Van Morrison – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Them – Gloria

Please pardon the personal story…but, you should be used to it by now, by the way I go on. I hope I haven’t told this story before, but if I have…I apologize. This is just one of the songs we played.

This song belongs right beside Louie Louie and Wild Thing as a staple of garage band rock. Three chords… E D A, and you are off to the races. A beginner guitar player can emulate this song rather well. When I was in high school, the band I was in… played this song. We would play more challenging songs, of course, but this one always got a good response and participation from the crowd with the call-and-answer lyrics.

When I was a senior, we played in the “fall frolics” (rock bands, singers) in our high school gym, and I had a couple of friends who were curious/envious and wanted to know how it felt to play in front of people. We had been playing at parties and a bar (shhhh yea we were underage) by this time. What I did was show one of them this song on bass…it’s that easy… and the other one we handed a tambourine and told him to participate in the chorus.

For that one song, we called them up and they got to know how it felt. I ran into one of them a few years back, and he thanked me again. He said it was one of the scariest but best moments he ever had in high school.

Sorry for the detour… This song was by “Them,” which featured no other than Van the Man Morrison (who also wrote the song). It peaked at #93 in the Billboard 100 in 1965 and #71 in 1966.

Morrison wrote this song while fronting Them at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast, often using it as their closer, a song that could stretch to ten minutes or more depending on the crowd and Van’s mood. Recorded at Decca Studios in London, it was originally the B-side to Baby, Please Don’t Go. Ironically, this song would outlive its A-side by miles, becoming a rock ’n’ roll rite of passage for any band that could play an A, D, and E chord. Well…their version of Baby, Please Don’t Go is my definite version of the song.

The song charted higher for The Shadows of Knight in 1966 at #10 on the Billboard 100, but this is the version I listen to. Finding Them at 18 led me to Van Morrison, which I have followed ever since. The first thing I did was order an album from the UK, which I still have with many of their hits.

At this stage in their career, sometimes, some session musicians played on Them’s records instead of the actual band, although Van Morrison did the real singing. One of these session players was Jimmy Page, who played guitar on this song.

In the video below…is that a donkey they flash to?

Gloria

Like to tell you ’bout my baby
You know she comes around
Just ’bout five feet-four
A-from her head to the ground
You know she comes around here
At just about midnight
She make me feel so good, Lord
She make me 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 every day
Gloria!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

She comes around here
Just about midnight
She make me feel so good, Lord
I want to say she make me feel all right
Comes a-walkin’ down my street
Then she comes up to my house
She knock upon my door
And then she comes to my room
Yeah, and she make me feel all right

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 every day
Gloria!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
So good
Gloria!
All right
Feels so good
Gloria!
All right, yeah

Van Morrison – Brown Eyed Girl

Somehow, I didn’t hear this song until I was 18 in 1985. When I heard it, I immediately loved it. I didn’t just like the song, I was infatuated with it. One of the most infectious bass lines I’ve ever heard. I would play it so much that my friends would ask…again? So this post is basically a love letter to this song.

The bass wasn’t the only thing that hit me, it is as clear as a spring day guitar riff. Last but certainly not least, it began my lifelong love for Van Morrison’s writing and voice. How did I make it until 18 without hearing it? I’ll never know. I not only learned the bass, but I also learned the guitar and some of the drums. I described it to someone as Buddy Holly in Technicolor.

I was at the right age for it. It’s a scrapbook of teenage moments, skipping school, hanging out by the green grass, and making out behind the stadium. There’s even a sneaky little bit of controversy: the original line “making love in the green grass” got scrubbed from the single version and replaced with a tamer repeat of an earlier verse (“Laughing‚ and a-running”).

It’s a song that I never get tired of hearing. The entire sound is crystal clear, and it made me feel nostalgic at just 18. It’s not Van Morrison’s best song…that would be impossible to pick, but it is a great pop song packed with memories and fun.

This was Van’s first single after leaving Them. Brown Eyed Girl isn’t trying to change the world. It’s not aiming for psychedelia (very popular at the time) or pushing the studio envelope. What it does do is pack memory, melody, and a whole lot of youthful yearning into a tight little pop song.

