Van Morrison – And It Stoned Me

When I played the Moondance album for the first few times I would replay this opening track for at least 3-4 times. The song reminded me of when I grew up. It focuses on life’s little pleasures… A trip to the fair and fishing with your friend… A cool drink of water from a clear mountain stream… A ride in the back of a pickup…Van said this about the song:

I suppose I was about twelve years old. We used to go to a place called Ballystockart to fish. We stopped in the village on the way up to this place and I went to this little stone house, and there was an old man there with dark weather-beaten skin, and we asked him if he had any water. He gave us some water which he said he’d got from the stream. We drank some and everything seemed to stop for me. Time stood still. For five minutes everything was really quiet and I was in this ‘other dimension’. That’s what the song is about.

This is just one of the many great songs on this album. Some critics have said that Moondance is one of the best albums of all time. What got my attention were the lyrics, clear sound, and down to earth feel…and of course Van’s voice.

 

Moondance

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

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

16 thoughts on “Van Morrison – And It Stoned Me”

    1. Thanks for reading… I love Astral Weeks also. He had a streak of 5 albums starting with Astral Weeks that was great… I like the other also but those 5 albums were so good.

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  6. Very cool song choice. I think I first heard this song when I bought a Greatest Hits/Best of collection. Great tune. I was telling an out of town friend of mine about it when he came to visit. We went to see a movie at the mall and this was playing on the Muzak when we came out!

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