I Got My Name Up In Lights
Dan Fogelberg: Is it true you were a sideman for Van Morrison in your early career?No, that's not the truth. I never worked for Van Morrison. I did however, open several concerts for Van and his band in 1971. My manager at the time, Irving Azoff was working for a booking agency that booked Van Morrison, so he sent me out with my guitar to open his shows solo. Generally it was me, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks and thenVan and his band. Strange show, but somehow it seemed to work.
David Gray: "My heroes are people like Van Morrison, John Martyn and Nick Drake, and there are some of my songs where these influences are fairly apparent."
Ray Charles: "They asked me to come to New York to help celebrate Van's induction into the Songwriters 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 with Van that evening. That's what you hear at the end of Genius Loves Company, me and Van live."'
Maura O'Connell: Deserted-island discs1. Poetic Champions Compose, Van Morrison. This was the first Vanalbum that I felt connected to. I was about 19, so it came out duringa seminal time in my life.
Ronan Keating: What do you listen to these days?RK: I've been listening to a lot of Van Morrison – both old and new.He's got an awesome voice, and it's amazing how he's never faded withage. Of the newer bands, I like Train and Coldplay.
Tom Jones: "If you're doing something Van understands and likes, he's great,"Jones says. "And if the musicians are playing the way he wants themto play, he's great. But if there's a fly in the ointment he justwalks away. He didn't like the drummer on the session so he said, 'Iwant you to change places with the percussionist.' So the drummer changed places with the percussionist and the percussionist played drums, and Van didn't like him either. Instead of trying to explain to these drummers what he did want, he walked out of the studio."Jones continues, "I said to the guy that handles him, 'What now? Whatare we going to do now?' He said, 'Van doesn't like these drummers,so we have to send to London for a drummer he knows and then we'llhave another go at it.' The session was at Van's studio in Bath, sowe had to wait about four or five hours to get this drummer fromLondon. But once Van heard him play and it gelled, he was good asgold.""The collaborations were just incredible. I went to Van and he wastotally for it as long as we did it on one of his songs ['SometimesWe Cry'], which was totally fine by me. Just to sing with him, what a thrill."
Terry George: Tongue in cheek, George recounted how he has finally become famous in his homeland. Last February, along with another Belfast boy, Van Morrison, George was honored at the second annual “Oscar Wilde: Honoring Irish Writing in Film” event in Los Angeles.“I was shocked that Van showed up because he’s notoriously shy, and he had a 12-piece band with him and proceeded to blow the hall away.” George recalled. “Word gets around back home and I’m hearing from my mother and brother and others back in Ireland telling me, ‘Terry, you’ve made it - you were on stage with Van Morrison!’”
Pete Doherty: ...launching into his very best Kate Moss impression, 'She was like "You know what actually I don't think that goes there very well, and that line doesn't work and na na na"."So I'd just keep the peace really", he continued, "You just change the odd line, take suggestions. I think she was listening to a lot of Van Morrison at the time, that song 'The Way Young Lovers Do' and something about Utah and a pair of red shows. So yeah, that's her contribution."It seems however that Doherty's memory of that period of time may just be a tiny bit hazy as it's Van Morrison's 'Astrals Track' which references red shoes, and 'Natalia' which contains the lyrics 'You Talk'.
John Bell (Widespread Panic): THE EAR: Who are your musical influences? What are your favorite albums or CDs?BELL: At home, I listen to the whole Van Morrison catalog. I always have my ear peeled for new Van Morrison stuff that comes out. He’s so prolific; he puts out a new album every six months so. I feel lucky to get to be a fan and not be picking his songs apart for song structure, a pitfall that comes with being a musician.I’ve never seen Van Morrison live, but at the end of our last tour, we missed him by one day when he played Atlanta. If it had been a day earlier, I’d have been there.
Jenna Bush: She (Laura Bush) loves music. My dad (President Bush) does, too. And Van Morrison, I mean, they both love Van Morrison.
Nick Lowe: What's amazing, he says, is "I always think that that song (Peace, Love & Understanding) was the first actual original idea that I had. Up till then, I'd been figuring out how to write songs, and, really, I was still rewriting the Band's tunes or Van Morrison's tunes, whoever I thought was really good back then, because that's how anybody starts: You copy the people you admire."