Van would go on to far deeper waters with albums like Astral Weeks, Moondance, Tupelo Honey, and Saint Dominic’s Preview, albums brimming with spiritual searching and jazz improvisation. But Brown Eyed Girl was a huge introduction to the new solo artist… Van Morrison. I’ve told people…if I could have been born with any voice, Van’s voice would have been it.

He released this song in 1967, it peaked at #10 on the Billboard 100, #13 in Canada, and #60 in the UK. My friends say that I might have listened to this song more than anyone…including Van. Hmmm, where is that email address to the Guinness people?

Brown Eyed Girl

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’re my brown eyed girl

Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the sunlight laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow’s wall
Slipping and sliding
All along the water fall, with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da, la te da

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
Sometime I’m overcome thinking ’bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you
My brown eyed girl
You’re my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (lying in the green grass)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (bit, bit, bit, bit, bit, bit)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da (sha la la la la la)
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da

Van Morrison – Caravan

Just a perfect song. I listen to it and can’t believe it wasn’t a hit. When I bought the Moondance album I zeroed in on this song. I then heard Van Morrison on The Last Waltz singing it and it was a clincher.

The performance of this song on the Last Waltz for me may have been the best performance in the film and that says a lot. I’ve seen Van live one time and his voice seemed stronger in person than on record…if that is possible. This song blends folk rock, R&B, and jazz styles perfectly.

The album is one of his great ones. It has some great songs like And It Stoned Me, Moondance, These Dreams of You, Brand New Day, Crazy Love, and Come Running which all sound like they belong on the radio. Morrison’s love of radio influenced this song heavily.

This was his second album for Warner Brothers following up the critical smash Astral Weeks. This album peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Charts, #46 in Canada, #36 in New Zealand, and #32 in the UK in 1970. His albums never charted too high. The highest in the 70s was for Saint Dominic’s Preview at #15 on the Billboard charts in 1972.

Van Morrison: I could hear the radio like it was in the same room. I don’t know how to explain it. There was some story about an underground passage under the house I was living in, rumors from kids and stuff and I was beginning to think it was true. How can you hear someone’s radio from a mile away, as if it was playing in your own house? So I had to put that into the song, It was a must

Caravan

And the caravan is on it’s way
I can hear the merry gypsies play
Mama mama look at Emma Rose
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 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…

Band – The Last Waltz

Happy Thanksgiving! Watching The Last Waltz is just as part of Thanksgiving as the meal with the family…that and listening to Alice’s Restaurant.

The Band on Thanksgiving in 1976 at Winterland. The film starts off with THIS FILM MUST BE PLAYED LOUD! A cut to Rick Danko playing pool and then it then to the Band playing “Don’t Do It”…the last song they performed that night after hours of playing. Through the music and some interviews, their musical journey and influences are retraced.

This film is considered by many the best concert film ever made. It was directed by Martin Scorsese. I love the setting with the chandeliers that were from the movie Gone With The Wind. The quality of the picture is great because it was shot with a 35-millimeter camera which wasn’t normally done with concerts.

Before the Band and guests hit the stage, Bill Graham, the promoter, served a Thanksgiving dinner to 5000 people that made up the audience with long tables with white tablecloths.

The Band’s musical guests included

Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison (my favorite performance), Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters

The Staple Singers and Emmylou Harris also appear but their segments were taped later on a sound stage and not at the concert.

Robbie wanted off the road earlier and that is what the Last Waltz was all about…the last concert by The Band with a lot of musical friends. He was tired of touring and also the habits the band was picking up… drugs and drinking. Richard Manuel, in particular, was in bad shape and needed time.

The rest of the Band supposedly agreed but a few years later all of them but Robbie started to tour as The Band again. Richard Manuel ended up hanging himself in 1986. Rick Danko passed away in 1999 at the end of a tour of a heart attack attributed to years of drug and alcohol abuse. Levon Helm died of cancer in 2012.

The Band sounded great that night and it might be the best version you will ever hear of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

The Last Waltz is a grand farewell to a great band and a film that I revisit at least twice a year… once always around Thanksgiving.

The complete concert is at the bottom…without cuts.

Van Morrison – Tupelo Honey Album

I don’t do many album reviews because frankly…I think other people do them better but sometimes I cannot resist…and this is one of them.

