a far parte del gruppo dei Monarchs, con i quali partecipa ad una tournée in Europa.
Nel 1964 fonda, infine, il gruppo dei Them del quale diviene il leader. La band raccoglie numerosi successi, il maggiore dei quali è Gloria, che sarebbe divenuto uno degli standard del rock e che verrà incisa da numerosi altri artisti.
Morrison diviene sempre più insoddisfatto dell'utilizzo dei musicisti in studio, e lascia la formazione dopo un tour negli USA nel 1966. Ritorna a Belfast, deciso a lasciare il mondo della musica. Il produttore dei Them, Bert Berns, lo persuade a ritornare a New York e a registrare materiale da solista per l'etichetta Bang Records. Da queste prime session emerge una delle sue canzoni più famose, Brown-eyed Girl, che raggiunge il numero 10 delle classifiche USA nel 1967. L'album generato da quelle sessioni è Blowin' Your Mind!. Morrison ammise successivamente che non era soddisfatto del risultato, dicendo in un'intervista del 1969 a Rolling Stone che «It came out wrong and they released it without my consent» ("È venuto male e lo hanno pubblicato senza il mio consenso"). Registrazioni di quel periodo furono riedite occasionalmente dalla Bang e anche sotto forma di bootleg, sotto vari nomi. Le registrazioni complete furono messe insieme nel 1991 come Bang masters. Includono una versione alternativa di Brown-eyed Girl, così come una prima versione di Beside You e di Madame George, canzoni che compaiono con lievi variazioni di accordi, di arrangiamento e di parole nel secondo album di Morrison.
Dopo la morte di Berns (1967), Morrison si trasferisce a Boston, nel Massachusetts. Ben presto deve affrontare problemi finanziari e personali. Entra in depressione in seguito ad alcolismo ed ha problemi nel trovare ingaggi. Ricomincia tuttavia a lavorare, registrando con la Warner Bros. il song cycle Astral Weeks. Materiale dell'album è stato già eseguito in diversi club intorno a Boston, come nel caso della luminosa, trascendente voglia di redenzione della title track. Uscito nel 1968 l'album è acclamato dalla critica, riceve una fredda accoglienza da parte del pubblico ma con il passare degli anni avrà vendite sempre maggiori. Astral Weeks, pervaso da un alone mistico e da una grandissima intensità, è un geniale impasto di poesia irlandese, blues, soul e innovative sonorità folk-jazz. Il disco contiene diverse gemme come Astral Weeks, Beside You, Sweet Thing, Cyprus Avenue, Ballerina e Madame George. Notevole è anche l'intensa interpretazione vocale di Morrison basata su frasi e parole ripetute in modo davvero intenso e suggestivo, un flusso di coscienza altamente poetico che porta le caratteristiche del blues al suo culmine espressivo. Da allora Astral Weeks è costantemente incluso ai vertici delle più autorevoli liste specializzate sui migliori album di tutti i tempi. (sul Times nel 1993 al 3º posto, su MOJO nel 1995 al 2º posto, su Rolling Stone nel 2003 al 19º posto, al 3º posto su UNCUT nel 2016).

Anni settanta

Morrison si trasferisce in California dove pubblica Moondance (1970), del quale cura anche la produzione. L'album raggiunge la 29ª posizione della classifica curata da Billboard. Lo stile di questo album è in netto contrasto con quello di Astral Weeks: se questo era un album intriso di sofferenza ed infinita dolcezza, Moondance è invece ottimistico ed allegro, ricco di riferimenti alla black music e più vicino allo spirito degli esordi giovanili. La title track, sebbene mai pubblicata negli Stati Uniti come singolo, diviene un grande successo radiofonico. Anche Into the mystic (molto evocativa) e Caravan divengono molto popolari nel corso degli anni. La prima facciata verrà poi definita da Rolling Stone (fine anni settanta) come "la più perfetta side nell'intera storia del rock". Negli anni immediatamente successivi pubblica diversi altri album di successo (His band and the Street Choir del 1970, Tupelo Honey del 1971 e Saint Dominic's Preview del 1972). Tra i pezzi più significativi di questi album vanno ricordati Domino (9° negli USA nel 1970), Wild Night ma soprattutto le stupende Tupelo Honey e Listen to the Lion.
Nel 1972, nonostante la decennale esperienza concertistica, comincia a temere il palco, soprattutto davanti a un pubblico molto numeroso. Se, del resto, fino ad allora egli ha radunato centinaia di persone, la popolarità acquisita con gli ultimi album richiama ormai ai suoi concerti migliaia di fan.A tal proposito, in un'intervista afferma: «I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonizing for me to be out there» ("Mi piace cantare ma ci sono momenti in cui è penoso stare sul palco").^{[senza fonte]}
Dopo un breve distacco dalla musica, inizia a esibirsi nei club e riguadagna la sua abilità istrionica, sebbene con un pubblico più ridotto. Forma poi un gruppo, The Caledonia Soul Orchestra, e con esso si avventura in un tour americano di tre mesi, riportato dall'album doppio It's Too Late to Stop Now, ampiamente riconosciuto dalla critica come uno dei migliori dischi dal vivo della storia del rock.
Nel 1973, Morrison scioglie la Caledonia Soul Orchestra e divorzia dalla modella Janet Planet, che era sua moglie da sette anni e con la quale ha avuto una figlia. Realizza poi l'album introspettivo e triste Veedon Fleece (1974). Per quanto quest'album riceva poca attenzione al tempo della sua pubblicazione, la sua importanza è cresciuta attraverso gli anni ed è ora considerato uno dei migliori lavori di Morrison. La canzone You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push the River evidenzia il lato ipnotico e criptico di Morrison, con i suoi riferimenti al poeta visionario William Blake e al Sacro Graal.
Morrison si prende una pausa per i successivi tre anni. Ma si tratta di una pausa non preventivata: durante questo tempo, è in grado di scrivere e registrare un certo numero di nuove canzoni, e in un'intervista alla radio KSAN nel 1974, lascia intendere di voler realizzare un nuovo album dal titolo Mechanical Bliss, appena 4-5 mesi dopo Veedon Fleece. La data d'uscita prevista (febbraio 1975) non viene rispettata. Nel frattempo, il titolo dell'album conosce diversi cambiamenti (doveva intitolarsi Stiff Upper Lip, poi Naked in the Jungle); il pittore Zox viene incaricato di creare il disegno di copertina. Il progetto viene alla fine abbandonato, e molto del lavoro fatto verrà pubblicato soltanto in Philosopher's Stone del 1998. Il disegno di Zox viene più tardi incorporato nella copertina di The Royal Scam, degli Steely Dan (1976).
Nel 1976, Morrison suona al concerto d'addio della Band, nel Giorno del Ringraziamento. È la prima esibizione dal vivo dopo un periodo di silenzio e Morrison considera più e più volte l'eventualità di saltare l'esibizione fino all'ultimo secondo, ma alla fine l'esibizione ha un successo travolgente. Suona due canzoni, una delle quali è Caravan (da Moondance). Il concerto viene filmato da Martin Scorsese che ne ricava un celebre film (L'ultimo valzer, del 1978).
Nel 1977, Morrison scrive A Period of Transition, in collaborazione con Dr. John (anche lui presente in The Last Waltz). Dell'anno seguente è Wavelenght, che rappresenta una nuova rinascita commerciale. La canzone Kingdom Hall tratta dell'esperienza di Morrison con i testimoni di Geova e indica le tendenze religiose che diverranno evidenti nell'album successivo, Into the Music, del 1979. Dave Marsh descrive quest'album (in The Rolling Stone Album Guide - 2nd edition) come «un ciclo erotico/religioso di canzoni che culmina nella migliore musica che Morrison abbia creato fin dai tempi di Astral weeks».

Anni ottanta

Gran parte della produzione di Morrison degli anni ottanta prosegue nell'esplorazione della spiritualità e della fede. Common One è un disco molto spirituale ,non immediato, composto da alcuni pezzi molto lunghi, ma contiene uno dei suoi pezzi migliori in assoluto, ovvero la bellissima Summertime In England dove l'autore cita idealmente tutte le sue influenze letterarie. Beautiful Vision del 1982 riporta la sua musica nel formato canzone, con una serie di brani poi ripresi spesso dal vivo, tra cui la splendida Vanlose Stairway, Cleaning Windows o Celtic Ray. L'anno dopo realizza Inarticulate Speech Of The Heart (con la suggestiva Rave On, John Donne), un coraggioso e riuscito album con un sound basato sulle tastiere e su atmosfere vicine alla new age. Dopo il buon A Sense Of Wonder del 1984 Van Morrison ritorna alla magica ispirazione astrale con il disco più convincente dai tempi di Into The Music , No Guru, No Method, No Teacher in cui spiccano musicisti presenti in Moondance come il pianista Jef Labes. Pezzo portante dell'album la straordinaria ed evocativa In The Garden dove il testo diventa un manifesto filosofico e spirituale dell'autore ma già da Got To Go Back , il pezzo di apertura, si capisce lo spessore di un disco che mostra Morrison nella sua piena maturità espressiva ed artistica. Poetic Champions Compose del 1987, molto apprezzato negli Stati Uniti, si sposta verso composizioni più accessibili e romantiche. Un unicum della sua produzione è rappresentato dall'album realizzato in collaborazione con i Chieftains. Irish Heartbeat racchiude brani della tradizione irlandese interpretati in brevi e spontanee session che catturano alla perfezione il mélange precario tra le ruvide e suggestive tessiture acustiche dei Chieftains e il cantato soulful di Morrison alle prese con alcune delle sue migliori interpretazioni di sempre (Raglan Road, She Moved Through the Fair, My Lagan Love). L'album avrà grandissima influenza sui giovani musicisti interessati alla musica tradizionale o roots.
Con il nuovo contratto alla Polydor, Morrison conosce la definitiva rinascita commerciale a partire da Avalon Sunset, contenente almeno due classici come il duetto con Cliff Richards Wherever God Shines His Light e la celeberrima ballata Have I Told You Lately. Viene in tal modo ufficialmente sancito il suo status di evergreen.

Anni novanta

Nel 1990, Morrison partecipa, insieme a molti altri artisti, allo spettacolo The Wall, organizzato da Roger Waters a Berlino, dove canta Comfortably Numb con Roger Waters, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson e Rick Danko.
Enlightenment apre il decennio con un album di buon livello (Avalon of the Heart, So Quiet In Here, Enlightenment), nel 1991 esce Hymns to the Silence, disco doppio di grandissima qualità che riporta l'autore ai suoi migliori livelli. L'impeto gospel di Carrying a Torch, l'autobiografica Why Must I Always Explain o la magnifica trascendenza di Take Me Back sono testimonianza di straordinaria ispirazione. Due anni dopo esce Too Long In Exile, dove Van ritorna al blues in modo ispirato (Wasted Years, Too Long In Exile). Il monumentale A Night In San Francisco del 1994 testimonia un periodo fecondo e fortunato, un live di grande impatto che riscuote grandi consensi. L'album Days Like This dell'anno dopo riceve pareri discordanti, per alcuni troppo leggero e per altri di grande godibilità e qualità. Certo è che pezzi come Days Like This o Ancient Highway rimangono tra le sue cose migliori del decennio. Il successo commerciale si consolida con Healing Game 1997, un disco di forte impatto contenente l'omonima splendida Healing Game, la poetica Piper At Gates Of Dawn, Waiting Game e l'iniziale Rough God Goes Riding. Il successivo Back On Top del 1999 è un grande successo di vendite, trascinato dal singolo Precious Time. Da segnalare brani notevoli come Philosophers Stone o High Summer.I concerti che si susseguono dimostrano comunque, nonostante il passare degli anni, come Morrison continui a mantenere intatta la propria intensità ed espressività musicale.

Anni duemila

Nel nuovo millennio "Van the man" continua a produrre dischi con regolarità. Dopo alcuni progetti jazz, country e il bel disco di Skiffle con Lonnie Donegan, Van Morrison ritorna nel 2002 con quello che sarà probabilmente il suo album migliore del nuovo millennio, Down The Road. In effetti brani come la romantica Steal My Heart Away, Only a Dream o la coinvolgente Fast Train non passano inosservati. L'anno dopo passa alla Blue Note e realizza What's Wrong With This Picture contenente la splendida ballata Little Village. Segue il poco convincente Magic Time del 2005 che comunque contiene un pezzo notevolissimo come Just like Greta, mentre nel buon Keep it Simple del 2008 l'irlandese ritrova in alcuni brani quella vena intensamente spirituale che ha caratterizzato molti dei suoi dischi (Behind The Ritual). Il 10 febbraio 2009 esce Astral Weeks Live at Hollywood Bowl, il risultato è una straordinaria performance e una nostalgica rivisitazione del capolavoro assoluto di Van Morrison. Dopo tre anni di silenzio, nel 2012 esce Born To Sing: No Plan B, un album per la prestigiosa label Blue Note, registrato dal vivo in studio. L'album riscuote buoni consensi, soprattutto per la qualità degli arrangiamenti. Nel Marzo 2015, per celebrare i suoi settanta anni esce Duets: Re-working The Catalogue, un progetto riassuntivo ben realizzato di duetti con alcuni nomi prestigiosi che gli frutta vendite importanti in UK e USA. Nel giugno 2016 esce il sontuoso box live ..It's Too Late To Stop Now, volumes II, II, IV & DVD, registrato in tre diverse location durante il tour del 1973, tutto materiale inedito di fenomenale qualità sonora e artistica, sicuramente una delle sue pubblicazioni più importanti di sempre. Il 30 settembre 2016 esce Keep Me Singing, album molto ispirato che ritrova la sua dimensione più cantautorale, con molti pezzi notevoli tra cui Memory Lane, In Tiburon, Out in the Cold Again e Holy Guardian Angel. Nel 2017 vengono pubblicati due box set: The Authorized Bang collection e The Healing Game 20th Anniversary. Lo stesso anno escono due album dedicati al blues e al jazz: Roll With The Punches (contenente l'inedito Transformation) e Versatile. Nella primavera del 2018 viene pubblicato You're Driving Me Crazy con l'organista jazz Joey DeFrancesco.

Vita privata

Van Morrison si è sposato due volte, prima con Janet Minto, fine anni sessanta, con cui ha avuto la figlia Shana e poi negli anni novanta con Michelle Rocca (ex modella irlandese) con cui ha avuto due figli. Nel dicembre 2009 Gigi Lee, un'impiegata di Morrison originaria del Texas, diede alla luce un figlio affermando fosse di Morrison. Lee lo annunciò tramite il sito ufficiale del musicista nonostante questi ne rinnegasse la paternità.
Nel 2011 viene rivelato che il piccolo era deceduto nel gennaio dello stesso anno per complicazioni in seguito ad un diabete infantile, seguito dalla stessa Lee, nell'ottobre successivo, a causa di un pregresso tumore alla gola. Nel giugno 2016 muore Violet, la madre di Van Morrison.