Glen Hansard: Hansard told me they shot the entire film ("Once") in 17 days, and in it he played street versions of several Van Morrison songs. Hansard had met and chatted with Morrison in the past (pictured below), and didn’t feel he’d have a hard time getting permission to use them. But when he called Morrison’s people to ask for permission, he got a one word answer: No!“But does he know it’s for me, Glen Hansard? The one he chatted with? The one from The Frames?” Hansard pleaded. “Yes, he knows exactly who youare,” the assistant replied. “He knows all that, and he still says no, even though you probably already shot them, didn’t you?”
Hansard was crestfallen. They had indeed already shot the scenes with Morrison’s songs, and there was no money or time to reshoot. His only option was to call back again and beg. After several minutes of groveling, Morrison himself got on the phone. “Of course you can use the songs!” he said. He was just toying with Hansard. Interestingly enough, those songs didn’t make it into the film’s final cut.But a soulful version of "Into the Mystic" did make it into the concert Hansard and Irglova (pictured above) played for us last night at the Landmark.
Brian Kennedy: Kennedy began his music career combining work as a solo artist with a five-year stint backing another Belfast boy, Van Morrison, in the 1990s. It was through that association that he first became acquainted with Best, the '60s star of Manchester United and one of the greatest soccer players of all time."I knew him a little bit because any time I played Manchester with Van, George would show up," he says. "There were a couple of occasions when me and Van and George would end up having a drink together at the hotel. Being around that and listening to these two legends, who were roughly the same age and both from east Belfast ... that was a great privilege, just to sit there and listen to them."
Bap Kennedy: "I've known Van since he took an interest in my first band, EnergyOrchard, in the late 1980s," he explains."Being fellow Belfast lads, we got talking and he said 'Do you fancy writing a song together?'"Needless to say, I said yes, so we got the acoustic guitars out,threw a lot of lines at each other and, 20 minutes later, there was the song."Wasn't it a bit scary working with one of your heroes though?"Not at all," he says, laughing at the memory."Basically, we were just two guys sitting together writing a song."
Julia Stiles: "When I was little, every Sunday my mom would play St. Dominics Preview while cleaning the house... it had a great album cover of a blue church & Van sitting in front of it... I stole the record from her and put it on my wall.Recently I bought the cd and can't stop listening to it. My favorite track is Redwood Tree St. Dominics Preview while cleaning the house... it had a great album cover of a blue church & Van sitting in front of it... I stole the record from her and put it on my wall.Recently I bought the cd and can't stop listening to it. My favorite track is Redwood Tree St. Dominics Preview while cleaning the house... it had a great album cover of a blue church & Van sitting in front of it... I stole the record from her and put it on my wall.Recently I bought the cd and can't stop listening to it. My favorite track is Redwood Tree with the line "Oh Redwood Tree, please let us under..." - very comforting."
Eric Clapton: "Q: Did you enjoy “The Last Waltz” [the Band’s farewell concert in 1976, in which Clapton, Bob Dylan and a host of greats performed]?A: I did, yeah. A fantastic event. I loved it... For me, Muddy [Waters] and Van [Morrison] steal the show. Van doing [“Caravan”] with the leg kicks. Some of the greatest live music you’ll ever see.
Sinead O'Connor: "'Beside You' is Morrison talking to his girlfriend, but you wouldn't realise that until the end. There are many versions of this song but the TB Sheets version is my personal favourite. It's typical of his style lyrically, a stream of consciousness. He's a great storyteller - this onestarts with: "Little Jimmy's gone way out of the backstreet, out of the window through the fallin' rain", and it soon becomes very hypnotic. Really, he's telling her that a million things might happen and a long time might pass but he'll always be there beside her. The line I never forget is: "The dynamo of your smile reflects the barefoot virgin child." I never heard Van until I was 18 and I'd moved to London and this guy from a record company gave me his records. The thing I like about his early stuff is that they only have two chords, but you wouldn't know it because of how he plays and his voice.
Dr. John ('77): With Van, I just think he’s a hell of a singer. He’s an amazing singer considering he’s from Ireland and all of this, that he sounds like he’s from West Memphis, Arkansas or something. I think the cat is phenomenal!He’ll do some more classic records I’m sure in his time. He’s gonna have plenty, plenty product that’ll be fantastic.