When I was 18 or so, I ordered exports from Tower Records because you could not just go to many record stores in America and buy a Them album in the eighties.

I bought the “Backtracking” album which was a compilation of Them. His voice blew me away. That is when I looked in the Van Morrison section for the albums I could buy there. The first album I bought…just by chance…was Tupelo Honey. Compared to the raw intense Them songs…this was a totally different ballgame. The songs’ production values and sophistication were in a new league.

Personally, I really like this album. I thought it was a great introduction to his catalog. Is it his best? No, it’s not, but for a beginner Van fan, it was a great introduction album. The songs on Tupelo Honey are very radio-friendly. After this album I bought Moondance, His Band and Street Choir, Veendon Fleece, etc…the 8 albums up to Wavelength. After that, I started on the 80’s catalog.

He made this album in 1971 when he moved to Northern California with his wife Janet Planet who was from that area. He originally wanted to make a country album. Soon that idea was dropped and he worked with Ted Templeton as producer. He used a lot of unused songs that he had.

The opening track Wild Night has an irresistible hook and is one of Van’s best-known songs. The title track may be my favorite Van Morrison song period. The only song that I would skip when I got the album, and still do, is I Wanna Roo You. In Moonshine Whiskey and some other songs, you can hear some of the country album he was going to make.

Another favorite on the album is Old Old Woodstock and he puts you there with his lyrics and the feel of the song. You’re My Woman was a song for Janet Planet and I’ve always liked that one.

The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard Album Charts and #32 in Canada in 1971.

Again, this is not Van’s best album but it got me into his solo career. It’s a great-sounding album and one of Van’s most commercial. I would highly recommend this to anyone wanting to explore Van the Man’s catalog.

Tracklist

Wild Night
(Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball
Old Old Woodstock
Starting a New Life
You’re My Woman
Tupelo Honey
I Wanna Roo You (Scottish Derivative)
When That Evening Sun Goes Down
Moonshine Whiskey

I could not find the complete album on Spotify so I found it all grouped together on YouTube with this link…

Tupelo Honey

You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

You can’t stop us on the road to freedom
You can’t keep us ’cause our eyes can see
Men with insight, men in granite
Knights in armor bent on chivalry
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

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
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

You know she’s alright
You know she’s alright with me
She’s alright, she’s alright (she’s an angel)

You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail it right around the seven oceans
Drop it smack dab in the middle of the deep blue sea
Because she’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey from the bee

She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
She’s an angel of the first degree
She’s as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like the honey, baby, from the bee
She’s my baby, you know she’s alright…..

Bobby “Blue” Bland – Turn On Your Love Light

Bobby “Blue” Bland, a renowned singer from Tennessee, gained popularity in the 1950s and 60s. His hit song “Turn On Your Love Light” was covered by various artists, including Van Morrison and The Grateful Dead. Bland’s career faced financial troubles but he continued to chart until the 1980s. His influence is felt across genres.

Turn on your love light, let it shine on me
And let it shine, shine, shine, let it shine

I learned about this guy through different sources. Van Morrison, Pig Pen, and finally Gregg Allman… all of them covered it. The other artists are Lonnie Mack, The Rascals, Tom Jones, Edgar Winter’s White Trash, Bob Seger, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, and Jeff Beck just to name a few. The first version I heard was from Them, Van Morrison’s early band.

Bobby Blue Bland was from Rosemark Tennesse. He started to get popular in the 1950s and 60s. Some of Bland’s most famous songs include “Turn On Your Love Light,” “Stormy Monday Blues,” “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City,” and “I Pity the Fool.” This song was written by Joseph Wade Scott and Deadric Malone.

Bland released this song in 1961 and it peaked at #28 on the Billboard 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B Charts. Allman has talked about playing this on the jukebox. When you hear someone like Gregg Allman say that Bobby “Blue” Bland is one of his singing idols…you know something great is there waiting to be heard. This I have heard before and was impressed even without Mr. Allman’s recommendation. If you want to hear something that was just once in a lifetime…The Allman Brothers AND The Grateful Dead together at the Fillmore doing this song.