Stile musicale

Lo stile di Van Morrison, considerato uno dei più grandi cantanti viventi, è un ibrido personalissimo, fin dai suoi inizi spesso orientato al misticismo, di folk, R&B, gospel, rock e jazz. Fa spesso uso di sezioni di archi e molte sue canzoni risentono anche dell'influsso di elementi spiritual e blues. Si ispira inoltre a Bob Dylan, specialmente al suo album The Freewheelin (1963), nel quale l'artista americano sperimentava una fusione di folk e blues acustici. Nonostante questo eclettismo, Morrison viene spesso definito un esponente del soul bianco e dell'R&B. Astral Weeks (1968) segue canoni folk, jazz, blues, gospel, e stilemi classici, mentre il successivo Moondance (1970) è più R&B e meno improvvisato. A partire dai dischi seguenti l'artista si è avvicinato al soul come dimostra Saint Dominic's Preview (1972) e il celebre live It's Too Late to Stop Now (1974), compendio della sua carriera definito "una lussurreggiante cascata di almeno dieci stili diversi". Con A Period of Transition (1977) l'artista si è avvicinato al funk mentre i dischi degli anni ottanta quali G-Force (1980) mostrano anche riferimenti più o meno espliciti all'hard rock. A partire da Into the Music del 1979, l'artista mostra inoltre uno spiccato misticismo e cita il folk irlandese.

Influenza

Secondo Rolling Stone, «La sua influenza sui cantanti e cantautori rock non ha paragoni con alcun artista vivente, fatta eccezione per Bob Dylan». Inoltre, può essere riconosciuta facilmente nella musica di molti artisti quali gli U2 (soprattutto The Unforgettable Fire), Bruce Springsteen (Spirit in the Night, Backstreets), Bob Seger, Rod Stewart, Patti Smith (responsabile di una versione poetica-proto-punk di Gloria), Graham Parker, Thin Lizzy, Dexys Midnight Runners e molti altri. Tra questi Bob Seger, che in un'intervista a Creem ha affermato: «I know Springsteen was very much affected by Van Morrison, and so was I» ("so che Springsteen è stato molto influenzato da Van Morrison, e così anche io").

Premi e riconoscimenti

Grammy Awards

• 1996 - Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Have I told you lately (con i Chieftains)
• 1998 - Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, Don't look back (con John Lee Hooker)
• 1999 - Grammy Hall of Fame Award per Astral weeks
• 1999 - Grammy Hall of Fame Award per Moondance

Altri riconoscimenti

• 1993 - Inserito nella Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• 2003 - Inserito nella Songwriters Hall of Fame

Discografia

Album

• 1967 – Blowin' Your Mind!
• 1968 – Astral Weeks
• 1970 – Moondance
• 1970 – His Band and the Street Choir
• 1971 – Tupelo Honey
• 1972 – Saint Dominic's Preview
• 1973 – Hard Nose the Highway
• 1974 – It's Too Late to Stop Now (live)
• 1974 – Veedon Fleece
• 1977 – A Period of Transition
• 1978 – Wavelength
• 1979 – Into the Music
• 1980 – Common One
• 1982 – Beautiful Vision
• 1983 – Inarticulate Speech of the Heart
• 1984 – Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast (live)
• 1985 – A Sense of Wonder
• 1986 – No Guru, No Method, No Teacher
• 1987 – Poetic Champions Compose
• 1988 – Irish Heartbeat con i The Chieftains
• 1989 – Avalon Sunset
• 1990 – Enlightenment
• 1991 – Hymns to the Silence
• 1993 – Too Long in Exile
• 1994 – A Night in San Francisco (live)
• 1995 – Days Like This
• 1996 – How Long Has This Been Going On con Georgie Fame
• 1996 – Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison
• 1997 – The Healing Game
• 1999 – Back on Top
• 2000 – The Skiffle Sessions - Live in Belfast 1998 con Lonnie Donegan e Chris Barber (live)
• 2000 – You Win Again con Linda Gail Lewis
• 2002 – Down the Road
• 2003 – What's Wrong with This Picture?
• 2005 – Magic Time
• 2006 – Pay the Devil
• 2008 – Keep It Simple
• 2009 – Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl (live)
• 2012 – Born to Sing: No Plan B
• 2015 – Duets: Re-working the Catalogue
• 2016 – Keep Me Singing
• 2017 – Roll with the Punches
• 2017 – Versatile
• 2018 – You're Driving Me Crazy (con Joey DeFrancesco)
• 2018 - The Prophet Speaks

Raccolte

Lista parziale

• 1990 – The Best of Van Morrison
• 1993 – The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two
• 1998 – The Philosopher's Stone
• 2007 – Still on Top - The Greatest Hits
• 2007 – At the movies - Soundtrack Hits
• 2015 – Duets
• 2016 – ..It's Too Late To Stop Now, Volumes II, II, IV & DVD...

Onorificenze

Onorificenze britanniche

	Ufficiale dell'Ordine dell'Impero Britannico
	«Per i servizi alla musica.» — 14 giugno 1996

	Knight Bachelor
	«Per i servizi alla musica e al turismo in Irlanda del Nord.» — 12 giugno 2015

Onorificenze straniere

	Ufficiale dell'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Francia)
	— 1996

 Van Morrison nel 1972

Warner Bros. Records - Billboard, page 1, 29 July 1972

Trade ad for Van Morrison's album Saint Dominic's Preview. 

Sir George Ivan Morrison OBE (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer. His professional career began as a teenager in the late 1950s playing a variety of instruments including guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone for various Irish showbands, covering the popular hits of that time. Van Morrison rose to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band Them, with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". His solo career began under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns with the release of the hit single "Brown Eyed Girl" in 1967. After Berns's death, Warner Bros. Records bought out his contract and allowed him three sessions to record Astral Weeks (1968). Though this album gradually garnered high praise, it was initially a poor seller.
Moondance (1970) established Morrison as a major artist, and he built on his reputation throughout the 1970s with a series of acclaimed albums and live performances. He continues to record and tour, producing albums and live performances that sell well and are generally warmly received, sometimes collaborating with other artists, such as Georgie Fame and The Chieftains.
Much of Morrison's music is structured around the conventions of soul music and R&B, such as the popular singles "Brown Eyed Girl", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", "Domino" and "Wild Night". An equal part of his catalogue consists of lengthy, loosely connected, spiritually inspired musical journeys that show the influence of Celtic tradition, jazz and stream-of-consciousness narrative, such as the album Astral Weeks and the lesser known Veedon Fleece and Common One. The two strains together are sometimes referred to as "Celtic soul". He has received two Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the 2017 Americana Music Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016, he was knighted for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland. He is known by the nickname Van the Man to his fans.

Life and career

Early life and musical roots: 1945–1964

George Ivan "Van" Morrison was born on 31 August 1945, at 125 Hyndford Street, Bloomfield, Belfast, Northern Ireland, as the only child of George Morrison, a shipyard electrician, and Violet Stitt Morrison, who had been a singer and tap dancer in her youth. Morrison's family were working class Protestants descended from the Ulster Scots population that settled in Belfast. From 1950 to 1956, Morrison, who began to be known as "Van" during this time, attended Elmgrove Primary School. His father had what was at the time one of the largest record collections in Ulster (acquired during his time in Detroit, Michigan, in the early 1950s) and the young Morrison grew up listening to artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Ray Charles, Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee and Solomon Burke; of whom he later said, "If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be where I am today. Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now."
His father's record collection exposed him to various musical genres, such as the blues of Muddy Waters; the gospel of Mahalia Jackson; the jazz of Charlie Parker; the folk music of Woody Guthrie; and country music from Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers, while the first record he ever bought was by blues musician Sonny Terry. When Lonnie Donegan had a hit with "Rock Island Line", written by Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), Morrison felt he was familiar with and able to connect with skiffle music as he had been hearing Lead Belly before that.
Morrison's father bought him his first acoustic guitar when he was eleven, and he learned to play rudimentary chords from the song book The Carter Family Style, edited by Alan Lomax. In 1957, at the age of twelve, Morrison formed his first band, a skiffle group, "The Sputniks", named after the satellite, Sputnik 1, that had been launched earlier that year by the Soviets. In 1958, the band played at some of the local cinemas, and Morrison took the lead, contributing most of the singing and arranging. Other short-lived groups followed – at fourteen, he formed Midnight Special, another modified skiffle band and played at a school concert. Then, when he heard Jimmy Giuffre playing saxophone on "The Train and The River", he talked his father into buying him a saxophone, and took lessons in tenor sax and music reading. Now playing the saxophone, Morrison joined with various local bands, including one called Deanie Sands and the Javelins, with whom he played guitar and shared singing. The line-up of the band was lead vocalist Deanie Sands, guitarist George Jones, and drummer and vocalist Roy Kane. Later the four main musicians of the Javelins, with the addition of Wesley Black as pianist, became known as the Monarchs.
Morrison attended Orangefield Boys Secondary School, leaving in July 1960 with no qualifications. As a member of a working-class community, it was expected he would get a regular full-time job, so after several short apprenticeship positions, he settled into a job as a window cleaner—later alluded to in his songs "Cleaning Windows" and "Saint Dominic's Preview". However, he had been developing his musical interests from an early age and continued playing with the Monarchs part-time. Young Morrison also played with the Harry Mack Showband, the Great Eight, with his older workplace friend, Geordie (G. D.) Sproule, whom he later named as one of his biggest influences.
At age 17, Morrison toured Europe for the first time with the Monarchs, now calling themselves the International Monarchs. This Irish showband, with Morrison playing saxophone, guitar and harp, in addition to back-up duty on bass and drums, toured steamy clubs and US Army bases in Scotland, England and Germany, often playing five sets a night. While in Germany, the band recorded a single, "Boozoo Hully Gully"/"Twingy Baby", under the name Georgie and the Monarchs. This was Morrison's first recording, taking place in November 1963 at Ariola Studios in Cologne with Morrison on saxophone; it made the lower reaches of the German charts.
Upon returning to Belfast in November 1963, the group disbanded, so Morrison connected with Geordie Sproule again and played with him in the Manhattan Showband along with guitarist Herbie Armstrong. When Armstrong auditioned to play with Brian Rossi and the Golden Eagles, later known as the Wheels, Morrison went along and was hired as a blues singer.

Them: 1964–1966

The roots of Them, the band that first broke Morrison on the international scene, came in April 1964 when he responded to an advert for musicians to play at a new R&B club at the Maritime Hotel – an old dance hall frequented by sailors. The new R&B club needed a band for its opening night; however, Morrison had left the Golden Eagles (the group with which he had been performing at the time), so he created a new band out of the Gamblers, an East Belfast group formed by Ronnie Millings, Billy Harrison, and Alan Henderson in 1962. Eric Wrixon, still a schoolboy, was the piano player and keyboardist. Morrison played saxophone and harmonica and shared vocals with Billy Harrison. They followed Eric Wrixon's suggestion for a new name, and the Gamblers morphed into Them, their name taken from the Fifties horror movie Them!
The band's strong R&B performances at the Maritime attracted attention. Them performed without a routine and Morrison ad libbed, creating his songs live as he performed. While the band did covers, they also played some of Morrison's early songs, such as "Could You Would You", which he had written in Camden Town while touring with the Manhattan Showband. The debut of Morrison's "Gloria" took place on stage here. Sometimes, depending on his mood, the song could last up to twenty minutes. Morrison has said, "Them lived and died on the stage at the Maritime Hotel," believing the band did not manage to capture the spontaneity and energy of their live performances on their records. The statement also reflected the instability of the Them line-up, with numerous members passing through the ranks after the definitive Maritime period. Morrison and Henderson remained the only constants, and a less successful version of Them soldiered on after Morrison's departure.
Dick Rowe of Decca Records became aware of the band's performances, and signed Them to a standard two-year contract. In that period, they released two albums and ten singles, with two more singles released after Morrison departed the band. They had three chart hits, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1964), "Here Comes the Night" (1965), and "Mystic Eyes" (1965), but it was the B-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go", the garage band classic "Gloria", that went on to become a rock standard covered by Patti Smith, the Doors, the Shadows of Knight, Jimi Hendrix and many others

	"Gloria" Menu 0:00 Morrison's garage rock classic was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. As described by Paul Williams: "Van Morrison's voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind."
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Building on the success of their singles in the United States, and riding on the back of the British Invasion, Them undertook a two-month tour of America in May and June 1966 that included a residency from 30 May to 18 June at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. The Doors were the supporting act on the last week, and Morrison's influence on the Doors singer, Jim Morrison, was noted by John Densmore in his book Riders On The Storm. Brian Hinton relates how "Jim Morrison learned quickly from his near namesake's stagecraft, his apparent recklessness, his air of subdued menace, the way he would improvise poetry to a rock beat, even his habit of crouching down by the bass drum during instrumental breaks." On the final night, the two Morrisons and the two bands jammed together on "Gloria".
Toward the end of the tour the band members became involved in a dispute with their manager, Decca Records' Phil Solomon, over the revenues paid to them; that, coupled with the expiry of their work visas, meant the band returned from America dejected. After two more concerts in Ireland, Them split up. Morrison concentrated on writing some of the songs that would appear on Astral Weeks, while the remnants of the band reformed in 1967 and relocated in America.

Start of solo career with Bang Records and "Brown Eyed Girl": 1967

	"Brown Eyed Girl" Menu 0:00 Morrison's classic 1967 hit single which appeared on the album Blowin' Your Mind!. In 2007, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
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Bert Berns, Them's producer and composer of their 1965 hit, "Here Comes the Night", persuaded Morrison to return to New York to record solo for his new label, Bang Records. Morrison flew over and signed a contract he had not fully studied. Then, during a two-day recording session at A & R Studios starting 28 March 1967, eight songs were recorded, originally intended to be used as four singles. Instead, these songs were released as the album Blowin' Your Mind! without Morrison being consulted. He said he only became aware of the album's release when a friend mentioned on a phone call that he had just bought a copy of it. He later commented to Donal Corvin in a 1973 interview: "I wasn't really happy with it. He picked the bands and tunes. I had a different concept of it."
However, from these early sessions emerged "Brown Eyed Girl". Captured on the 22nd take on the first day, this song was released as a single in mid-June 1967, reaching number ten in the US charts in 1967. "Brown Eyed Girl" became Morrison's most played song and over the years it has remained a classic; forty years later in 2007, it was the fourth most requested song of DJs in the US.
Following the death of Berns in 1967, Morrison became involved in a contract dispute with Berns' widow, Ilene Berns, that prevented him from performing on stage or recording in the New York area. The song "Big Time Operators", released in 1993, is thought to allude to his dealings with the New York music business during this time period. He then moved to Boston, Massachusetts, and was soon confronted with personal and financial problems; he had "slipped into a malaise" and had trouble finding concert bookings. He regained his professional footing through the few gigs he could find, and started recording with Warner Bros. Records. The record company managed to buy out his contract with Bang Records via a $20,000 cash transaction that took place in an abandoned warehouse on Ninth Avenue in Manhattan. By recording thirty-one songs in one session, Morrison fulfilled a clause that bound him to submit thirty-six original songs within a year to Web IV Music, Berns' music publishing company. Ilene Berns thought the songs were "nonsense music ... about ringworms" and did not use them. The throwaway compositions came to be known as the "revenge" songs. They were officially released on the compilation set The Authorized Bang Collection in 2017.

