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Van Morrison

Northern Irish musician

Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison, OBE (born August 31, 1945), generally known as Van Morrison, is aNorthern Irish singer-songwriter, instrumentalist and record producer from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He plays a variety of instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. Featuring his characteristic growl — a unique mix of throaty folk, blues, Irish, scat, and Celtic influences — Morrison is widely considered one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll.

And I wanna rock your gypsy soul,
Just like way back in the days of old,
And magnificently we will fold
Into the mystic.
~ Into the Mystic
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

Quotes

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  • 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
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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

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Blowin' Your Mind! (1967)

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  • 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.
  • 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.

Astral Weeks (1969)

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  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Way over on the railroad,
    Tomorrow all the tipping trucks will unload together,
    Every scrapbook stuck with glue,
    And I'll stand beside you,
    Beside you, child.
    • Beside You
  • The dynamo of your smile caressed a barefoot virgin child to wander.
    • Beside You
  • And I shall drive my chariot
    Down your streets and cry
    'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite
    And I don't know why'
    We shall walk and talk
    In gardens all misty wet with rain
    And I will never, never, never
    Grow so old again
  • Yonder comes my lady
    Rainbow ribbons in her hair
    Yonder comes my lady
    Rainbow ribbons in her hair
    Six white horses and a carriage
    She's returning from the fair
  • 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 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
  • 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

Moondance (1970)

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  • Well it's a marvelous night for a moondance,
    With the stars up above in your eyes.
    A fantabulous night to make romance,
    'Neath the cover of October skies.
    And all the leaves on the trees are falling
    To the sound of the breezes that blow.
    And I'm trying to please to the calling
    Of your heart-strings that play soft and low.
    And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush,
    And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush.

    Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?
    Can I just make some more romance with you, my love?

  • I can hear her heart beat from a thousand miles
    And the heavens 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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 foghorn blows,
    I will be coming home,
    When that foghorn blows,
    I wanna 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 magnificently we will fold
    Into the mystic.
  • 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.
  • 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
    Makes me feel so free makes me feel like me
    And lights my life with love.
  • 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 had nowhere to run.
    But I stood and looked,
    And my eyes got hooked
    On that beautiful morning sun.
    • Brand New Day
  • By the winding stream we shall lie and dream
    We'll 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.
  • 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.

His Band and the Street Choir (1970)

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  • 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.
  • 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)

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  • 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.
  • 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
  • Oh don't it get you
    Get you when you're through
    Feel the breezes blowing all around your coat
    Oh don't it get you
    When you gotta roam
    Hear the children singing
    My daddy's coming home
    • Old Old Woodstock, written by Morrison & George Ivan
  • 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, baby, from the bee

Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)

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  • 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)

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  • 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.
  • 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)

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  • 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)

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  • 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)

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  • 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)

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  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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)

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  • 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)

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  • 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...

Inarticulate Speech of the Heart (1983)

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  • 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.
  • 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)

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  • 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.
  • 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)

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  • 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
  • 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.

Poetic Champions Compose (1987)

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  • 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?
  • 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.
  • 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?

Avalon Sunset (1989)

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  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence
    The fires of spring are kindling bright
    And the radiant heart and the song of glory
    Crying freedom, freedom in the night
  • These are the days now that we must savour
    And we must enjoy as we can
    These are the days that will last forever
    You've got to hold them, hold them in your heart

Enlightenment (1990)

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  • 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.

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

Back on Top (1999)

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  • Say que sera, whatever will be
    But then I keep on searching for immortality
    She's so beautiful but she's going to die some day
    Everything in life just passes away
    But, precious time is slipping away
    You know she's only queen for a day
    It doesn't matter to which God you pray
  • And it's a hard road, it's a hard road daddy-o
    When my job is turning lead into gold
    He was born in the back street, born in the back street jelly roll
    I'm on the road again and I'm searching for
    The philosophers stone
    Can you hear that engine
    Can you hear that engine drone
    Well I'm on the road again and I'm searching for...
    • The Philosopher's Stone
  • I saw you standing with the wind and the rain in your face
    And you were thinking 'bout the wisdom of the leaves and their grace
    When the leaves come falling down
    In September when the leaves, come falling down
    Oh, the last time I saw Paris in the streets, in the rain
    And as I walk along the boulevards with you, once again
    And the leaves come falling down
    In September, when the leaves come falling down
    • When the Leaves come Falling Down

Quotes about Morrison

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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.
  • 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.
  • 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
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