Bland began his career in Memphis, Tennessee, with bluesman B.B. King and ballad singer Johnny Ace (all three were part of a loose aggregation of musicians known as the Beale Streeters). He had some hits in the 50s and early 60s but had some financial troubles in 1968 and had to break up his band.

His record company was then sold to ABC Dunhill and he started up his career again and continued to chart til the 1980s. Of all bands…Whitesnake covered his song Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City in 1978 and charted in the UK in 1980.

Below I have Them with Van Morrison, The Grateful Dead with Pig Pen, and the last one Bobby Blue Bland who they were all getting this from.

Turn On Your Love Light

Without a warning you broke my heart
You took it darlin’ and you tore it apart
You left me sitting in the dark, crying
You said your love for me was dying

I’m begging you, baby, baby please
I’m begging you, baby, baby please
Turn on the light, let it shine on me
Turn on your love light, let it shine on me
And let it shine, shine, shine, let it shine

And I wanna know
When I

I get a little lonely
In the middle of the night
I need you darlin’
To make things alright

Come on baby, come on please
Come on baby, baby please
Turn on the light, let it shine on me
Turn on your love light, let it shine on me
A little bit higher, a little bit higher
Just a little bit higher, a little bit higher
A little bit higher

Come on, baby, come on please
I’m begging you, baby, I’m down on my knees
Turn on the light, let it shine on me
Turn on your love light, let it shine on me

I feel alright, I feel alright
I feel alright, I feel alright, baby

…

Them – Richard Cory

When I bought the album “Backtracking” in the mid-1980s…I was in Van Morrison heaven. This was the only Van Morrison era I knew at the time. The first time I heard Brown Eyed Girl was in 1985. I fell in love with that song so just like I do now…I wanted to find out everything about this man. The first thing I did was to go to Tower Records. I looked it up with a magazine there and they ordered it…Tower did not have a huge stock of Them albums, to say the least.

I wore this album out and I still have it. It was the best $10 I ever spent. This was the intro song to the album. I noticed that Paul Simon wrote this one. After devouring this and another Them album I made the jump to Van’s solo career. I’m happy I did it in order. The album had songs that caught my attention. Baby Please Don’t Go, Richard Cory, Don’t Start Crying Now, and most of all…Mighty Like a Rose which was never released but on this 1974 compilation album. That song would not have passed by the censors…if you haven’t heard it give it a listen. A song about a nympha and her sugar cubes.

Richard Cory is a folk-based song but Morrison supercharges it with his voice. Simon wrote some standards but he could have never done this like Them did. The song was based on a poem called Richard Cory by Edwin Arlington Robinson. It’s about a lonely rich man who everyone thought was happy because of his money but they were too intimidated to come around him.

Them released this as a stand-alone single in 1966. It didn’t chart but the band was pretty much over… at least Van’s participation. The following year Van would release Brown Eyed Girl and begin his solo career with Bert Berns and Bang Records.

Them’s influence on garage, punk, and rock bands was immense.

Richard Cory

They say that Richard Cory
Owns one-half of this here town
With political connections
Spread his wealth around

Born into society, a banker’s only child
He had everything a man could want
Power, grace and style

But I, work in his factory
And I curse the life I’m livin’
And I curse my poverty
That I wish that I could be
Yeah, I wish that I could be
Lord, I wish that I could be, Richard Cory

Paper’s print his pictures
Almost everywhere he go
Richard Cory at the opera
Richard Cory at the show

And the rumours of his a-parties
And the orgies on his yacht
Well, he surely must be happy
With everythang that he has got

But I, work in his factory
And I curse the life I’m livin’
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be
I wish that I could be, yea-ah
I wish that I could be, Richard Cory

He freely gave to charity
And had that common touch
They were grateful for his patronage
And thanked him very much

So my mind was filled with wonder
When the evenin’ headlines read
That Richard Cory went home last night
And put a bullet through his head, hu

But I, I, I, work in his factory
And I, I don’t don’t dig the life I’m livin’
And I don’t dig my poverty
And I wish that I could be
Yeah, an’ I wish that I could be
Well, wish that I could be, Richard Cory

Ay-hey, I wish that I could be
I wish that I could be
Sometime, I wish that I could be
A-just like a-Richard Cory
Just li-iiiiiiike, a-Richard Cory
A-Richard Cory

A-Richard Cory
Just like Richard Cory…

Van Morrison – Cleaning Windows

I went home and listened to Jimmie Rodgers in my lunch-break
Bought five Woodbines at the shop on the corner
And went straight back to work.