Astral Weeks: 1968

Main article: Astral Weeks

Astral Weeks is about the power of the human voice – ecstatic agony, agonising ecstacy. Here is an Irish tenor reborn as a White Negro – a Caucasian Soul Man – pleading and beseeching over a bed of dreamy folk-jazz instrumentation: acoustic bass, brushed drums, vibes and acoustic guitar, the odd string quartet – and of course flute.

–Barney Hoskyns – Mojo

	Astral Weeks Menu 0:00 The 1968 title song featuring the opening lines of the album: "If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream". His early voice was described as "flinty and tender, beseeching and plaintive".
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His first album for Warner Bros Records was Astral Weeks (which he had already performed in several clubs around Boston), a mystical song cycle, often considered to be his best work and one of the best albums of all time. Morrison has said, "When Astral Weeks came out, I was starving, literally." Released in 1968, the album eventually achieved critical acclaim, but it originally received an indifferent response from the public. It was described by AllMusic's William Ruhlmann as hypnotic, meditative, and as possessing a unique musical power. It has been compared to French Impressionism and mystical Celtic poetry.
A 2004 Rolling Stone magazine review begins with the words: "This is music of such enigmatic beauty that thirty-five years after its release, Astral Weeks still defies easy, admiring description." Alan Light later described Astral Weeks as "like nothing he had done previously—and really, nothing anyone had done previously. Morrison sings of lost love, death, and nostalgia for childhood in the Celtic soul that would become his signature." It has been placed on many lists of best albums of all time. In the 1995 Mojo list of 100 Best Albums, it was listed as number two and was number nineteen on the Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. In December 2009, it was voted the top Irish album of all time by a poll of leading Irish musicians conducted by Hot Press magazine.

From Moondance to Into the Music: 1970–1979

Morrison's third solo album, Moondance, which was released in 1970, became his first million selling album and reached number twenty-nine on the Billboard charts. The style of Moondance stood in contrast to that of Astral Weeks. Whereas Astral Weeks had a sorrowful and vulnerable tone, Moondance restored a more optimistic and cheerful message to his music, which abandoned the previous record's abstract folk compositions in favor of more formally composed songs and a lively rhythm and blues style he expanded on throughout his career.
The title track, although not released in the US as a single until 1977, received heavy play in FM radio formats. "Into the Mystic" has also gained a wide following over the years. "Come Running", which reached the American Top 40, rescued Morrison from what seemed then as Hot 100 obscurity. Moondance was both well received and favourably reviewed. Lester Bangs and Greil Marcus had a combined full page review in Rolling Stone, saying Morrison now had "the striking imagination of a consciousness that is visionary in the strongest sense of the wor "That was the type of band I dig," Morrison said of the Moondance sessions. "Two horns and a rhythm section – they're the type of bands that I like best." He produced the album himself as he felt like nobody else knew what he wanted. Moondance was listed at number sixty-five on the Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In March 2007, Moondance was listed as number seventy-two on the NARM Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "Definitive 200".
Over the next few years, he released a succession of albums, starting with a second one in 1970. His Band and the Street Choir had a freer, more relaxed sound than Moondance, but not the perfection, in the opinion of critic Jon Landau, who felt like "a few more numbers with a gravity of 'Street Choir' would have made this album as perfect as anyone could have stood." It contained the hit single "Domino", which charted at number nine in the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1971, he released another well-received album, Tupelo Honey. This album produced the hit single "Wild Night" that was later covered by John Mellencamp. The title song has a notably country-soul feel about it and the album ended with another country tune, "Moonshine Whiskey". Morrison said he originally intended to make an all country album. The recordings were as live as possible – after rehearsing the songs the musicians would enter the studio and play a whole set in one take. His co-producer, Ted Templeman, described this recording process as the "scariest thing I've ever seen. When he's got something together, he wants to put it down right away with no overdubbing."
Released in 1972, Saint Dominic's Preview revealed Morrison's break from the more accessible style of his previous three albums and moving back towards the more daring, adventurous, and meditative aspects of Astral Weeks. The combination of two styles of music demonstrated a versatility not previously found in his earlier albums. Two songs, "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)" and "Redwood Tree", reached the Hot 100 singles chart. The songs "Listen to the Lion" and "Almost Independence Day" are each over ten minutes long and employ the type of poetic imagery not heard since Astral Weeks. It was his highest charting album in the US until his Top Ten debut on Billboard 200 in 2008.
He released his next album Hard Nose the Highway in 1973 receiving mixed, but mostly negative, reviews. The album contained the popular song "Warm Love" but otherwise has been largely dismissed critically. In a 1973 Rolling Stone review, it was described as: "psychologically complex, musically somewhat uneven and lyrically excellent."
During a three-week vacation visit to Ireland in October 1973, Morrison wrote seven of the songs that made up his next album, Veedon Fleece Though it attracted scant initial attention, its critical stature grew markedly over the years—with Veedon Fleece now often considered to be one of Morrison's most impressive and poetic works. In a 2008 Rolling Stone review, Andy Greene writes that when released in late 1974: "it was greeted by a collective shrug by the rock critical establishment" and concludes: "He's released many wonderful albums since, but he's never again hit the majestic heights of this one." "You Don't Pull No Punches, but You Don't Push the River", one of the album's side closers, exemplifies the long, hypnotic, cryptic Morrison with its references to visionary poet William Blake and to the seemingly Grail-like Veedon Fleece object.
Morrison took three years to release a follow-up album. After a decade without taking time off, he said in an interview, he needed to get away from music completely and ceased listening to it for several months. Also suffering from writer's block, he seriously considered leaving the music business for good. Speculation that an extended jam session would be released either under the title Mechanical Bliss, or Naked in the Jungle, or Stiff Upper Lip, came to nothing, and Morrison's next album was A Period of Transition in 1977, a collaboration with Dr. John, who had appeared at The Last Waltz concert with Morrison in 1976. The album received a mild critical reception and marked the beginning of a very prolific period of song making.

	"Wavelength" Menu 0:00 Morrison sings the opening lines in falsetto and synthesisers mimic the sounds of the short wave radio stations that he listened to as a boy.
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Into the Music: The album's last four songs, "Angelou", "And the Healing Has Begun", and "It's All in the Game/You Know What They're Writing About" are a veritable tour-de-force with Morrison summoning every vocal trick at his disposal from Angelou's climactic shouts to the sexually-charged, half-mumbled monologue in "And the Healing Has Begun" to the barely audible whisper that is the album's final sound.
--Scott Thomas Review

The following year, Morrison released Wavelength; it became at that time the fastest-selling album of his career and soon went gold. The title track became a modest hit, peaking at number forty-two. Making use of 1970s synthesisers, it mimics the sounds of the shortwave radio stations he listened to in his youth. The opening track, "Kingdom Hall" – the name given by Jehovah's Witnesses to their places of worship – evoked Morrison's childhood experiences of religion with his mother, and foretold the religious themes that were more evident on his next album, Into the Music.
Considered by AllMusic as "the definitive post-classic-era Morrison", Into the Music, was released in the last year of the 1970s. Songs on this album for the first time alluded to the healing power of music, which became an abiding interest of Morrison's. "Bright Side of the Road" was a joyful, uplifting song that featured on the soundtrack of the movie, Michael.

Common One to Avalon Sunset: 1980–1989

With his next album, the new decade found Morrison following his muse into uncharted territory and sometimes merciless reviews. In February 1980, Morrison and a group of musicians travelled to Super Bear, a studio in the French Alps, to record (on the site of a former abbey) what is considered to be the most controversial album in his discography; later "Morrison admitted his original concept was even more esoteric than the final product." The album, Common One, consisted of six songs; the longest, "Summertime in England", lasted fifteen and one-half minutes and ended with the words,"Can you feel the silence?". NME magazine's Paul Du Noyer called the album "colossally smug and cosmically dull; an interminable, vacuous and drearily egotistical stab at spirituality: Into the muzak." Greil Marcus, whose previous writings had been favourably inclined towards Morrison, critically remarked: "It's Van acting the part of the 'mystic poet' he thinks he's supposed to be." Morrison insisted the album was never "meant to be a commercial album." Biographer Clinton Heylin concludes: "He would not attempt anything so ambitious again. Henceforth every radical idea would be tempered by some notion of commerciality." Later, critics reassessed the album more favourably with the success of "Summertime in England". Lester Bangs wrote in 1982, "Van was making holy music even though he thought he was, and us rock critics had made our usual mistake of paying too much attention to the lyrics."
Morrison's next album, Beautiful Vision, released in 1982, had him returning once again to the music of his Northern Irish roots. Well received by the critics and public, it produced a minor UK hit single, "Cleaning Windows", that referenced one of Morrison's first jobs after leaving school. Several other songs on the album, "Vanlose Stairway", "She Gives Me Religion", and the instrumental, "Scandinavia" show the presence of a new personal muse in his life: a Danish public relations agent, who would share Morrison's spiritual interests and serve as a steadying influence on him throughout most of the 1^980s "Scandinavia", with Morrison on piano, was nominated in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.
Much of the music Morrison released throughout the 1980s continued to focus on the themes of spirituality and faith. His 1983 album, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart was "a move towards creating music for meditation" with synthesisers, uilleann pipes and flute sounds and four of the tracks were instrumentals. The titling of the album and the presence of the instrumentals were noted to be indicative of Morrison's long-held belief that "it's not the words one uses but the force of conviction behind those words that matters." During this period of time, Morrison had studied Scientology and gave "Special Thanks" to L. Ron Hubbard on the album's credits.
A Sense of Wonder, Morrison's 1985 album, pulled together the spiritual themes contained in his last four albums, which were defined in a Rolling Stone review as: "rebirth (Into the Music), deep contemplation and meditation (Common One); ecstasy and humility (Beautiful Vision); and blissful, mantra like languor (Inarticulate Speech of the Heart)." The single, "Tore Down a la Rimbaud" was a reference to Rimbaud and an earlier bout of writer's block that Morrison had encountered in 1974. In 1985, Morrison also wrote the musical score for the movie, Lamb starring Liam Neeson.
Morrison's 1986 release, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher, was said to contain a "genuine holiness ... and musical freshness that needs to be set in context to understand." Critical response was favourable with a Sounds reviewer calling the album "his most intriguingly involved since Astral Weeks" and "Morrison at his most mystical, magical best." It contains the song, "In the Garden" that, according to Morrison, had a "definite meditation process which is a 'form' of transcendental meditation as its basis. It's not TM". He entitled the album as a rebuttal to media attempts to place him in various creeds. In an interview in the Observer he told Anthony Denselow:

There have been many lies put out about me and this finally states my position. I have never joined any organisation, nor plan to. I am not affiliated to any guru, don't subscribe to any method and for those people who don't know what a guru is, I don't have a teacher either.

After releasing the "No Guru" album, Morrison's music appeared less gritty and more adult contemporary with the well-received 1987 album, Poetic Champions Compose, considered to be one of his recording highlights of the 1980s. The romantic ballad from this album, "Someone Like You", has been featured subsequently in the soundtracks of several movies, including 1995's French Kiss, and in 2001, both Someone Like You and Bridget Jones's Diary.
In 1988, he released Irish Heartbeat, a collection of traditional Irish folk songs recorded with the Irish group the Chieftains, which reached number 18 in the UK album charts. The title song, "Irish Heartbeat", was originally recorded on his 1983 album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.
The 1989 album, Avalon Sunset, which featured the hit duet with Cliff Richard "Whenever God Shines His Light" and the ballad "Have I Told You Lately" (on which "earthly love transmutes into that for God"(Hinton)), reached 13 on the UK album chart. Although considered to be a deeply spiritual album, it also contained "Daring Night", which "deals with full, blazing sex, whatever its churchy organ and gentle lilt suggest"(Hinton). Morrison's familiar themes of "God, woman, his childhood in Belfast and those enchanted moments when time stands still" were prominent in the songs. He can be heard calling out the change of tempo at the end of this song, repeating the numbers "1 – 4" to cue the chord changes (the first and fourth chord in the key of the music). He often completed albums in two days, frequently releasing first takes.

The Best of Van Morrison to Back on Top: 1990–1999

The early to middle 1990s were commercially successful for Morrison with three albums reaching the top five of the UK charts, sold-out concerts, and a more visible public profile; but this period also marked a decline in the critical reception to his work. The decade began with the release of The Best of Van Morrison; compiled by Morrison himself, the album was focused on his hit singles, and became a multi-platinum success remaining a year and a half on the UK charts. AllMusic determined it to be "far and away the best selling album of his career." After Enlightenment which included the hit singles "Real Real Gone" and the title cut in 1990, an ambitious double album "Hymns to the Silence" was released the following year, his only double studio album. Another compilation album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two was released in January 1993, followed by Too Long in Exile in June, another top five chart success. The 1994 live double album A Night in San Francisco received favourable reviews as well as commercial success by reaching number eight on the UK charts. 1995's Days Like This also had large sales – though the critical reviews were not always favourable. This period also saw a number of side projects, including the live jazz performances of 1996's How Long Has This Been Going On, from the same year Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison, and 2000's The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast 1998, all of which found Morrison paying tribute to his early musical influences.
In 1997, Morrison released The Healing Game. The album received mixed reviews, with the lyrics being described as "tired" and "dull", though critic Greil Marcus praised the musical complexity of the album by saying: "It carries the listener into a musical home so perfect and complete he or she might have forgotten that music could call up such a place, and then populate it with people, acts, wishes, fears." The following year, Morrison finally released some of his previously unissued studio recordings in a two-disc set, The Philosopher's Stone. His next release, 1999's Back on Top, achieved a modest success, being his highest charting album in the US since 1978's Wavelength.