Nashville Mayor Bill Purcell: Mayor of Nashville Bill Purcell recently made local music legend Van Morrison an honorary citizen of the American city.During a visit to Belfast last week he told how Morrison was " appreciative" of the accolade, but not exactly "chatty"!"I found him communicative, appreciative and very pleased to be in Nashville," said Mr Purcell."But chatty would not describe Van Morrison," he joked.
Tim Finn: “We maybe do one or two of our own, but we’ll mostly do The Beatles or songs like ‘Wild Thing.’ We do a Van Morrison song called ‘The Irish Heart Beat,’ which we sang at our mother’s funeral. That’s getting to be a popular request.
Marty Whelan (RTE TV): Whelan had to find all the strength he could when his dear old dad died on August 11, 1998. "I miss him terribly," he tells me. When his father died, Marty played the Enlightenment album by Van Morrison (another only child) all day and night to help him get through it. He always took solace in Morrison's music and quiet contemplation. He even recited See Me Through as a verse by Van Morrison at his dad's funeral...Ten days after his dad's funeral, Marty was presenting the Rose Of Tralee - and Van was a guest on the show. The singer came back to the hospitality room and Marty says he thinks he "bored" Van for an hour. They sat and talked about being only children."It was one of the most special meetings that I ever had with anybody. I have never forgotten it. I am a respecter of his enormous ability to make me feel a whole range of emotions. I told him about how his music had got me through the death of my father."Marty reflects for a moment. "The interesting thing Van said at the end of the conversation was [adopts gruff Van voice]: 'You're not a bit like I thought you'd be.'"
Brian Williams (NBC News): To fellow Sopranos fans: I don't know what's left to say, but I'm not going to give up that easily: how about "Comfortably Numb?" That version with Van Morrison from The Departed soundtrack is, as a friend of mine put it, "Like being in Church." It's a transforming song -- perhaps among the top three Van Morrison recordings of all time.
Taylor Hicks: Q: Who is the one artist you would love to record a duet with?A: "Van Morrison. . . . I haven't (met him). I would love to. Just as a fan it would be cool. It's Too Late To Stop is a great album. I'm into masterpieces because hopefully I'll write one one day.
Kevin Rowland: From Kevin Rowland (Dexys Midnight Runners) blog
It was during the boiling hot summer of 1976 that I first heard it. Punk was about to happen, but this album, showed me something really different. Before that, Van Morrison had been, in my perception, some American type singer..songwriter; long hair, jeans, country rock kinda thing. No thank you very much sir, not my cup of tea.
Then I heard Astral Weeks. What was it? I couldn't understand it, it sounded bizarre and tuneless at first, as if he was making it up as he was going along. Oddly, it happened that I heard the whole album three times that same evening. The circumstances were: I was in a wine bar in Birmingham my girlfriend. It was a lovely hot night and we spent the whole evening there. The woman running the bar, was clearly very into the album, she had it on an 8 Track cartridge machine {popular in the 70s} and instead of stopping when it came to the end of the record, she let it go around and around.
The process in my head went something like this; the first time I heard it; I thought, it sounds like he is just making up the words and the tune, as he goes along, crazy. The second time, I thought, there's more to it than Ifirst realized. I was starting to hear some melody in it, by the third time, I knew there was something powerful going on.That was how I got into Astral Weeks, Van Morrison's first masterpiece. The long term effect it had on me, is something else entirely. That, and one of his other great works of genius; Its Too LateTo Stop Now, brought my understanding of what music could be and mean, to another level. They showed me some of what was possible with music.
Those records expanded the boundaries. I related to the pain and I'd never heard music that touched me so deeply. I hadn't known that music could express and mean so much, and be so serious. The seriousness suited me, that's how I felt. People were always telling me to cheer up.I hadn't known that music could take me beyond where Rock N Roll, straight Soul, Bob Dylan and even the great Roxy Music had {which was a pretty good place anyway} took me.
This was more than Rock N Roll, this was something else. It was genius. That word is used a lot, im not talking about the kind of genius that writes loads of songs or plays loads of instruments, though Van does do those things, im talking about the kind of genius that goes to musical places where others don't and where it must be said, quite a few people maybe don't even know exists! Some people listen to Its Too Late To Stop Now and say "yeah, its nice".