On my Max Picks I always notice when it’s too late that I missed a song that I wanted to include. I was telling halffastcyclingclub that I forgot this one in 1982. I didn’t find the song until around 1985 or 86 when I bought Tower Records out of any album with Van Morrison.

This song was on the Beautiful Vision album. Some Van songs grew on me but this one I liked the first time I heard it. This one has an autobiographic feel to it for a good reason. Van did have a job cleaning windows for a while in east Belfast. He captures a specific moment in his life and invites us to join him in reflecting on our own memories.

This was the early sixties when he was still a part-time musician. Not only does he touch on his job but tells us his early influences like Brownie McGhee and Jimmie Rodgers.

Leslie Holmes played with a band with Van called The Monarchs. Holmes helped Van finish the windows so they would make the gig that particular night. As I’ve said before…if you get a chance to see this man live…don’t miss it. He is the only performer where I can say his voice sounds better live than on record.

The album peaked at #44 on the Billboard 100, #22 in Canada, #31 in the UK, and #13 in New Zealand in 1982.

Leslie Holmes: “I played with The Monarchs for two years when the showband scene was at its peak, I enjoyed my time with Van who was a very talented musician and a lot of fun. In addition to the band, Van had a window-cleaning business in east Belfast, and one day I helped him to clean windows so that we could make our gig that night. So I have a special sense of identity with his song about cleaning windows.

“We travelled much of the country and the memorable places included the Orpheus Ballroom, the old Co-Op in York Street, the Flamingo in Ballymena, Moira Town Hall, the Floral Hall, and many others. After I left The Monarchs I did some fill-ins with the Witness Showband.”

Cleaning Windows

Oh, the smell of the bakery from across the street
Got in my nose
As we carried our ladders down the street
With the wrought-iron gate rows
I went home and listened to Jimmie Rodgers in my lunch-break
Bought five Woodbines at the shop on the corner
And went straight back to work.

Oh, Sam was up on top
And I was on the bottom with the v
We went for lemonade and Paris buns
At the shop and broke for tea
I collected from the lady
And I cleaned the fanlight inside-out
I was blowing saxophone on the weekend
In that down joint.

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 (number a hundred and thirty-six)

I heard Leadbelly and Blind Lemon
On the street where I was born
Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee,
Muddy Waters singin’ “I’m A Rolling Stone”
I went home and read my Christmas Humphreys’ book on Zen
Curiosity killed the cat
Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums” and “On The Road”

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…

…

Band – The Last Waltz

Happy Thanksgiving! Watching The Last Waltz is just as part of Thanksgiving as the meal with the family…that and listening to Alice’s Restaurant.

The Band on Thanksgiving in 1976 at the Fillmore West. The film starts off with THIS FILM MUST BE PLAYED LOUD! A cut to Rick Danko playing pool and then it then to the Band playing “Don’t Do It”…the last song they performed that night after hours of playing. Through the music and some interviews, their musical journey and influences are retraced.

Before the Band and guests hit the stage, Bill Graham, the promoter, served a Thanksgiving dinner to 5000 people that made up the audience with long tables with white tablecloths.

The Band’s musical guests included

Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Dr. John, Paul Butterfield, Van Morrison (my favorite performance), Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters

The Staple Singers and Emmylou Harris also appear but their segments were taped later on a sound stage and not at the concert.

The Band sounded great that night and it might be the best version you will ever hear of The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.

The Last Waltz is a grand farewell to a great band and a film that I revisit at least twice a year… once always around Thanksgiving.

The complete concert is at the bottom…without cuts.

Van Morrison – Kingdom Hall

The first time I saw and heard Van Morrison was on November 4, 1978, on Saturday Night Live. I was 11 and didn’t know anything about him. I hadn’t even heard of Brown Eyed Girl. He was playing the song Wavelength and it sounded great. I would not become a fan until 1985 when I got a compilation album with Brown Eyed Girl on it.