2000–present

Van Morrison continued to record and tour in the 2000s, often performing two or three times a week. He formed his own independent label, Exile Productions Ltd, which enables him to maintain full production control of each album he records, which he then delivers as a finished product to the recording label that he chooses, for marketing and distribution.
The album Down the Road, released in May 2002, received a good critical reception and proved to be his highest charting album in the US since 1972's Saint Dominic's Preview. It had a nostalgic tone, with its fifteen tracks representing the various musical genres Morrison had previously covered—including R&B, blues, country and folk; one of the tracks was written as a tribute to his late father George, who had played a pivotal role in nurturing his early musical tastes.
Morrison's 2005 album, Magic Time, debuted at number twenty-five on the US Billboard 200 charts upon its May release, some forty years after Morrison first entered the public's eye as the frontman of Them. Rolling Stone listed it as number seventeen on The Top 50 Records of 2005. Also in July 2005, Morrison was named by Amazon as one of their top twenty-five all-time best-selling artists and inducted into the Amazon.com Hall of Fame. Later in the year, Morrison also donated a previously unreleased studio track to a charity album, Hurricane Relief: Come Together Now, which raised money for relief efforts intended for Gulf Coast victims devastated by hurricanes, Katrina and Rita. Morrison composed the song, "Blue and Green", featuring Foggy Lyttle on guitar. This song was released in 2007 on the album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 and also as a single in the UK. Van Morrison was a headline act at the international Celtic music festival, The Hebridean Celtic Festival in Stornoway, Outer Hebrides in the summer of 2005.
He released an album with a country music theme, entitled Pay the Devil, on 7 March 2006 and appeared at the Ryman Auditorium where the tickets sold out immediately after they went on sale. Pay the Devil debuted at number twenty-six on the Billboard 200 and peaked at number seven on Top Country Albums. Amazon Best of 2006 Editor's Picks in Country listed the country album at number ten in December 2006. Still promoting the country album, Morrison's performance as the headline act on the first night of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on 15 September 2006 was reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the top ten shows of the 2006 festival. In November 2006, a limited edition album, Live at Austin City Limits Festival was issued by Exile Productions, Ltd. A later deluxe CD/DVD release of Pay the Devil, in the summer of 2006 contained tracks from the Ryman performance. In October 2006, Morrison had released his first commercial DVD, Live at Montreux 1980/1974 with concerts taken from two separate appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
A new double CD compilation album The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3 was released in June 2007 containing thirty-one tracks, some of which were previously unreleased. Morrison selected the tracks, which ranged from the 1993 album Too Long in Exile to the song "Stranded" from the 2005 album Magic Time. On 3 September 2007, Morrison's complete catalogue of albums from 1971 through 2002 were made available exclusively at the iTunes Store in Europe and Australia and during the first week of October 2007, the albums became available at the US iTunes Store.
Still on Top – The Greatest Hits, a thirty-seven track double CD compilation album was released on 22 October 2007 in the UK on the Polydor label. On 29 October 2007, the album charted at number two on the Official UK Top 75 Albums—his highest UK charting. The November release in the US and Canada contains twenty-one selected tracks. The hits released on albums with the copyrights owned by Morrison as Exile Productions Ltd. — 1971 and later — had been remastered in 2007.
Keep It Simple, Morrison's 33rd studio album of completely new material was released by Exile/Polydor Records on 17 March 2008 in the UK and released by Exile/Lost Highway Records in the US and Canada on 1 April 2008. It comprised eleven self-penned tracks. Morrison promoted the album with a short US tour including an appearance at the SXSW music conference, and a UK concert broadcast on BBC Radio 2. In the first week of release Keep It Simple debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number ten, Morrison's first Top Ten charting in the US.
Morrison released his 34th studio album, Born to Sing: No Plan B on 2 October 2012 on Blue Note Records. The album was recorded in Belfast, Morrison's birthplace and hometown. The first single from this album, "Open the Door (To Your Heart)", was released on 24 August 2012.
A selection of Morrison's lyrics, Lit Up Inside, was published by City Lights Books in the US and Faber & Faber in the UK the book was released on 2 October 2014 and an evening of words and music commenced at the Lyric Theatre, London on 17 November 2014 to mark its launch. Morrison himself selected his best and most iconic lyrics from a catalog of 50 years of writing
Morrison's 35th studio album, Duets: Re-working the Catalogue was released on 24 March 2015 on the RCA Records.
Morrison's 70th birthday in 2015 was marked by celebrations in his hometown of Belfast, commencing with BBC Radio Ulster presenting programs including "Top 70 Van Tracks" between 26 and 28 August. As the headline act ending the Eastside Arts Festival, Morrison performed two 70th-birthday concerts on Cyprus Avenue on his birthday 31 August. The first of the concerts was broadcast live on BBC Radio Ulster and a 60-minute BBC film of highlights from the concerts, entitled Up On Cyprus Avenue, was first shown on 4 September.
On 30 September 2016, Morrison released Keep Me Singing, his 36th studio album. "Too Late", the first single, was released on the same day. The songs are twelve originals and one cover and the album represents his first release of originals since Born to Sing: No Plan B in 2012. A short tour of the U.S. followed with six dates in October 2016, followed by a short tour of the U.K. with eight dates in October–December 2016, including a London show at The O2 Arena on 30 October. The U.S. tour resumed in January 2017 with five new dates in Las Vegas and Clearwater, Florida.^{[citation needed]}
Morrison's album, Roll with the Punches, was released on 22 September 2017. That July, he and Universal Music Group were sued by former professional wrestler Billy Two Rivers for using his likeness on its cover and promotional material without his permission. On August 4, Two Rivers' lawyer said the parties had reached a preliminary agreement to settle the matter out of court.
Morrison released his 38th studio album, Versatile on 1 December 2017. It features covers of nine classic jazz standards and seven original songs including his arrangement of the traditional "Skye Boat Song".
Morrison's 39th studio album, You're Driving Me Crazy was released on 27 April 2018 via Sony Legacy Recordings. The album features a collaboration with Joey DeFrancesco on a mixture of blues and jazz classics that include eight Morrison originals from his back catalog.
In October 2018, Morrison announced that his 40th studio album, The Prophet Speaks will be released by Caroline International on 7 December 2018.

Live performances

By 1972, after being a performer for nearly ten years, Morrison began experiencing stage fright when performing for audiences of thousands, as opposed to the hundreds as he had experienced in his early career. He became anxious on stage and had difficulty establishing eye contact with the audience. He once said in an interview about performing on stage, "I dig singing the songs but there are times when it's pretty agonising for me to be out there." After a brief break from music, he started appearing in clubs, regaining his ability to perform live, albeit with smaller audiences.
The 1974 live double album, It's Too Late to Stop Now has been noted to be one of the greatest recordings of a live concert and has appeared on lists of greatest live albums of all time. Biographer Johnny Rogan wrote, "Morrison was in the midst of what was arguably his greatest phase as a performer." Performances on the album were from tapes made during a three-month tour of the US and Europe in 1973 with the backing group the Caledonia Soul Orchestra. Soon after recording the album, Morrison restructured the Caledonia Soul Orchestra into a smaller unit, the Caledonia Soul Express.

On Thanksgiving Day 1976, Morrison performed at the farewell concert for the Band. It was his first live performance in several years, and he considered skipping his appearance until the last minute, even refusing to go on stage when they announced his name. His manager, Harvey Goldsmith, said he "literally kicked him out there." Morrison was on good terms with the members of the Band as near-neighbours in Woodstock, and they had the shared experience of stage fright. At the concert, he performed two songs. His first was a rendition of the classic Irish song "Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral". His second song was "Caravan", from his 1970 album Moondance. Greil Marcus, in attendance at the concert, wrote: "Van Morrison turned the show around ... singing to the rafters and ... burning holes in the floor. It was a triumph, and as the song ended Van began to kick his leg into the air out of sheer exuberance and he kicked his way right offstage like a Rockette. The crowd had given him a fine welcome and they cheered wildly when he left." The filmed concert served as the basis for Martin Scorsese's 1978 film, The Last Waltz.
During his association with the Band, Morrison acquired the nicknames "Belfast Cowboy" and "Van the Man". On the Band's album Cahoots, as part of the duet "4% Pantomime" that Morrison sings with Richard Manuel (and that he co-wrote with Robbie Robertson), Manuel addresses him, "Oh, Belfast Cowboy". When he leaves the stage after performing "Caravan" on The Last Waltz, Robertson calls out "Van the Man!"
On 21 July 1990, Morrison joined many other guests for Roger Waters' massive performance of The Wall – Live in Berlin with an estimated crowd of between three hundred thousand and half a million people and broadcast live on television. He sang "Comfortably Numb" with Roger Waters, and several members from The Band: Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko. At concert's end, he and the other performers sang "The Tide Is Turning".
Morrison performed before an estimated audience of sixty to eighty thousand people when US President Bill Clinton visited Belfast, Northern Ireland on 30 November 1995. His song "Days Like This" had become the official anthem for the Northern Irish peace movement.
Van Morrison continued performing concerts in the 2000s throughout the year rather than touring. Playing few of his best-known songs in concert, he has firmly resisted relegation to a nostalgia act. During a 2006 interview, he told Paul Sexton:

I don't really tour. This is another misconception. I stopped touring in the true sense of the word in the late 1970s, early 1980s, possibly. I just do gigs now. I average two gigs a week. Only in America do I do more, because you can't really do a couple of gigs there, so I do more, 10 gigs or something there.

	Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl Menu 0:00 The 2008 titled song, "Astral Weeks (I Believe I've Transcended)" with the opening lines: "If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream" shows "a deeper, louder roar than the blue-eyed soul voice of his youth – softer on the diction – but none the less impressively powerful."
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On 7 and 8 November 2008, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, Morrison performed the entire Astral Weeks album live for the first time. The Astral Weeks band featured guitarist Jay Berliner, who had played on the album that was released forty years previously in November 1968. Also featured on piano was Roger Kellaway. A live album entitled Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl resulted from these two performances. The new live album on CD was released on 24 February 2009, followed by a DVD from the performances. The DVD, Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl: The Concert Film was released via Amazon Exclusive on 19 May 2009. In February and March 2009, Morrison returned to the US for Astral Weeks Live concerts, interviews and TV appearances with concerts at Madison Square Garden and at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. He was interviewed by Don Imus on his Imus in the Morning radio show and put in guest appearances on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and Live with Regis and Kelly. Morrison continued with the Astral Weeks performances with two concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London in April and then returned to California in May 2009 performing the Astral Weeks songs at the Hearst Greek Theatre in Berkeley, the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, California and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Morrison filmed the concerts at the Orpheum Theatre so they could be viewed by Farrah Fawcett, confined to bed with cancer and thus unable to attend the concerts.
In addition to It's Too Late to Stop Now and Astral Weeks Live at the Hollywood Bowl, Morrison has released three other live albums: Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast in 1984; A Night in San Francisco in 1994 that Rolling Stone magazine felt stood out as: "the culmination of a career's worth of soul searching that finds Morrison's eyes turned toward heaven and his feet planted firmly on the ground"; and The Skiffle Sessions – Live in Belfast 1998 recorded with Lonnie Donegan and Chris Barber and released in 2000.

Morrison was scheduled to perform at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 25th anniversary concert on 30 October 2009, but cancelled. In an interview on 26 October, Morrison told his host, Don Imus, he had planned to play "a couple of songs" with Eric Clapton (who had cancelled on 22 October due to gallstone surgery), and they would do something else together at "some other stage of the game".
Morrison performed for the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on 4 August 2010 as the headline act for the fundraiser and scheduled as second day headliner at the Feis 2011 Festival in London's Finsbury Park on 19 June 2011.
Morrison appeared in concert at Odyssey Arena in Belfast on 3 February and at the O2 in Dublin on 4 February 2012. He appeared at the 46th Montreux Jazz Festival as a headliner on 7 July 2012.
In 2014 Morrison's former high school Orangefield High School, formerly known as Orangefield Boys' Secondary School closed its doors permanently. To mark the school's closure Morrison performed in the school assembly hall for three nights of concerts from 22–24 August. The performance on 22 August was exclusively for former teachers and pupils and the two remaining concerts were for members of the public
The first night of the Nocturne Live concerts at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, UK on 25 June 2015, featured Morrison and Grammy Award-winning American Jazz vocalist and songwriter Gregory Porter.
On 26 October 2018 Morrison performed at the BluesFest 2018 at The O2 Arena in London, where he has performed for several years.^{[citation needed]}

Collaborations

During the 1990s, Morrison developed a close association with two vocal talents at opposite ends of their careers: Georgie Fame (with whom Morrison had already worked occasionally) lent his voice and Hammond organ skills to Morrison's band; and Brian Kennedy's vocals complemented the grizzled voice of Morrison, both in studio and live performances.
The 1990s also saw an upsurge in collaborations by Morrison with other artists, a trend continuing into the new millennium. He recorded with Irish folk band the Chieftains on their 1995 album, The Long Black Veil. Morrison's song, "Have I Told You Lately" won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 1995.
He also produced and was featured on several tracks with blues legend John Lee Hooker on Hooker's 1997 album, Don't Look Back. This album won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1998 and the title track "Don't Look Back", a duet featuring Morrison and Hooker, also won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals in 1998. The project capped a series of Morrison and Hooker collaborations that began in 1971 when they performed a duet on the title track of Hooker's 1972 album Never Get Out of These Blues Alive. On this album, Hooker also recorded a cover of Morrison's "T.B. Sheets".
Morrison additionally collaborated with Tom Jones on his 1999 album Reload, performing a duet on "Sometimes We Cry", and he also sang vocals on a track entitled "The Last Laugh" on Mark Knopfler's 2000 album, Sailing to Philadelphia. In 2004, Morrison was one of the guests on Ray Charles' album, Genius Loves Company, featuring the two artists performing Morrison's "Crazy Love".
In 2000, Morrison recorded a classic country music duet album You Win Again with Linda Gail Lewis. The album received a three star review from AllMusic who called it "a roots effort that never sounds studied".

Music

Vocals

It is at the heart of Morrison's presence as a singer that when he lights on certain sounds, certain small moments inside a song—hesitations, silences, shifts in pressure, sudden entrances, slamming doors—can then suggest whole territories, completed stories, indistinct ceremonies, far outside anything that can be literally traced in the compositions that carry them.

–Greil Marcus

Featuring his characteristic growl—a mix of folk, blues, soul, jazz, gospel, and Ulster Scots Celtic influences—Morrison is widely considered by many rock historians to be one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll. Critic Greil Marcus has said "no white man sings like Van Morrison. In his 2010 book, Marcus wrote, "As a physical fact, Morrison may have the richest and most expressive voice pop music has produced since Elvis Presley, and with a sense of himself as an artist that Elvis was always denied."
As Morrison began live performances of the 40-year-old album Astral Weeks in 2008, there were comparisons to his youthful voice of 1968. His early voice was described as "flinty and tender, beseeching and plaintive". Forty years later, the difference in his vocal range and power were noticeable but reviewers and critic's comments were favourable: "Morrison's voice has expanded to fill his frame; a deeper, louder roar than the blue-eyed soul voice of his youth – softer on the diction – but none the less impressively powerful." Morrison also commented on the changes in his approach to singing: "The approach now is to sing from lower down [the diaphragm] so I do not ruin my voice. Before, I sang in the upper area of my throat, which tends to wreck the vocal cords over time. Singing from lower in the belly allows my resonance to carry far. I can stand four feet from a mic and be heard quite resonantly."

Songwriting and lyrics

Morrison has written hundreds of songs during his career with a recurring theme reflecting a nostalgic yearning for the carefree days of his childhood in Belfast. Some of his song titles derive from familiar locations in his childhood, such as "Cyprus Avenue" (a nearby street), "Orangefield" (the boys school he attended), and "On Hyndford Street" (where he was born). Also frequently present in Morrison's best love songs is a blending of the sacred-profane as evidenced in "Into the Mystic" and "So Quiet in Here".
Beginning with his 1979 album, Into the Music and the song "And the Healing Has Begun", a frequent theme of his music and lyrics has been based on his belief in the healing power of music combined with a form of mystic Christianity. This theme has become one of the predominant qualities of his work.
His lyrics show an influence of the visionary poets William Blake and W. B. Yeats and others such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Biographer Brian Hinton believes "like any great poet from Blake to Seamus Heaney he takes words back to their origins in magic ... Indeed, Morrison is returning poetry to its earliest roots – as in Homer or Old English epics like Beowulf or the Psalms or folk song – in all of which words and music combine to form a new reality." Another biographer John Collis believes Morrison's style of jazz singing and repeating phrases preclude his lyrics from being regarded as poetry or as Collis asserts: "he is more likely to repeat a phrase like a mantra, or burst into scat singing. The words may often be prosaic, and so can hardly be poetry."
Morrison has described his songwriting method by remarking that: "I write from a different place. I do not even know what it is called or if it has a name. It just comes and I sculpt it, but it is also a lot of hard work doing the sculpting."