Nice isnt a word that describes it for me. Its a mystery to me that others dont hear what i hear in it, but then maybe they get from some other record, what i get from Astral Weeks and Its Too Late To Stop Now.
Joan Osbourne: There are some songs that I love that are that simple and there’s other songs that are very complicated and abstract and…you listen to Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, half the time you don’t know what the hell he’s talking about. But it’s beautiful.
Peter Wolf: Back in 1968, the Boston Tea Party was the premier club for rock bands. My band, the Hallucinations, composed of art-school dropouts heavily drenched in R&B and Chicago blues, used the club as a rehearsal hall whenever it was available. The music we played could be described as primal, raw and heavy on attitude. We were in the midst of rehearsing one day, getting ready to open for the great bluesman Howlin' Wolf, when something caught my eye, and I looked over to see a stranger looming in the doorway. I had no idea who he was or what he was doing there, so I went over to find out what he wanted. In a thick brogue, he asked about places to play in Boston.Once I figured out who it was, I was both excited and perplexed. Excited because I'd known and admired Van's work from his debut on the charts with his group Them. Perplexed because he seemed so lost and adrift. Despite the recent Top Forty success of his song "Brown Eyed Girl," he'd been having difficulty establishing his identity as a solo artist, but that couldn't account for the bleakness of his mood.As we talked, it became clear that we shared a passion for the same kind of music. Van gradually loosened up, and we made plans to get together again. He started dropping by the FM station where I used to do an all-night radio show. Soon we began to hang together, going out carousing in the night and sometimes getting into more mischief than we bargained for.Van was living in a small, street-level apartment in an old wooden house on Green Street in Cambridge. He, his new wife, her young son. They were flat-out broke. The place was bleak and barren, with little more than a mattress on the floor, a refrigerator, an acoustic guitar and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. They had no phone and little food. It was hard times: He was in exile, with a family to feed, no money, no band, no recording contract and no promise of any safe or legal way out. Even the reason he moved to Boston remained a mystery.Whenever Van had to make business calls, he would walk several blocks to my place to use the phone. It seemed that my apartment also offered him a break from the near-despair of his complicated and unresolved life. He would spend endless hours going through my records. Over and over we would listen to what he called "the gospel" of Jackie Wilson, Ray Charles, Hank Williams, Louis Jordan, Billy Stewart, Elvis and John Lee Hooker. "They're the real deal," he'd say. He played Gene Chandler's live version of "Rainbow '65" so much, I had to get a new needle for my turntable.Many nights were spent checking out different clubs, but few people knew who Van was. Sometimes he would show up at my band's gigs. One night, as we started the intro to his song "Gloria," I called him onstage even though he was reluctant to sing it. When he came up, he went into a brilliant scat that rivaled King Pleasure himself. Unfortunately, the audience didn't want this "unknown" singer changing the familiar delivery of a song that was fast becoming a true rock classic.Eventually, Van managed to assemble a two-piece acoustic band and booked himself at a coffeehouse/jazz club that could only be described as subterranean. It was located three stories below a pool parlor and was deep, damp and dark. Egyptian motifs were painted on its yellow smoke-stained walls. The club justly deserved its name, the Catacombs. I borrowed a tape machine to capture the evening's music. What he performed that night later turned out to be the song cycle that made up the groundbreaking Astral Weeks. Though only a handful showed up, when Van finished playing, there was no doubt that the few present had witnessed something extraordinary.As I stood at the side of the stage last summer and watched Van perform for an ecstatic audience of several thousand, I saw the same raw power and passion that he had displayed more than thirty years ago in the long-forgotten Catacombs. Once again, I admired the strength and mysterious ability to transcend the despair and chaos that could have so easily trapped and overwhelmed him. Mastering his art, he has created a body of work that reflects without imitation. It embodies the exaltation of the spirit. The gospel according to Van. "Turn it up, turn it up, a little bit higher. . . . You know it's got soul . . . and it's too late to stop now!"
Candy Dulfer: Q: Van is another one who doesn't talk to the press. What's he like?A: He's a little bit grumpy-looking, so people think he's mad, but underneath he's got the biggest heart of all. With Van, the best way to communicate is through the music. I know more about him from the solos than from the yak, yak, yak.