When I heard Brown Eyed Girl I read everything I could about Van Morrison. The first album I purchased was Tupelo Honey so I went from there and bought most of his ’70s albums… plus a Them compilation.

Kingdom Hall kicks the album off as the opening track. It’s very radio-friendly and commercial-sounding. The album was one of his best sellers up to that time. Jehovah’s Witnesses use Kingdom Halls for worship and Bible lessons. During the 1950s, his mother Violet was a steady member of the Witnesses for a few years and Van occasionally accompanied her. Evidently, he had a good time at those at least during the singing.

The album Wavelength peaked at #28 in the Billboard Album Charts, #31 in Canada, #27 in the UK, and #9 in New Zealand in 1978.

I was lucky to see him in concert on March 7, 2006, at the Ryman. If you ever get the chance to see him…don’t pass it up. His voice is even better in concert than on record and that is saying something.

Van has a complicated history. Some have said he was the nicest person in the world to them and some not so much. I guess that describes a lot of us.

Harvey Goldsmith (Morrison’s manager): “Every single person that had been involved with him, be it record company, publishing, promoting, agency or whatever, had a tremendous respect for him. But everyone also said that he was the most difficult person in the world to deal with.”

Kingdom Hall

So glad to see you
So glad you’re here
Come here beside me now
We can clear inhibition away
All inhibitions
Throw them away
And when we dance like this
Like we’ve never been dancin’ before

[Chorus:]
Oh, they were swingin’
Down at Kingdom Hall
Oh, bells were ringin’
Down at the Kingdom Hall
A choir was singin’
Down at the Kingdom Hall
Hey, liley, liley, liley
Hey, liley, liley, low
Do do do do do do, do
Do do do do do do
Do do do do do do, do
Do do do do do do

Good body music
Brings you right here
Free flowin’ motion now
When we’re shakin’ it out on the floor
Good rockin’ music
Down in your shoes
And when we dance like this
Like we’ve never been dancin’ before

[Chorus]

Down at the Kingdom Hall
They were havin’ a party
They were havin’ a ball
Bells were ringing out
And the choir was singin’
Hey, liley, liley, liley
Hey, liley, liley, low
Do do, do do, do do, do do
Sugar was there
Did you see Sugar
Down at the Kingdom Hall
Sugar was tough

Van Morrison – Wild Night

I first heard this song in the eighties when I bought the Tupelo Honey album. Wild Night and the title track caught my attention immediately. This song is very radio-friendly and so is the album to a large extent. It was released in 1971 and peaked at #28 on the Billboard 100 and #20 in Canada.

John Mellencamp also released a version in 1994 and the song peaked at #3 in the Billboard 100. John did a great job but this is my go-to version. Van’s voice…you can’t beat it. If my fairy God Mother said to me…Max, you can have any voice you want…who will it be? It would be this man’s voice.

Ted Templeman, who would later produce another Van Halen, produced the Tupelo Honey album with Morrison. Musicians to perform on this track include Ronnie Montrose on electric guitar, John McFee on pedal steel guitar, Jack Schroer on saxophone, and Luis Gasca on trumpet.

I have always liked this album a lot. I have recommended some people to this album because it is very accessible compared to say…Astral Weeks. I love Astral Weeks by the way and I think it probably is his best album but it’s not as accessible when you first listen to it…not to me anyway. Van cleaned out a lot of leftover songs when he made this album but it is very enjoyable. The title track may be his finest song.

Van Morrison: “I wasn’t very happy with Tupelo Honey, it consisted of songs that were left over from before and that they’d finally gotten around to using. It wasn’t really fresh. It was a whole bunch of songs that had been hanging around for awhile. I was really trying to make a country and western album.”

Wild Night
As you brush your shoes
Stand before the mirror
And you comb your hair
Grab your coat and hat
And you walk, wet streets
Tryin’ to remember
All the wild night breezes
In your mem’ry ever

And ev’rything looks so complete
When you’re walkin’ out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
Sends you flyin’, cryin’

Ooo-woo-wee!
Wild night is calling, alright
Oooo-ooo-wee!
Wild night is calling

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
Stare in wild wonder
And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder

And ev’rything looks so complete
When you walk out on the street
And the wind catches your feet
And sends you flyin’, cryin’

Woo-woo-wee!
Wild night is calling
Alright

Ooo-ooo-wee!
Wild night is calling, alright

The wild night is calling
The wild night is calling

Come on out and dance
Whoa, come on out and make romance
Yes, indeed

Come on out and dance
Come on out, make romance

[Instrumental & horn solo]

The wild night is calling, alright
The wild night is calling

Come on out an dance
Yeah, come on out ‘n make romance

Come on out and dance, alright
Come on out, n’ make romance.