Performance style

Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture. To capture one moment, be it a caress or a twitch. He repeats certain phrases to extremes that from anybody else would seem ridiculous, because he's waiting for a vision to unfold, trying as unobtrusively as possible to nudge it along ... It's the great search, fuelled by the belief that through these musical and mental processes illumination is attainable. Or may at least be glimpsed.

–Lester Bangs

Critic Greil Marcus argues that, given the truly distinctive breadth and complexity of Morrison's work, it is almost impossible to cast his work among that of others: "Morrison remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of rock & roll, a singer who cannot be pinned down, dismissed, or fitted into anyone's expectations." Or in the words of Jay Cocks: "He extends himself only to express himself. Alone among rock's great figures—and even in that company he is one of the greatest—Morrison is adamantly inward. And unique. Although he freely crosses musical boundaries— R&B, Celtic melodies, jazz, rave-up rock, hymns, down-and-dirty blues—he can unfailingly be found in the same strange place: on his own wavelength."
His spiritually-themed style of music first came into full expression with Astral Weeks in 1968 and he was noted to have remained a "master of his transcendental craft" in 2009 while performing the Astral Weeks songs live. This musical art form was based on stream of consciousness songwriting and emotional vocalising of lyrics that have no basis in normal structure or symmetry. His live performances are dependent on building dynamics with spontaneity between himself and his band, whom he controls with hand gestures throughout, sometimes signalling impromptu solos from a selected band member. The music and vocals build towards a hypnotic and trance-like state that depends on in-the-moment creativity. Scott Foundas with LA Weekly wrote "he seeks to transcend the apparent boundaries of any given song; to achieve a total freedom of form; to take himself, his band and the audience on a journey whose destination is anything but known." Greil Marcus wrote an entire book devoted to examining the moments in Morrison's music where he reaches this state of transcendence and explains: "But in his music the same sense of escape from ordinary limits – a reach for, or the achievement of, a kind of violent transcendence – can come from hesitations, repetitions of words or phrases, pauses, the way a musical change by another musician is turned by Morrison as a bandleader or seized on by him as a singer and changed into a sound that becomes an event in and of itself. In these moments, the self is left behind, and the sound, that "yarragh," becomes the active agent: a musical person, with its own mind, its own body." A book reviewer further described it as "This transcendent moment of music when the song and the singer are one thing not two, neither dependent on the other or separate from the other but melded to the other like one, like breath and life ..."
Morrison has said he believes in the jazz improvisational technique of never performing a song the same way twice and except for the unique rendition of the Astral Weeks songs live, doesn't perform a concert from a preconceived set list. Morrison has said he prefers to perform at smaller venues or symphony halls noted for their good acoustics. His ban against alcoholic beverages, which made entertainment news during 2008, was an attempt to prevent the disruptive and distracting movement of audience members leaving their seats during the performances. In a 2009 interview, Morrison stated: "I do not consciously aim to take the listener anywhere. If anything, I aim to take myself there in my music. If the listener catches the wavelength of what I am saying or singing, or gets whatever point whatever line means to them, then I guess as a writer I may have done a day's work."

Genre

The music of Van Morrison has encompassed many genres since his early days as a blues and R&B singer in Belfast. Over the years he has recorded songs from a varying list of genres drawn from many influences and interests. As well as blues and R&B, his compositions and covers have moved between pop music, jazz, rock, folk, country, gospel, Irish folk and traditional, big band, skiffle, rock and roll, new age, classical and sometimes spoken word ("Coney Island") and instrumentals. Morrison defines himself as a soul singer.
Morrison's music has been described by music journalist Alan Light as "Celtic soul", or what biographer Brian Hinton referred to as a new alchemy called "Caledonian soul." Another biographer, Ritchie Yorke quoted Morrison as believing that he has "the spirit of Caledonia in his soul and his music reflects it." According to Yorke, Morrison claimed to have discovered "a certain quality of soul" when he first visited Scotland (his Belfast ancestors were of Ulster Scots descent) and Morrison has said he believes there is some connection between soul music and Caledonia. Yorke said Morrison "discovered several years after he first began composing music that some of his songs lent themselves to a unique major modal scale (without sevenths) which of course is the same scale as that used by bagpipe players and old Irish and Scottish folk music."

Caledonia

The name "Caledonia" has played a prominent role in Morrison's life and career. Biographer Ritchie Yorke had pointed out already by 1975 that Morrison has referred to Caledonia so many times in his career that he "seems to be obsessed with the word". In his 2009 biography, Erik Hage found "Morrison seemed deeply interested in his paternal Scottish roots during his early career, and later in the ancient countryside of England, hence his repeated use of the term Caledonia (an ancient Roman name for Scotland/northern Britain)". As well as being his daughter Shana's middle name, it is the name of his first production company, his studio, his publishing company, two of his backing groups, his parents' record store in Fairfax, California in the 1970s, and he also recorded a cover of the song "Caldonia" (with the name spelled "Caledonia") in 1974. Morrison used "Caledonia" in what has been called a quintessential Van Morrison moment in the song, "Listen to the Lion" with the lyrics, "And we sail, and we sail, way up to Caledonia". Morrison used "Caledonia" as a mantra in the live performance of the song, "Astral Weeks" recorded at the two Hollywood Bowl concerts. As late as 2016's Keep Me Singing album, he recorded a self-penned instrumental entitled "Caledonia Swing."

Influence

Morrison's influence can readily be heard in the music of a diverse array of major artists and according to The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001), "his influence among rock singers/song writers is unrivaled by any living artist outside of that other prickly legend, Bob Dylan. Echoes of Morrison's rugged literateness and his gruff, feverish emotive vocals can be heard in latter day icons ranging from Bruce Springsteen to Elvis Costello". His influence includes U2 (Bono was quoted saying "I am in awe of a musician like Van Morrison. I had to stop listening to Van Morrison records about six months before we made The Unforgettable Fire because I didn't want his very original soul voice to overpower my own."); John Mellencamp ("Wild Night"); Jim Morrison; Joan Armatrading (the only musical influence she will acknowledge); Nick Cave; Rod Stewart; Tom Petty; Rickie Lee Jones (recognises both Laura Nyro and Van Morrison as the main influences on her career); Elton John; Graham Parker; Sinéad O'Connor; Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy; Bob Seger ("I know Bruce Springsteen was very much affected by Van Morrison, and so was I." from Creem interview) ("I've Been Working"); Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners ("Jackie Wilson Said"); Jimi Hendrix ("Gloria"); Jeff Buckley ("The Way Young Lovers Do", "Sweet Thing"); Nick Drake; and numerous others, including the Counting Crows (their "sha-la-la" sequence in Mr Jones, is a tribute to Morrison). Morrison's influence reaches into the country music genre, with Hal Ketchum acknowledging, "He (Van Morrison) was a major influence in my life."
Morrison's influence on the younger generation of singer-songwriters is pervasive: including Irish singer Damien Rice, who has been described as on his way to becoming the "natural heir to Van Morrison"; Ray Lamontagne; James Morrison; Paolo Nutini; Eric Lindell David Gray and Ed Sheeran are also several of the younger artists influenced by Morrison. Glen Hansard of the Irish rock band the Frames (who lists Van Morrison as being part of his holy trinity with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen) commonly covers his songs in concert. American rock band the Wallflowers have covered "Into the Mystic". Canadian blues-rock singer Colin James also covers the song frequently at his concerts. Actor and musician Robert Pattinson has said Van Morrison was his "influence for doing music in the first place". Morrison has shared the stage with Northern Irish singer-songwriter Duke Special, who admits Morrison has been a big influence.
Overall, Morrison has typically been supportive of other artists, often willingly sharing the stage with them during his concerts. On the live album, A Night in San Francisco, he had as his special guests, among others, his childhood idols: Jimmy Witherspoon, John Lee Hooker and Junior Wells.Although he often expresses his displeasure (in interviews and songs) with the music industry and the media in general, he has been instrumental in promoting the careers of many other musicians and singers, such as James Hunter, and fellow Belfast-born brothers, Brian and Bap Kennedy.
Morrison has also influenced the other arts: the German painter Johannes Heisig created a series of lithographs illustrating the book In the Garden – for Van Morrison, published by Städtische Galerie Sonneberg, Germany, in 1997.

Personal life

Morrison lived in Belfast from birth until 1964, when he moved to London with Them, and then three years later, he moved to New York after signing with Bang Records. Facing deportation due to visa problems, he managed to stay in the US when his American girlfriend Janet (Planet) Rigsbee, who had a son named Peter from a previous relationship, agreed to marry him. Once married, Morrison and his wife moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he found work performing in local clubs. The couple had one daughter in 1970, Shana Morrison, who has become a singer-songwriter. Morrison and his family moved around America, living in Boston; Woodstock, New York; and a hilltop home in Fairfax, California. His wife appeared on the cover of the album Tupelo Honey. They divorced in 1973.
Morrison moved back to the UK in the late 1970s, first settling in London's Notting Hill Gate area. Later, he moved to Bath, where he purchased the Wool Hall studio in January 1994. He also has a home in the Irish seaside village of Dalkey near Dublin, where legal actions against two different neighbours concerning safety and privacy issues have been taken to court in 2001 and in 2010. In the former case, Morrison pursued his action all the way to the Irish Supreme Court.
In 2001, nine months into a tour with Linda Gail Lewis promoting their collaboration You Win Again, Lewis left, later filing claims against Morrison for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination. Both claims were later withdrawn, and Morrison's solicitor said, "(Mr Morrison's) pleased that these claims have finally been withdrawn. He accepted a full apology and comprehensive retraction which represents a complete vindication of his stance from the outset. Miss Lewis has given a full and categorical apology and retraction to Mr Morrison." Lewis' legal representative Christine Thompson said both parties had agreed to the terms of the settlement.
Morrison met Irish socialite Michelle Rocca in the summer of 1992, and they often featured in the Dublin gossip columns, an unusual event for the reclusive Morrison. Rocca also appeared on one of his album covers, Days Like This. The couple married and have two children; a daughter was born in February 2006 and a son in August 2007. According to a statement posted on his website, they were divorced in March, 2018.
In December 2009, Morrison's tour manager Gigi Lee gave birth to a son, who she asserted was Morrison's and named after him. Lee announced the birth of the child on Morrison's official website but Morrison denied paternity. Lee's son died in January 2011 from complications of diabetes and Lee died soon after from throat cancer in October 2011.
His father died in 1998 and his mother Violet died in 2016.
Morrison and his family have been affiliated with St. Donard's Parish Church, an Anglican congregation of the Church of Ireland located in east Belfast. During the Troubles, the area was described as "militantly Protestant", although Morrison's parents have always been freethinkers with his father openly declaring himself an atheist and his mother being connected to Jehovah's Witnesses at one point. Van left Northern Ireland before the Troubles started and distanced himself from the conflict, although later "yearned for" Protestant and Catholic reconciliation. Van Morrison had been linked to Scientology in the early 1980s and even thanked its founder L. Ron Hubbard in one of his songs. Later, he became wary of religion, saying: "I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole." He also said it is important to distinguish spirituality from religion: "Spirituality is one thing, religion ... can mean anything from soup to nuts, you know? But it generally means an organisation, so I don't really like to use the word, because that's what it really means. It really means this church or that church ... but spirituality is different, because that's the individual."

Discography

• Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)
• Astral Weeks (1968)
• Moondance (1970)
• His Band and the Street Choir (1970)
• Tupelo Honey (1971)
• Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)
• Hard Nose the Highway (1973)
• Veedon Fleece (1974)
• A Period of Transition (1977)
• Wavelength (1978)
• Into the Music (1979)
• Common One (1980)
• Beautiful Vision (1982)
• Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)
• A Sense of Wonder (1985)
• No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)
• Poetic Champions Compose (1987)
• Irish Heartbeat (1988)
• Avalon Sunset (1989)
• Enlightenment (1990)
• Hymns to the Silence (1991)
• Too Long in Exile (1993)
• Days Like This (1995)
• How Long Has This Been Going On (1995)
• Tell Me Something: The Songs of Mose Allison (1996)
• The Healing Game (1997)
• Back on Top (1999)
• You Win Again (2000)
• Down the Road (2002)
• What's Wrong with This Picture? (2003)
• Magic Time (2005)
• Pay the Devil (2006)
• Keep It Simple (2008)
• Born to Sing: No Plan B (2012)
• Duets: Re-working the Catalogue (2015)
• Keep Me Singing (2016)
• Roll with the Punches (2017)
• Versatile (2017)
• You're Driving Me Crazy (2018)
• The Prophet Speaks (2018)

Recognition and legacy

Morrison has received several major music awards in his career, including two Grammy Awards, with five additional nominations (1982–2004); inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (January 1993), the Songwriters Hall of Fame (June 2003), and the Irish Music Hall of Fame (September 1999); and a Brit Award (February 1994). In addition he has received civil awards: an OBE (June 1996) and an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (1996). He has honorary doctorates from the University of Ulster (1992) and from Queen's University Belfast (July 2001).
The Hall of Fame inductions began in 1993 with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Morrison was the first living inductee not to attend his own ceremony, – Robbie Robertson from the Band accepted the award on his behalf. When Morrison became the initial musician inducted into the Irish Music Hall of Fame, Bob Geldof presented Morrison with the award. Morrison's third induction was into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for "recognition of his unique position as one of the most important songwriters of the past century". Ray Charles presented the award, following a performance during which the pair performed Morrison's "Crazy Love" from the album, Moondance. Morrison's BRIT Award was for his Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Former Beirut hostage, John McCarthy presented the award; while testifying to the importance of Morrison's song "Wonderful Remark" McCarthy called it "a song ... which was very important to us."
Morrison received two civil awards in 1996, firstly the Order of the British Empire for his service to music, secondly an award from the French government which made him an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Along with these state awards he has two honorary degrees in music; an honorary doctorate in literature from the University of Ulster, and an honorary doctorate in music from Queen's University in his hometown of Belfast.
Other awards include an Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1995, the BMI ICON award in October 2004 for Morrison's "enduring influence on generations of music makers", and an Oscar Wilde: Honouring Irish Writing in Film award in 2007 for his contribution to over fifty films, presented by Al Pacino, who compared Morrison to Oscar Wilde – both "visionaries who push boundaries". He was voted the Best International Male Singer of 2007 at the inaugural International Awards in Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, London.
Morrison has also appeared in a number of "Greatest" lists, including the TIME magazine list of The All-Time 100 Albums, which contained Astral Weeks and Moondance, and he appeared at number thirteen on the list of WXPN's 885 All Time Greatest Artists. In 2000, Morrison ranked twenty-fifth on American cable music channel VH1's list of its "100 Greatest Artists of Rock and Roll". In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Van Morrison forty-second on their list of "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Paste ranked him twentieth in their list of "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" in 2006. Q ranked him twenty-second on their list of "100 Greatest Singers" in April 2007 and he was voted twenty-fourth on the November 2008 list of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Three of Morrison's songs appear in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll: "Brown Eyed Girl", "Madame George" and "Moondance".
Morrison has been announced as of the 2010 honorees listed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In August 2013, it was announced that Morrison would receive the Freedom of Belfast, the highest honour the city can bestow. On 15 November 2013, Morrison became the 79th recipient of the award, presented at the Waterfront Hall for his career achievements. After receiving the award, he performed a free concert for residents who won tickets from a lottery system.
In August 2014, a "Van Morrison Trail" was established in East Belfast by Morrison in partnership with the Connswater Community Greenway. It is a self-guided trail, which over the course of 3.5 kilometers leads to eight places that were important to Morrison and inspirational to his music.
On 2 September 2014, Morrison was presented with the Legend award at the GQ Men of the Year ceremony at Royal Opera House in London.
On 13 October 2014, Morrison received his fifth BMI Million-Air Award for 11 million radio plays of the song Brown Eyed Girl making it one of the Top 10 Songs of all time on US radio and television. Morrison has also received Million-Air awards for Have I Told You Lately
The Songwriter's Hall of Fame announced on 8 April 2015 that Morrison would be the 2015 recipient of the Johnny Mercer Award on 18 June 2015 at their 46th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner in New York City.
On 4 February 2016 he was knighted, by Prince Charles, for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland.
In 2017, it was announced that the Americana Music Association would honour Van Morrison with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting at its September Honors & Awards ceremony.