Hal Ketchum: While he admits not listening to the radio much, Ketchum does listen to other musicians. "I'm a big Van Morrison fan," he said.
Cyndi Lauper: I still love Ani DiFranco, old Annie Lennox, Bill Withers, Van Morrison, Mavis Staples.
Taj Mahal: But he really first encountered his British counterparts late at night listening to the radio. "Early Van Morrison, Them -- what great records those were," he says. "I remember laying up at midnight saying 'who the heck is this guy 'cause he knows where the music is. I can feel it in the back of my neck.' I love Van.
Bob Seger: "One of the things I patterned my writing and career after, one of the people was Van Morrison....there were about seven or eight albums in a row, and they were consistently good. Van Morrison's albums never sounded the same to me, and I think that was one of the things I really admired about him and I tried to pattern myself after." Radio Interview, World Premier of The Fire Inside, with Redbeard"There's a whole little clique of male vocalists. We're just sort of all connected. I think every last one of us has a connection with Van Morrison.""I got from him [Van Morrison] a sense of commitment. I heard like six straight albums that were not always exactly similar but they were committed in that one direction, white R&B. Blammo, nothing else. Maybe a little bit of country, maybe a little bit of jazz, but basically headed in that one direction. He was committed. And that to me was really important, his consistency was fantastic." Dave Marsh, June 15, 1978, Rolling Stone. "Bob Seger: Not A Stranger Anymore.""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." Interview on Later with Bob Costas.
Pierce Brosnan: "I love to paint, play tennis, kayak, ride my bike, listen to Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen, sit and look at the ocean — and worry," Brosnan said.
George Jones (Belfast DJ): I used to play music with Van Morrison and he would have been round in our house a lot, where we practised. Mum was always on hand with a wee cup of tea - and advice if we needed it. Clearly, Van had something special about him even then. He was writing poetry, and no matter what instrument he lifted he could get a sound out of it. What about his public image as a grumpy man? I'd say he was just quiet and private - he always was. But when he was out playing with us lads he opened up - music gave him that gateway. We meet up now and again, and when I had a documentary made about my life he flew home to take part in it, which I really appreciated.Did he say anything about Radio Ulster dropping my show? There was a bit of a comment. I'm sure he was annoyed - he knows that I, like him, like good music and that's what I was trying to do with the show.
Bob Geldof: Van Morrison's intuitive mixing of twin traditional cultures, the Blues and Irish roots, married to a Yeatsian imagery, generated an entirely new musical vernacular. Van allowed me, and I suppose millions of others to hear for the first time the glory of another music hauled seamlessly, timelessly into the present. Not the cod nonsense of my youth but art - true music. It dawned on me that in all those years I had never actually heard true traditional Irish music and I was chastened.
Jake Holmes: WS: Do you remember your extended run with Van Morrison at The Bitter End in '67?JH: (Irish accent) Do I have the stories for you there, me lad! (chuckling mischievously) We worked with Van at The Bitter End. He had this pick-up band. Charlie Brown and this drummer . . . they were flat-out freaks. They were total drug-crazed people. He decided he was going to get three backup singers. So he hired three black Bronx girls who had never been in The Village before in their life. They didn't know anything about rock n roll or folk music. They were R & B backup singers.Van had apparently gotten enamoured with The Who. And there he is on stage doing "T.B. Sheets" and he's knocking the glasses off the tables in the front with his feet. He's kicking the microphone stand over. He's smashing into the drum set, crashing into everything. He's taking the microphone . . . and these girls are in the background singing (sings in high falsetto) "Oww, T.B. sheets!" . . . and he's swinging the microphone over his head and it's missing . . . Charlie Brown and the drummer could care less . . . but he's swinging the microphone over the girls' heads and they're ducking and their eyes are getting bigger and bigger. They don't know what the hell's going on. What is this guy doing? They finally look at each other and go off stage. Van keeps on with "T.B. Sheets," screaming and yelling and kicking and breaking shit and just going nuts.The girls go in the back. I'm sitting in the back of The Bitter End and all of a sudden these girls come out, it was in the winter time, in their fur coats and they walk past the table and I hear one of them say to the other two "That motherfucker's crazy!" All the while Van's still doing "T.B. Sheets." It was one of the funniest moments in my life.
[Image via Framing Worlds]
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