Them – Here Comes The Night

Van The Man Morrison sounds great on this one. This song was written by Bert Berns and was released as a single in 1965 with “All For Myself” as the B-side. He sings this with a pop voice at the beginning of the skipping beat and then comes in with that edgy voice only he can give you.

It was the biggest hit for Them. Bert would later sign Van Morrison to a solo contract with Bang Records. Here Comes The Night was their biggest hit. Gloria is probably the most famous song they did but they had many more. I discovered them when I was 18 and I had to import an album from the UK to get an album. It’s not like it is now…you had to work for it. Their other songs include Mystic Eyes, Baby Please Don’t Go, and others.

Here Comes The Night peaked at #24 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the UK, and #8 in Canada in 1965. The song was originally released by LuLu in 1964 but only charted at #50 in the UK and didn’t chart in America.

In the 1980s unlike today I had to order a UK import album to get this song. Van went on to bigger and better things but Them produced some memorable songs. They are criminally overlooked. They had an edge and bite…up there with the Stones and Animals. Van’s voice on this one is spot on.

Bert Berns (born Bert Russell) knew how to write a hit. Berns was a talented songwriter and producer who died at age 38 of a fatal heart attack in 1967. Among his writing credits are Twist And Shout, Hang On Sloopy, Piece Of My Heart, and Tell Him. His production credits include Morrison’s Brown Eyed Girl and Under The Boardwalk by The Drifters.

Here Comes the Night

Whoa, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa yeah

I could see right out my window
Walkin’ down the street, my girl
With another guy

His arm around her
Like it used to be with me
Whoa, it makes me want to die
Yeah yeah yeah

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa whoa yeah

There they go
It’s funny how they look so good together
Wonder what is wrong with me
Why can’t I, accept the fact she’s chosen him
And simply let them be
Whoa whoa whoa

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
Here comes the night
Whoa whoa whoa yeah

She’s with him he’s turning down the lights
And now he’s holding her
The way I used to do

I could see, her closing her eyes
And tellin’ him lies
Exactly like she told me, too
Yeah yeah yeah

Well, here it comes
Here comes the night
The long, the long and lonely night
Night, night, night, night, night, night

Whoa, here comes the night

Favorite Rock Lyrics 4

Hope you all are having a good week…happy Wednesday!

And he dug up her grave and built a cage with her bonesExcitable boy, they all said well, he’s just an excitable boy …. Warren Zevon

I’ll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoonAnd another girl can take my pain away…Rolling Stones

We were the first band to vomit at the bar and find the distance to the stage too far meanwhile it’s getting late at ten o’clock rock is dead they say Long Live Rock…The Who

Cause when life looks like Easy Street there is danger at your door… The Grateful Dead

Then here come a man with a paper and a pen tellin’ us our hard times are about to end… The Band

I could walk like Brando right into the sun then dance just like a Casanova… Bruce Springsteen

Elementary penguin singing Hare Krishna man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allen Poe …The Beatles

Mother, you had me but I never had you I, I wanted youYou didn’t want me so, I just got to tell you goodbye … John Lennon

Exchanging “good luck”s face to face checkin’ his stash by the trash at St. Mark’s place …The Replacements

We come from the land of the ice and snow from the midnight sun where the hot springs flow… Led Zeppelin

Every day, I look at the world from my window but chilly, chilly is the evening timeWaterloo sunset’s fine… The Kinks

I don’t wanna be a candidate for Vietnam or Watergate… Queen

If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dream… Van Morrison

I am just a dreamer but you are just a dream and you could have been anyone to me… Neil Young

So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner piesand walked off to look for America…Simon and Garfunkel

Van Morrison – Bulbs

I must admit…the first line threw me off when I first heard it at age 19. “Kicking off from centerfield” left me confused. Baseball has a centerfield but you don’t kick off. Of course, it’s soccer but back then I had no clue about the game.