 Morrison performs in 1976 at the Band's final concert filmed for The Last Waltz.

David Gans - originally posted to Flickr as The Last Waltz

Photograph of The Last Waltz, The Band with Bob Dylan and other guests performing I Shall Be Released. seated behind instruments: Garth Hudson (organ), Ringo Starr (drums), Levon Helm (drums) standing: Dr. John, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell (hidden), Neil Young, Rick Danko (Bass), Van Morrison, Bob Dylan (guitar), Ronnie Hawkins, Robbie Robertson (guitar) not shown: Richard Manuel, Eric Clapton, Ron Wood

Quotes

• Music to me is spontaneous, writing is spontaneous and it's all based on not trying to do it. From beginning to end, whether it's writing a song, or playing guitar, or a particular chord sequence, or blowing a horn, it's based on improvisation and spontaneity.
  • Interview by Dermot Stokes in Hot Press (March 1978)

• Where I feel this has cost me is in the personality situation, where you're expected to be a personality. You not only have to write and record, but you have to go out and sell it. Well, I'm not a salesman, and I'm very bad at selling things. If I had to do that for a living, I'd probably be completely broke. I can't sell myself. And I don't even want to. That's something that's not going to change.
  • Interview in Musician magazine (1987)

• Someone once described me as a maverick and that's what I would say. I'm a maverick not by choice but by conviction.
  • As quoted in Too Late to Stop Now (1993) by Steve Turner

• Like I say, the way I write songs is, you know, inspirational. I have to wait for it to happen. And when it happens I get lines, and I just write them down, you know. I'm not sort of a Tin Pan Alley sort of songwriter. I just sort of write down what I get - without censoring or questioning what it is and what it means, you know. Like later on I look at what it means, but not at the time.
  • "Nights in Copenhagen with Van Morrison" (1985) interview by Al Jones

• Music is spiritual. The music business is not.
  • The Times [London] (6 July 1990)

• With Moondance, I wrote the melody first. I played the melody on a soprano sax and I knew I had a song so I wrote lyrics to go with the melody. That's the way I wrote that one. I don't really have any words to particularly describe the song, sophisticated is probably the word I'm looking for. For me, Moondance is a sophisticated song. Frank Sinatra wouldn't be out of place singing that.
  • As quoted in Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison (1997) by Brian Hinton, p. 106

• The odd time something happens and you go into some kind of enchantment (on stage). But you have to work very hard to get that. Most of the time you're just playing and singing the songs, and there's no guarantee that you are going to get anywhere....
  • As quoted in Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography (2003) by Clinton Heylin

• When I was fifteen, I became a professional musician. I got involved with people and did certain things which led me to start making records and touring. And leaving Belfast and going to London and America, one thing led to another and I got caught up in the life that I'm living now...I was very young and i followed something. (1993)
  • As quoted in Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography (2003) by Clinton Heylin

An Oral History of Popular Music (1989)

Smith, Joe, Off The Record An Oral History of Popular Music, Warner Books, Inc., ISBN 0-446-51232-X

• There is one thing I don't understand about Astral Weeks. Of all the records I have ever made that one is definitely not rock. You could throw that record at the wall, take it to music colleges, analyze it to death. Nobody is going to tell me that it is a rock album. Why they keep calling it one I have no idea.

• People think I'm eccentric, cranky. If I'm eccentric because I've never been into mainstream things, then I am eccentric.

• I've never been comfortable working live, and I'm still not. I was always more music-oriented and less star-oriented, which is why I've never been comfortable on big stages in big halls.

• The people I was listening to never sold a lot of records. John Lee Hooker was never on the charts, so I was never in it from a commercial point of view. Other people expected things from my records, but I never did.

• I don't think I will ever mellow out. I think if you mellow out, you get eaten up. You become like a commodity. So I don't think I will mellow out. It is not in my blood.

Song lyrics

Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)

• Hey where did we go,
  Days when the rains came
  Down in the hollow,
  Playin' a new game,
  Laughing and a running hey, hey
  Skipping and a jumping
  In the misty morning fog with
  Our hearts a thumpin' and you
  My brown eyed girl,
  You my brown eyed girl.
  • Brown Eyed Girl

• So hard to find my way,
  Now that I'm all on my own.
  I saw you just the other day,
  My how you have grown,
  Cast my memory back there, Lord
  Sometimes I'm overcome thinking 'bout
  Making love in the green grass
  Behind the stadium with you
  My brown eyed girl
  You my brown eyed girl.
  • Brown Eyed Girl
   
  
  
  

  Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison - YouTube

  
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6W7ZzSUizA
  ▶ 3:08
  Sep 25, 2015 - Uploaded by SummerRadio

  song: Brown Eyed Girl Van Morrison cd: Blowin' Your Mind! 1967.
   

Astral Weeks (1969)

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ech6pZoBJ4

▶ 7:06

May 6, 2010 - Uploaded by SpaceOdyssee0

Van Morrison - Astral Weeks. SpaceOdyssee0. Loading... Unsubscribe from SpaceOdyssee0? Cancel ..

• If I ventured in the slipstream,
  Between the viaducts of your dream,
  Where immobile steel rims crack,
  And the ditch in the back roads stop,
  Could you find me?
  Would you kiss my eyes?
  To lay me down,
  In silence easy,
  To be born again.
  To be born again.
  • Astral Weeks

• Got a home on high
  Ain't nothing but a stranger in this world
  I'm nothing but a stranger in this world
  I got a home on high
  In another land
  So far away.
  Astral Weeks

•  

   

  Van Morrison - Beside You - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke27QakSPxM

  

  Lyrics

  Little Jimmy's gone
  Way out of the backstreet
  Out of the window
  Through the fallin' rain
  Right on time
  Right on time
  That's why Broken Arrow
  Waved his finger down the road so dark and narrow
  In the evenin'
  Just before the Sunday six-bells chime, six-bells chime
  And all the dogs are barkin'
  Way on down the diamond-studded highway where you wander
  And you roam from your retreat and view
  Way over on the railroad
  Tomorrow all the tippin' trucks will unload
  Every scrapbook stuck will glue
  And I'll stand beside you
  Beside you child
  To never never never wonder why at all
  No no no no no no no no
  To never never wonder why at all
  To never never never wonder why it's gotta be
  It has to be
  Way across the country where the hillside mountain glide
  The dynamo of your smile caressed the barefoot virgin child to wander
  Past your window with a lantern lit
  You held it in the doorway and you cast against the pointed island breeze
  Said your time was open, go well on your merry way
  Past the brazen footsteps of the silence easy
  You breathe in you breathe out you breathe in you breathe out you breath in
  You breathe out you breathe in you breathe out
  And you're high on your high-flyin' cloud
  Wrapped up in your magic shroud as ecstasy surrounds you
  This time it's found you
  You turn around you turn around you turn around you turn around
  And I'm beside you
  Beside you
  Oh darlin'
  To never never wonder why at all
  No no no no no
  To never never never wonder why at all
  To never never never wonder why it's gotta be
  It has to be
  And I'm beside you
  Beside you
  Oh child
  To never never wonder why at all
  I'm beside you
  Beside you
  Beside you
  Beside you
  Oh child

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Beside You lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Astral Weeks

  Released: 1968

  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock

  

   
  
  

  

  Van Morrison - Sweet Thing - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QzDWIOUnM0
  
  

  

• Lyrics

  And I will stroll the merry way
  And jump the hedges first
  And I will drink the clear
  Clean water for to quench my thirst
  And I shall watch the ferry-boats
  And they'll get high
  On a bluer ocean
  Against tomorrow's sky
  And I will never grow so old again
  And I will walk and talk
  In gardens all wet with rain

  Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
  My, my, my, my, my sweet thing
  And I shall drive my chariot
  Down your streets and cry
  Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite
  And I don't know why'
  And you shall take me strongly
  In your arms again
  And I will not remember
  That I even felt the pain.
  We shall walk and talk
  In gardens all misty and wet with rain
  And I will never, never, never
  Grow so old again.

  Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
  My, my, my, my, my sweet thing
  And I will raise my hand up
  Into the night time sky
  And count the stars
  That's shining in your eye
  Just to dig it all an' not to wonder
  That's just fine
  And I'll be satisfied
  Not to read in between the lines
  And I will walk and talk
  In gardens all wet with rain
  And I will never, ever, ever, ever
  Grow so old again.
  Oh sweet thing, sweet thing
  Sugar-baby with your champagne eyes
  And your saint-like smile

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Sweet Thing lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc
  Artist: Van Morrison
  Album: Astral Weeks
  Released: 1968
  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock
  
  
  

   

  
  
  

  

   

  Van Morrison - Cyprus Avenue - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8jPDdHd9y8

  

  Lyrics

  Well, I'm caught one more time
  Up on Cyprus Avenue
  Caught one more time
  Up on Cyprus Avenue

  And I'm conquered in a car seat
  Not a thing that I can do
  I may go crazy
  Before that mansion on the hill
  I may go crazy
  Before that mansion on the hill
  But my heart keeps beating faster
  And my feet can't keep still
  And all the little girls rhyme something
  On the way back home from school
  And all the little girls rhyme something
  On the way back home from school
  And the leaves fall one by one
  And call the autumn time a fool
  Yeah, my t-tongue gets tied
  Every, every, every time I try to speak
  My tongue gets tied
  Every time I try to speak
  And my inside shakes just like a leaf on a tree
  I think I'll go on by the river with my cherry, cherry wine
  I believe I'll go walking by the railroad with my cherry, cherry wine
  If I pass the rumbling station where the lonesome engine drivers pine
  Wait a minute, yonder come my lady
  Rainbow ribbons in her hair
  Yonder come my lady
  Rainbow ribbons in her hair
  Six white horses and a carriage
  She's returning from the fair
  Baby, baby, baby

  Well, I'm caught one more time
  Up on Cyprus Avenue
  Caught one more time
  Up on Cyprus Avenue

  And I'm conquered in a car seat
  And I'm looking straight at you
  Way up on, way up on, way up on, way up on, way up on, way up on, way up on
  The avenue of trees
  Keep walking down
  In the wind and rain, darling
  You keep walking down when the sun shone through the trees
  Nobody, no, no, no, no, nobody stops me from loving you baby
  So young and bold, fourteen-year old
  Baby, baby, baby

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Cyprus Avenue lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Astral Weeks

  Released: 1968

  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock

  

  
  

  

  Van Morrison - Madame George - YouTube

   

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrOgYjp20j0

  
  

  

  
  

  Lyrics

  Down on Cyprus Avenue
  With a childlike vision leaping into view
  Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe
  Ford and Fitzroy, Madame George
  Marching with the soldier boy behind
  He's much older now with hat on drinking wine
  And that smell of sweet perfume comes drifting through
  The cool night air like Shalimar

  And outside they're making all the stops
  The kids out in the street collecting bottle-tops
  Gone for cigarettes and matches in the shops
  Happy taken Madame George
  That's when you fall
  Whoa, that's when you fall
  Yeah, that's when you fall
  When you fall into a trance

  Sitting on a sofa playing games of chance
  With your folded arms and history books
  You glance into the eyes of Madame George
  And you think you found the bag
  You're getting weaker and your knees begin to sag
  In a corner playing dominoes in drag
  The one and only Madame George

  And then from outside the frosty window raps
  She jumps up and says, Lord, have mercy I think it's the cops
  And immediately drops everything she gots
  Down into the street below
  And you know you gotta go
  On that train from Dublin up to Sandy Row
  Throwing pennies at the bridges down below
  And the rain, hail, sleet, and snow

  Say goodbye to Madame George
  Dry your eye for Madame George
  Wonder why for Madame George
  And as you leave, the room is filled with music
  Laughing, music, dancing, music all around the room
  And all the little boys come around, walking away from it all

  So cold, and as you're about to leave
  She jumps up and says, hey love, you forgot your gloves
  And the gloves to love, to love the gloves
  To say goodbye to Madame George
  Dry your eye for Madame George
  Wonder why for Madame George
  Dry your eyes for Madame George

  Say goodbye in the wind and the rain on the back street
  In the backstreet, in the back street
  Say goodbye to Madame George
  In the backstreet, in the back street, in the back street
  Down home, down home in the back street
  Gotta go, say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
  Dry your eye, your eye, your eye, your eye, your eye

  Say goodbye to Madame George
  And the loves to love to love the love
  Say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
  Say goodbye goodbye, goodbye, goodbye to Madame George
  Dry your eye for Madame George
  Wonder why for Madame George
  The love's to love, the love's to love, the love's to love
  Say goodbye, goodbye

  Get on the train
  Get on the train, the train, the train
  This is the train, this is the train
  Whoa, say goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye
  Get on the train, get on the train

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Madame George lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Astral Weeks

  Released: 1968

  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock

  
  

  

  
  

  

   

  Van Morrison - Ballerina - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdB5N4meH9g

  

  Lyrics

  Spread your wings
  Come on fly awhile
  Straight to my arms
  Little angel child
  You know you only
  Lonely twenty-two story block

  And if somebody, not just anybody
  Wanted to get close to you
  For instance, me, baby
  All you gotta do
  Is ring a bell

  Step right up, step right up
  And step right up
  Ballerina
  Crowd will catch you
  Fly it, sigh it, try it
  Well, I may be wrong

  But something deep in my heart tells me I'm right and I don't think so
  You know I saw the writing on the wall
  When you came up to me
  Child, you were heading for a fall

