Van Morrison – Warm Love

Dave posted this on his TurnTable Talk on February 19. The topic that he gave us was simple enough…a song with the word love in it. This song and Crazy Love came to mind from Van so I went with this one, you don’t hear this one as often. 

In 1986-87 I bought the Van Morrison album Hard Nose the Highway, and this song, among others, caught my attention. The album is not up there with Moondance or Astral Weeks, but it’s a good album. When I heard this song on the album, I got the feeling I’d heard it before. It did peak at #66 in Canada in 1973. I’m sure I heard it on AM radio when I was a kid. It sounds like a hit. I just fell and am still over his wide-open songs, such as the title track, the previous album track, and “Saint Dominic’s Preview.” 

When I got into Van…I really got into him. I ended up buying his first 9 albums (not counting the early Bang years), from the 1968 album Astral Weeks to the 1978 Wavelength album. I also ordered a hard-to-find Them album from England. An album I still have with me, one of the very few that survived my many moves in my younger days. 

I always thought Warm Love was the sister song to Crazy Love off his Moondance album from 3 years before. Coming off the open sound of Saint Dominic’s Preview, Van Morrison went into Hard Nose the Highway in 1973 in a different headspace. The sessions were very successful, and they recorded over 30 songs. Morrison originally wanted to make it a double album, but the record company talked him into a single one. 

The songs that caught my attention on first listen were this song, the title track, and a song called The Great Deception. He also did a cover of Kermit! Yes, Van covered Being Green on this album. It’s a good album and always a joy to listen to. Van had a band at this time called The Caledonia Soul Orchestra, and they were tight. Some of them played on this album.

The Caledonia Soul Orchestra was the road band that powered Van Morrison through one of the strongest stretches of his career, roughly 1972 to 1974. After the success of Moondance and the more reflective albums that followed, Morrison wanted a band that could move between jazz, R&B, folk, and soul without losing momentum. He found it in a large ensemble built around horns, a tight rhythm section, and backing vocalists who could follow his changes in real time.

A huge talent of Van is to make songs that feel off the cuff but polished at the same time. As with most of the album, it was built around live takes, with horns and backing vocals added only where they felt natural.

The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard Album Charts, #18 in Canada, and #22 in the UK in 1973. This live version is the best one I’ve heard, but it won’t let me embed it here. 

Van Morrison: It is just a boy and girl song, walking on the beach. It’s a young song. I can’t really add to that, except to note that this is a musical love affair, with the girl bringing her guitar.

Warm Love

Look at the ivy on the old clinging wallLook at the flowers and the green grass so tallIt’s not a matter of when push comes to shoveIt’s just a hour on the wings of a dove

It’s just warm loveIt’s just warm love

I dig it when you’re fancy dressed up in laceI dig it when you have a smile on your faceThis inspiration’s got to be on the flowBut these invitation’s got to see it and know

It’s just warm loveIt’s just warm love

And it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereWarm loveAnd it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm love

To the country I’m goingLay and laugh in the sunYou can bring your guitar alongWe’ll sing some songs, we’ll have some fun

The sky is crying and it’s time to go homeAnd we shall hurry to the car from the foamSit by the fire and dry out our wet clothesIt’s raining outside from the skies up above

Inside, it’s warm loveInside, it’s warm love

And it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm loveAnd it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm love, I can feel it

And it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm love, heyAnd it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm love, heyAnd it’s ever present everywhereAnd it’s ever present everywhereThat warm love

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

26 thoughts on “Van Morrison – Warm Love”

  2. Pingback: Van Morrison – Warm Love – MobsterTiger

  3. When I had a car with a CD player, the live album from this era (“It’s Too Late to Stop Now”) stayed in the car to be available for every road trip. (Once I had kids, it was joined by “Are We There Yet” by Stuart Stotts.)

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    1. No problem…I remember it from our AM radio here when I was a kid but it wasn’t one that was played much after that. Crazy Love was covered so many times that it never went away…
      Kim Carnes covered Warm Love…I want to check that out.

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      1. This is what I call the icebergs of music. You hear what the radio wants you to hear then you find all the great stuff under the surface. The story of my music listening in a nut shell. Thats Van’s style like Springsteen doing his moans and groans.

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  7. I was thinking about what you said about the spontaneous nature of both the studio recordings and Van himself. Must be one tough gig for those musicians in the studio and then the road band.

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  9. This song has a magnificent feel to it. I love it. No, I do not bemoan the lack of radio play, but this was one of the songs that I realized was perfect for my idea of what I want to listen to that the radio didn’t think they could make money by playing. They won and I no longer listen to the radio very music.

    But I make my own tapes, or cds, or now USB sticks. This is frequently on my play lists.

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  10. Great horns. Very uplifting tune. When I first got the Hard Nose The Highway album I was a little disappointed. I thought there were quite a few weak songs on it, but my opinion of it has improved. “Autumn Song” was the one I had the most trouble with, because it seemed a little loungey to me. I guy I worked with at the time was also a Van freak and he kept going on about “Purple Heather” and how great it was. Well, that is the last song after ” Autumn Song”, and sometimes I would get fed up with “Autumn Song”, and just turn the tape over and not listen to the last song. So, I had to take time to listen to it, and of course he was right. I also love the title track too.

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    1. I was the same way when I bought the album. When I bought it…two songs were my favorites…this one and The Great Deception…I was dissapointed as well until I listened to it a little more. It’s still not in my top 3 Van albums but I like it much better than I did.

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  11. Max, this song makes me think of summer. Van’s voice fits right into the groove of the band. Such good guitarists and of course the gleam of the horns. Great choice for a Sunday afternoon where the sun is shining, which it is today in Michigan.

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