Bulbs was the only single to be taken from his 1974 album Veedon Fleece, with a B-side of “Cul de Sac” for the US release and “Who Was That Masked Man” for the UK release.

I bought Veedon Fleece sometime in the mid-eighties right after I bought his first six albums. I was heavily into Van the Man at that time…and still am. I thought this album was an improvement to the previous one called Hard Nose The Highway. The song kicked off the second side of the album. I would always buy the album and record it on cassette immediately so I could listen to it in my car.

Van Morrison is an interesting person. His musical landscape spanned so many genres in his career. You had the garage rock of Gloria and Here Comes The Night, the blues with Thank God For The Blues, jazz with Moondance, and everything in between including conventional rock and roll with Wild Night.

Van would be in the top 2-3 of my favorite vocalist of all time. I saw the man live on March 7, 2006, at the Ryman Auditorium. I had admired his voice for years but was knocked out by how great he was in concert. I’ve seen film clips of him live but you don’t get the full effect unless you see him in person.

Veedom Fleece peaked at #53 on the Billboard album charts, #80 in Canada, and #41 in the UK in 1974. He had a stretch of albums from 1968 to this one that is hard to beat. Astral Weeks, Moondance, His Band and the Street Choir, Tupelo Honey, Saint Dominic’s Preview, Hard Nose The Highway, and this one. I do like his other albums also but I like his late sixties to early seventies sound…The first time I noticed Van was on Saturday Night Live when he appeared and played songs from the album Wavelength. I was too young to know who he was though. It was when I heard Brown Eyed Girl in 1985 that I started to buy his albums and haven’t stopped liking him since.

Bulbs

I’m kicking off from center fieldA question of being down for the gameThe one shot deal don’t matterAnd the other one’s the same

Oh! My friend I see youWant you to come through (alright)And she’s standing in the shadowsWhere the street lights all turn blue

She leaving for an American (uhuh)Suitcase in her handI said her brothers and her sistersAre all on Atlantic sand

She’s screaming through the alley wayI hear the lonely cry, why can’t you?And her batteries are corrodedAnd her hundred watt bulb just blew

Lallallal, alright, huhuhhuh

She used to hang out at Miss Lucy’sEvery weekend they would get looseAnd it was a straight clear case ofHaving taken in too much juice

It was outside, and it was outsideJust the nature of the personNow all you got to rememberAfter all, it’s just show biz

Lallalal, huhuh, lallal

We’re just screaming through the alley wayI hear her lonely cry, ah why can’t you?And she’s standing in the shadowsCanal street lights all turn blueAnd she’s standing in the shadowsWhere the street lights all turn blueAnd she’s standing in the shadowsDown where the street lights all turn blueHey, hey, yeah

…

Them – Mystic Eyes

Van is the man….he made some absolutely classic songs when he started out with Them. Gloria is probably the most famous song they did but they had many more. I discovered them when I was 18 and I had to import an album from the UK to get an album. It’s not like it is now…you had to work for it. It’s pure music with a relentless backbeat.

This powerful song builds up and lead singer Van Morrison takes over. Van’s voice and the bass are hypnotic. It was the first song on the first album by Them…named Angry Young Them released in 1965. It was written by Van Morrison who would in the future use the word Mystic in a few more songs.

The song peaked at #33 on the Billboard 100 and #24 in Canada but didn’t chart in the UK. I mentioned earlier that Gloria is their most popular song but the hit version was by Shadows Of Night in 1965. It was a B side with Them to the great song Baby Please Don’t Go.

Van has said the band was improvising in the studio and the song was born.

Van Morrison said the song was inspired by his own experience walking around England’s Nottingham Park when he saw some kids playing by a graveyard. Morrison was struck by the powerful intersection between the “bright lights in the children’s eyes” and “the cloudy lights in the eyes of the dead.”

Mystic Eyes

One Sunday mornin’
A-we went walkin’
Down by, the old graveyard
The mornin’ fog
I looked into
A-yeah, those mystic eyes

Her mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic, eyes
Mystic eyes
Mystic eyes
Oh, the mystic eyes
Mystic Eyes