  But if it gets to you
  And you feel like you just can't go on
  All you gotta do
  Is ring a bell

  Step right up, and step right up
  And step right up
  Just like a ballerina
  Stepping lightly
  Alright, well it's getting late
  Yes it is, yes it is

  And this time I forget to slip into your slumber
  The light is on the left side of your head
  And I'm standing in your doorway
  And I'm mumbling and I can't remember the last thing that ran through my head

  Here come a man, here come a man and he say, he say the show must go on
  So all you gotta do
  Is ring the bell

  And step right up, and step right up
  And step right up
  Just like a ballerina, yeah, yeah
  Crowd will catch you
  Fly it, sigh it, c'mon, die it, yeah
  Just like a ballerina
  Just like a, just like a, just like a, just like a ballerina

  Get on up, get on up, keep a-moving, moving on, moving on, moving on up
  Little bit higher, baby
  You know, you know, you know, get on up baby
  Alright, a-keep on, a-keep on, a-keep on pushing, keep on, keep on pushing
  Stepping lightly

  Just like a ballerina
  Ooo-we baby, take off your shoes
  Working on
  Just like a ballerina

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Ballerina lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Astral Weeks

  Released: 1968

  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock

  
  

   

  
  

  

   

  Van Morrison - Slim Slow Slider - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMEExDZEgoo

  

  Lyrics

  Slim slow slider
  Horse you ride
  Is white as snow
  Slim slow slider
  Horse you ride
  Is white as snow
  Tell it everywhere you go
  Saw you walking
  Down by the Ladbroke Grove this morning
  Saw you walking
  Down by the Ladbroke Grove this morning
  Catching pebbles for some sandy beach
  You're out of reach
  Saw you early this morning
  With your brand new boy and your Cadillac
  Saw you early this morning
  With your brand new boy and your Cadillac
  You're gone for something
  And I know you won't be back
  I know you're dying, baby
  And I know you know it, too
  I know you're dying
  And I know you know it, too
  Every time I see you
  I just don't know what to do

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Slim Slow Slider lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Astral Weeks

  Released: 1968

  Genres: Singer-Songwriter, Rock

  

Moondance (1970)

► 4:41

Van Morrison - Moondance - YouTube

YouTube‎ · ‎barbichello

 

• Well it's a marvellous night for a moondance,
  With the stars up above in your eyes.
  A fantabulous night to make romance,
  'Neath the cover of October skies.
  • Moondance
   
  
  

   

  Van Morrison ~ Crazy Love 1970 lyrics YouTube - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeE7BOLB8Jc

  

  Lyrics

  I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
  And the heaven's open every time she smiles
  And when I come to her that's where I belong
  Yet I'm running to her like a river's song

  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

  She's got a fine sense of humor when I'm feeling low down
  Yeah when I come to her when the sun goes down
  Take away my trouble, take away my grief
  Take away my heartache, in the night like a thief

  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

  Yes I need her in the daytime (I need her)
  Yes I need her in the night (I need her)
  Yes I want to throw my arms around her (I need her)
  Kiss and hug her, kiss and hug her tight

  Yeah when I'm returning from so far away
  She gives me some sweet lovin' brighten up my day
  Yes it makes me righteous, yes it makes me whole
  Yes it makes me mellow down in to my soul

  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love
  She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Crazy Love lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  
  

  

   

  Caravan , Van Morrison , 1970 Vinyl - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYJJ55oD02A

  
  

  

  Lyrics

  And the caravan is on its way
  I can hear the merry gypsies play
  Mama mama look at Ammaro
  She's a-playin with the radio
  La, la, la, la...

  And the caravan has all my friends
  It will stay with me until the end
  Gypsy Robin, Sweet Emma Rose
  Tell me everything I need to know
  La, la, la...

  Turn up your radio and let me hear the song
  Switch on your electric light
  Then we can get down to what is really wrong
  I long to hold you tight so I can feel you
  Sweet lady of the night I shall reveal you

  Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher radio
  Turn it up, turn it up, so you know, radio
  La, la, la, la...

  And the caravan is painted red and white
  That means ev'rybody's staying overnight
  Barefoot gypsy player round the campfire sing and play
  And a woman tells us of her ways
  La, la, la, la...

  Turn up your radio and let me hear the song
  Switch on your electric light
  Then we can get down to what is really wrong
  I long to hold you tight so I can feel you
  Sweet lady of the night I shall reveal you
  Turn it up, turn it up, little bit higher, radio
  Turn it up, that's enough, so you know it's got soul
  Radio, radio turn it up, hum
  La, la, la, la...

  Songwriters: van Morrison

  Caravan lyrics © WB Music Corp., Caledonia Soul Music, WB Music Corp. O/B/o Caledonia Soul Music, WB MUSIC CORP

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

  And it Stoned Me by Van Morrison - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h33h90xbFeM

  

  Lyrics

  Half a mile from the county fair
  And the rain came pourin' down
  Me and Billy standin' there
  With a silver half a crown

  Hands are full of a fishin' rod
  And the tackle on our backs
  We just stood there gettin' wet
  With our backs against the fence

  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Hope it don't rain all day

  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
  And it stoned me
  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like goin' home
  And it stoned me

  Then the rain let up and the sun came up
  And we were gettin' dry
  Almost let a pick-up truck nearly pass us by
  So we jumped right in and the driver grinned

  And he dropped us up the road
  Yeah, we looked at the swim and we jumped right in
  Not to mention fishing poles

  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Let it run all over me

  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
  And it stoned me
  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like goin' home
  And it stoned me

  On the way back home we sang a song
  But our throats were getting dry
  Then we saw the man from across the road
  With the sunshine in his eyes

  Well he lived all alone in his own little home
  With a great big gallon jar
  There were bottles too, one for me and you
  And he said Hey! There you are

  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Oh, the water
  Get it myself from the mountain stream

  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
  And it stoned me
  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like goin' home
  And it stoned me

  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
  And it stoned me
  And it stoned me to my soul
  Stoned me just like goin' home
  And it stoned me

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  And It Stoned Me lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

  Van Morrison - "Into The Mystic" (Official Vinyl Video) - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIUmrSJWAU

  

  Lyrics

  We were born before the wind
  Also younger than the sun
  Ere the bonnie boat was won
  As we sailed into the mystic

  Hark, now hear the sailors cry
  Smell the sea and feel the sky
  Let your soul and spirit fly
  Into the mystic

  And when that fog horn blows
  I will be coming home, mmm mmm
  And when the fog horn blows
  I want to hear it
  I don't have to fear it

  I wanna rock your gypsy soul
  Just like way back in the days of old
  Then magnificently we will float
  Into the mystic

  When that fog horn blows
  You know I will be coming home
  And when that fog horn whistle blows
  I gotta hear it
  I don't have to fear it

  And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
  Just like way back in the days of old
  And together we will float
  Into the mystic
  Come on girl

  Will they stop now

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Into the Mystic lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

   

  Van Morrison - These Dreams Of You (Original) - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WapeKX1J1B

  

  Lyrics

  I dreamed you paid your dues in Canada
  And left me to come through
  I headed for the right way
  I knew exactly just what to do
  I dreamed we played cards in the dark
  And you lost and you lied
  Wasn't very hard to do
  But hurt me deep down inside

  Mmmm, these dreams of you
  So real and so true
  These dreams of you
  So real and so true

  My back was up against the wall
  And you slowly just walked away
  You never really heard my call
  When I cried out that way
  With my face against the sun
  You pointed out for me to go
  Then you said I was the one
  Had to reap what you did sow

  Mmmm, these dreams of you
  So real and so true
  These dreams of you
  So real and so true

  And hush-a-bye, don't ever think about it
  Go to sleep don't ever say one word
  Close your eyes, you are an angel sent down from above

  And Ray Charles was shot down
  But he got up to do his best
  A crowd of people gathered round
  And to the question answered "yes"
  And you slapped me on the face
  I turned around the other cheek
  You couldn't really stand the pace
  And I would never be so meek

  Mmmm, these dreams of you
  So real and so true
  These dreams of you
  So real and so true (but hush-a-bye)

  Hush-a-bye, don't ever think about it
  Go to sleep don't ever say one word
  Close your eyes, you are an angel sent down from above

  Then hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye, don't ever think about it

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  These Dreams of You lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

   

  brand new day ~ van morrison - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ihWZRWu5OI

  

  Lyrics

  When all the dark clouds roll away
  And the sun begins to shine
  I see my freedom from across the way
  And it comes right in on time
  Well it shines so bright and it gives so much light
  And it comes from the sky above
  Make me feel so free make me feel like me
  And it lights my life with love

  And it seems like (seems like) and it feels like (feels like)
  And it seems like (seems like), yes it feels like (feels like)
  A brand new day
  A brand new day, yeah, yeah

  I was lost and double crossed
  With my hands behind my back
  I was longtime hurt and thrown in the dirt
  Shoved out on the railroad track
  I've been used, abused and so confused
  And I didn't have nowhere to run
  But I stood and looked
  And my eyes got hooked
  On that beautiful morning sun

  And it seems like (seems like) and it feels like (feels like)
  And it seems like (seems like), yes it feels like (feels like)
  A brand new day
  A brand new day, yeah, yeah

  And the sun shines down all on the ground
  Yeah and the grass is oh so green
  And my heart is still and I've got the will
  And I don't really feel so mean
  Here it comes, here it comes
  Here it comes right now
  And it comes right in on time
  Well it eases me and it pleases me
  And it satisfies my mind

  And it seems like (seems like) yes it feels like (feels like)
  And it seems like (seems like), yes it feels like (feels like)
  A brand new day
  A brand new day, yeah, yeah, brand new day

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Brand New Day lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

   

  Van Morrison - Everyone - original - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QewI_iNKcHg

  
  

  

  Lyrics

  We shall walk again all along the lane
  Down the avenue just like we used to
  With our heads so high smile at passers by
  Yeah we'll softly sigh ay, ay, ay, ay, ay

  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone
  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone

  By the winding stream we shall lie and dream
  Yeah make dreams come true if we want them to
  Yes all will come play the pipes and drum
  Sing a happy song and we'll sing along

  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone
  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone

  We shall walk again all along down the lane
  Down the avenue just like we used to
  With our heads so high smile at passers by
  Then we'll softly sigh ay, ay, ay, ay, ay

  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone
  Everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Everyone lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  

  
  

  

   

   

   

  Van Morrison - Glad Tidings (Original Version) - YouTube

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPdShWevWoU

  

  Lyrics

  And they'll lay you down low in the easy
  And the lips that you kiss will say Christmas.
  And the miles that you traveled the distance

  So believe no lies, dry your eyes and realize
  That surprise
  La, la, la, la la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
  And the businessmen will shake hands and talk in numbers
  And the princess will wake up from her slumber
  Then all the knights will step forth with their arm bands
  And ev'ry stranger you meet in the street will make demands
  So believe no lies, then dry your eyes and realize
  That surprise
  La, la, la, la la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

  And we'll send you glad tidings from New York
  Open up your eyes so you may see
  Ask you not to read between the lines
  Hope that you will come in right on time
  And they'll talk to you while you're in trances
  And you'll visualize not taking any chances
  But meet them halfway with love, peace and persuasion
  And expect them to rise for the occasion
  Don't it gratify when you see it materialize
  Right in front of your eyes
  That surprise

  La, la, la, la la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la

  And we'll send you glad tidings from New York
  Open up your eyes so you may see
  Ask you not to read between the lines
  Hope that you will come in right on time
  And they'll lay you down low and easy

  Songwriters: Van Morrison

  Glad Tidings lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

  Artist: Van Morrison

  Album: Moondance

  Released: 1970

  Genres: Country music, Classic Rock

  
  

  

His Band and the Street Choir (1970)

• Don't want to discuss it, I think it's time for a change.
  You may get disgusted, some think that I'm strange
  In that case I'll go underground, get some heavy rest
  Never have to worry, about what is worst and what is best.
  • Domino

• Someone to hold onto
  And keep me from all fear
  Someone to be my guiding light
  And keep me ever dear
  To keep me from my selfishness
  To keep me from my sorrow
  To lead me on to givingness
  So I can see a new tomorrow.
  • If I Ever Needed Someone

• Why did you leave America?
  Why did you let me down?
  And now that things seem better off,
  Why do you come around?
  You know I just can't see you now
  In my new world crystal ball.
  You know I just can't free you now,
  That's not my job at all.
  • Street Choir

Tupelo Honey (1971)

• And all the girls walk by
  Dressed up for each other
  And the boys do the boogie-woogie
  On the corner of the street
  And the people passin' by
  Just stare in wild wonder
  And the inside juke-box
  Roars out just like thunder.
  • Wild Night

• Waiting for the sun to shine
  And you know sometimes it gets so painful
  Just like talking to yourself
  When everything don't seem to have no rhyme or reason we all go
  Do do loo do do, do do loo do do
  Waiting for the sun to shine.
  • (Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball

• You can't stop us on the road to freedom
  You can't stop us 'cause our eyes can see
  Men with insight, men in granite
  Knights in armor intent on chivalry.
  • Tupelo Honey

Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)

• I'm in heaven, I'm in heaven
  I'm in heaven when you smile, when you smile.
  • Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)

• Laying underneath the stars
  Can be so much fun
  Especially when you're feeling good
  When you're with the one you love.
  • Gypsy

• And I shall search my soul,
  I shall search my very soul,
  For the lion,
  For the lion,
  For the lion,
  For the lion inside me.
  • Listen to the Lion

• And we're sailing, we're sailing,
  Way up to Caledonia,
  We're from Denmark.
  • Listen to the Lion

• Oh redwood tree,
  Please let us under,
  When we were young we used to go,
  Under the redwood tree,
  And it smelled like rain,
  Maybe even thunder,
  Won't you keep us from all harm,
  Wonderful redwood tree.
  • Redwood Tree

Hard Nose the Highway (1973)

• Look at the ivy on the cold clinging wall
  Look at the flowers and the green grass so tall
  It's not a matter of when push comes to shove
  It's just an hour on the wings of a dove.
  • Warm Love

• Put your money where your mouth is
  Then we can get something going
  In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime
  And leave one or two cards showing.
  • Hard Nose the Highway

• Did you ever hear about the great deception?
  Well the plastic revolutionaries take the money and run.
  Have you ever been down to love city?
  Where they rip you off with a smile,
  And it don't take a gun.
  • The Great Deception

• Leaves of brown they fall to the ground.
  And it's here, over there leaves around.
  Shut the door, dim the lights and relax.
  What is more, your desire or the facts?
  • Autumn Song

Veedon Fleece (1974)

• Fair play to you,
  Kilarney's lakes are so blue,
  And the architecture I'm taking in with my mind,
  So fine.
  • Fair Play

• And there's only one man knows way to go,
  And we say 'Geronimo.'
  • Fair Play

• Hi-ho, silver! Tit for tat!
  And I love you for that.
  • Fair Play

• Linden Arden stole the highlights
  With one hand tied behind his back.
  Loved the morning sun and whiskey
  Ran like water in his veins.
  Loved to go to church on Sunday,
  Even though he was a drinkin' man.
  When the boys came to San Francisco,
  They were looking for his life.
  But he found out where they were drinking,
  Met them face to face outside.
  Cleaved their heads off with a hatchet,
  Lord, he was a drinkin' man.
  And when somebody tried to get above him,
  He just took the law into his own hands.
  Linden Arden stole the highlights,
  And they put his fingers through the glass.
  He had heard all those stories many, many times before,
  And he did not care, nor know, to ask.
  And he loved the little children like they were his very own.
  You say 'Someday, he may get lonely,
  Now he's livin', livin' with a gun.'
  • Linden Arden Stole the Highlights

• When the ghost comes round at midnight
  Well you both can have some fun
  He can drive you mad, he can make you sad
  He can keep you from the sun
  When they take him down, he'll be both safe and sound
  And the hand does fit the glove
  And no matter what they tell you,
  There's good and evil in everyone.
  • Who Was That Masked Man

• Come here my love
  And I will lift my spirits high for you
  I'd like to fly away and spend a day or two
  Just contemplating the fields and leaves and talking about nothing
  Just layin' down in shades of effervescent, effervescent odors
  And shades of time and tide.
  • Come Here My Love

A Period of Transition (1977)

• Well let them take you for a clown
  And they're bound to bring you down.
  You got to make it through the world if you can.
  Think they're doing you wrong
  But you got here on your own.
  You got to make it through the world if you can.
  • You Gotta Make It Through the World

• In the land of a thousand dances,
  I dance with you.
  I was out I was taking my chances
  When dreams came true
  When you came into my dream
  Like from a whisper to a scream.
  • Heavy Connection

Wavelength (1978)

• And I shall get to know you
  In these lifetimes
  In awe and wonder
  On down through the years
  The nighttime angel spreads her wings around me
  I feel the silence
  And my doubts are cleared.
  • Lifetimes

• To Santa Fe
  Do you need it?
  Can you feel it in the same old way?
  I can feel it from the mountain top
  Runnin' down to the foamy brine
  In a rest'rant 'cross a table top
  Looking into a glass of wine
  Whispering in the evening breeze
  Green leaves glist'ning eucalyptus trees
  Can you hear them?
  Or get near them?
  • Santa Fe/Beautiful Obsession

• Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
  They thought great thoughts about liberty
  Poets wrote down words that did fit
  Writers wrote books
  Thinkers thought about it.
  • Take It Where You Find It

Into the Music (1979)

• From the dark end of the street
  To the bright side of the road
  We’ll be lovers once again on the
  Bright side of the road
  • Bright Side of the Road

• Some people spend their time just runnin' round in circles
  Always chasing some exotic bird
  I prefer to spend some time just listening for that special something
  That I've never ever heard
  I like a new song to sing, another show or somewhere entirely different to be
  But baby you make me feel so free.
  • You Make Me Feel So Free

• Walkin' on a city street who would think you could ever be touched
  By a total stranger, not me
  But when you came up to me that day and I listened to your story
  It reminded me so much of myself
  It wasn't what you said but the way it felt to me
  About a search and a journey just like mine.
  • Angeliou

• When you hear the music ringin' in your soul
  And you feel it in your heart and it grows and grows
  And it comes from the backstreet rock & roll and the healing has begun
  I want you to put on your pretty summer dress
  You can wear your Easter bonnet and all the rest
  And I wanna make love to you yes, yes, yes and the healing has begun.
  • And the Healing Has Begun

• You know what they're writing about
  Baby you know what they're writing about
  It's a thing called love down through the ages
  Makes you wanna cry sometimes
  Makes you feel like you wanna lay down and die sometimes
  Makes you high sometimes
  But when you really get in it lifts you right up.
  • You Know What They're Writing About

Common One (1980)

• Beside the garden walls,
  We walk in haunts of ancient peace.
  At night we rest and go to sleep
  In haunts of ancient peace.
  The love and light we seek,
  The words we do not need to speak,
  Here in this wondrous way we keep
  These haunts of ancient peace.
  • Haunts Of Ancient Peace

• Open your arms in the early mornin'
  When the light comes shinin' through
  Can't you hear my heart beat just for you?
  It's beating so wild, honey.
  And light comes shinin'
  Singin' my song
  And the band is playin'
  And the music is tried and true.
  • Wild Honey

Beautiful Vision (1982)

• I have seen without perceiving
  I have been another man
  Let me pierce the realm of glamour
  So I know just what I am.
  • Dweller on the Threshold.

• What's my line?
  I'm happy cleaning windows
  Take my time
  I'll see you when my love grows
  Baby don't let it slide
  I'm a working man in my prime
  Cleaning windows...
  • Cleaning Windows

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)

• Rave on, down through the industrial revolution
  Empiricism, atomic and nuclear age
  Rave on down through time and space down through the corridors
  Rave on words on printed page.
  • Rave On, John Donne

• Oh won't you stay
  Stay a while with your own ones
  Don't ever stray
  Stray so far from your own ones
  'Cause the world is so cold
  Don't care nothing for your soul
  That you share with your own ones.
  • Irish Heartbeat

• Your street, rich street or poor
  Used to always be sure, on your street
  There's a place in your heart you know from the start
  Can't be complete outside of the street
  Keep moving on through the joy and the pain
  Sometimes you got to look back
  To the street again
  Would you prefer all those castles in Spain?
  Or the view of your street from your window pane?
  • The Street Only Knew Your Name

A Sense of Wonder (1985)

• Showed me pictures in the gallery
  Showed me novels on the shelf
  Put my hands across the table
  Gave me knowledge of myself.
  Showed me visions, showed me nightmares
  Gave me dreams that never end
  Showed me light out of the tunnel
  When there was darkness all around instead.
  • Tore Down a la Rimbaud.

• I walked in my greatcoat
  Down through the days of the leaves.
  No before after, yes after before
  We were shining our light into the days of blooming wonder
  In the eternal presence, in the presence of the flame.
  • A Sense of Wonder

• There's an angel that's watching right over you
  All your trials have not been in vain
  Won't you lift your head up to the starry night
  Finding strength in the things that remain.
  • A New Kind of Man

• When a man comes through
  He must do what he's supposed to do
  When a man comes through.
  He can't do what everyone expects him to.
  • A New Kind of Man

No Guru (1986)

• Got my ticket at the airport
  Well I guess I've been marking time
  I've been living in another country
  That operates along entirely different lines
  Keep me away from porter or whiskey
  Don't play anything sentimental it'll make me cry
  I've got to go back my friend
  Is there really any need to ask why?
  • Got to Go Back

• No Guru, no method, no teacher
  Just you and I and nature
  And the Father and the
  Son and the Holy Ghost
  In the garden wet with rain.
  • In the Garden

• Thanks for the information
  Never give a sucker an even break
  When he's breaking through
  To a new level of consciousness
  There always seems to be more
  Obstacles in the way
  Thanks for the information I know
  It's only a combat zone
  Thanks for the memory,
  I'll just have
  To carry on on my own.
  • Thanks For the Information

• When you come down
  From your Ivory Tower
  You will see how it really must be
  To be like me, to see like me,
  To feel like me.
  • Ivory Tower

Poetic Champions Compose (1987)

• Let go into the mystery
  Let yourself go
  You've got to open up your heart
  That's all I know
  Trust what I say and do what you're told
  Baby, and all your dirt will turn
  Into gold.
  • The Mystery

• There's a dream where the contents are visible
  Where the poetic champions compose
  Will you breathe not a word of this secrecy, and
  Will you still be my special rose?
  • Queen of the Slipstream

• I forgot that love existed, troubled in my mind.
  Heartache after heartache, worried all the time.
  I forgot that love existed
  Then I saw the light
  Everyone around me make everything alright.
  • I Forgot That Love Existed

• I've been travellin' a hard road
  Baby lookin' for someone exactly like you
  I've been carryin' my heavy load
  Waiting for the light to come shining through
  Someone like you
  Make it all worth while
  Someone like you
  Make me satisfied
  Someone exactly like you.
  • Someone Like You

• Well I've got to get out of the rat-race now
  I'm tired of the ways of mice and men
  And the empires all turning into rust again.
  Out of everything nothing remains the same
  That's why I'm cloud hidden
  Cloud hidden
  Whereabouts unknown.
  • Alan Watts Blues

• Won't you guide me through the dark night of the soul
  That I may better understand your way
  Let me be just and worthy to receive
  All the blessings of the Lord into my life.
  • Give Me My Rapture.

• Sometimes, when the spirit moves me
  I can do many wondrous things
  I wanna know when the spirit moves you
  Did ye get healed?
  • Did Ye Get Healed?

Avalon Sunset (1989)

• Whenever God shines his light on me
  Opens up my eyes so I can see
  When I look up in the darkest night
  I know everything's going to be alright
  In deep confusion, in great despair
  When I reach out for him he is there
  When I am lonely as I can be
  I know that God shines his light on me.
  • Whenever God Shines His Light

• I'd love to write another song
  Baby especially for you
  I'd love to write another song
  And feel things bright and new
  In poetry I'd carve it well
  I'd even make it rhyme
  I'd love to write another song
  Just to get some peace of mind.
  • I'd Love to Write Another Song

• Have I told you lately that I love you?
  Have I told you there's no one above you?
  Fill my heart with gladness,
  Take away my sadness,
  Ease my troubles, that's what you do.
  • Have I Told You Lately

• I look at the side of your face as the sunlight comes
  Streaming through the window in the autumn sunshine
  And all the time going to Coney Island I'm thinking,
  Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time.
  • Coney Island

• Ambition will take you
  And ride you too far and
  Conservatism bring you to boredom once more
  Sit down by the river
  And watch the stream flow
  Recall all the dreams
  That you once used to know
  The things you've forgotten
  That took you away
  To pastures not greener but meaner.
  • I'm Tired Joey Boy

• Whatever it takes to fulfill his mission
  That is the way we must go
  But you've got to do it your own way
  Tear down the old, bring up the new.
  • When Will I Ever Learn to Live in God?

• These are the days of the endless summer
  These are the days, the time is now
  There is no past, there's only future
  There's only here, there's only now.
  • These Are the Days

Enlightenment (1990)

• Some people say
  You can make it on your own
  Oh you can make it if you try
  I know better now
  You can't stand up alone
  Oh baby that is why.I'm real real gone
  I can't stand up by myself
  Don't you know I need your help
  You're a friend of mine
  And I'm real real gone.
  
  • Real Real Gone

• Enlightenment says the world is nothing
  Nothing but a dream, everything's an illusion
  And nothing is real.
  • Enlightenment

• The warm look of radiance on your face
  And your heart beating close to mine
  And the evening fading in the candle glow
  This must be what it's all about
  Oh this must be what it's all about
  This must be what paradise is like
  So quiet in here. So peaceful in here
  So quiet in here, yeah, so peaceful in here.
  • So Quiet In Here

• The way you see me walking on
  That's why I'm telling you in song
  There's only one way to get ahead
  You've got to give it up instead
  Start all over again.
  • Start All Over Again

Quotes about Morrison

Alphabetized by author

• Van Morrison is interested, obsessed with how much musical or verbal information he can compress into a small space, and, almost, conversely, how far he can spread one note, word, sound, or picture.
  • Lester Bangs in Stranded (1979)

• They asked me to come to New York to help celebrate Van's induction into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. I went because I see Van as one of the cats that has kept the faith. Like me, he's always himself — he stays true to the music that means the most to him. It meant a lot to sing "Crazy Love" on stage that evening.
  • Ray Charles, as quoted in About Ray Charles (Genius Loves Company) by David Ritz

• He extends himself only to express himself. Alone among rock's great figures — and even in that company he is one of the greatest — Morrison is adamantly inward. And unique. Although he freely crosses musical boundaries —R. and B., Celtic melodies, jazz, rave-up rock, hymns, down-and-dirty blues — he can unfailingly be found in the same strange place: on his own wavelength.
  • Jay Cocks, in "Listen to the Lion" in TIME magazine (28 October 1991)

• I love Van Morrison because he always seems to be searching, never found. I don't know about his personal life but in his music he gives the listener only a question. The answer lies elsewhere to be attained someday.
  • Glen Hansard in interview with Steve Stockman in The Phantom Tollbooth

• Van Morrison remains a singer who can be compared to no other in the history of modern popular music.
  • Greil Marcus, When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison (2010)

• Van Morrison should be friggin' canonized.
  • Sinead O'Conner at the 1994 Brit awards

• My first impression of Van Morrison was that he was a terrific singer. No, I take that back. I thought he was a really dirty singer. Everything he did had a real big pair of balls to it.
  • Jimmy Page, who played as a session musician with Van Morrison's band Them

• A great Irish poet
  • Tom Petty in concert at Capital Centre Washington D.C. concert (24 September 1991)

• He has this great poetic and fantastic voice and what I love about Van, and what I forget to do sometimes is, well I can tell when Van is just like drifting into sort of a zone he just drifts into a place where the whole world is shut out and you can tell that he's in that spot. It's almost a dream-like, trance-like state, singing sometimes. That's really what music is all about. It's almost a jazz concept if you know what I mean — you just kinda go out and you're just wingin' it and I love that about Van, he will risk that, he will go on and on and on and he won't fade the ending before the magic happens, as it were.
  • Bob Seger, in interview on Later with Bob Costas

• There was a definite charisma when Van performed. Van always had something about him. Whether you liked it or not, you could never take away from the fact that he was different from all other human beings, and here he is today, still being different.
  • John Wilson, as quoted in Celtic Crossroads : The Art of Van Morrison (1997) by Brian Hinton, p. 60.

• Morrison remains a singer who can be compared to no other performer in the history of rock 'n' roll, a singer who can not be pinned down, dismissed or fitted into anyone's expectations. He is a conundrum.
  • The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll

 

 

Them - Gloria (Audio) ft. Van Morrison - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlWiQ69DGE0

 

Lyrics

Like to tell ya about my baby
You know she comes around
She about five feet four
A-from her head to the ground

You know she comes around here
At just about midnight
She make ya feel so good, Lord
She make ya feel all right

And her name is G-L-O-R-I
G-L-O-R-I-A (GLORIA)
G-L-O-R-I-A (GLORIA)
I'm gonna shout it all night (GLORIA)
I'm gonna shout it everyday (GLORIA)
Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah

She comes around here
Just about midnight
Ha, she make me feel so good, Lord
I wanna say she make me feel alright

Comes a-walkin' down my street
When she comes to my house
She knocks upon my door
And then she comes in my room
Yeah, an' she make me feel alright

G-L-O-R-I-A (GLORIA)
G-L-O-R-I-A (GLORIA)
I'm gonna shout it all night (GLORIA)
I'm gonna shout it everyday (GLORIA)
Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah
Looks so good (GLORIA) alright
Just so good (GLORIA) alright, yeah

Songwriters: van Morrison

Gloria lyrics © Unichappell Music Inc., Warner Chappell Inc., Bernice Music Inc., Piccadilly Music Corp., CARLIN MUSIC CORP

Artist: Them

Album: The Angry Young Them

Released: 1965

Genre: Rock