Imus In The Morning Radio Show Interview

Listen (audio) to Van's interview with Imus.

Van was interviewed by the I-Man on the Imus In The Morning radio show February 26th.

Imus has been fan of Van's music for many years and has been playing a lot of his music on his morning radio show. Get well soon, I-Man!


Interview Summary:

Imus welcomed the one and only Van Morrison to the show today. Morrison, in town for several live performances of his seminal Astral Weeks album, shared some stories from his early days in the music industry, his thoughts on Astral Weeks, and revealed why he has zero interest in Bono.

Morrison admitted that he hates watching footage of old performances, like The Last Waltz film about The Band's final concert, because he quickly moves on. "I am where I am now, and what I'm into is what I'm doing now," he said.

He was, however, willing to discuss past events, like his relationship with infamous producer and songwriter Bert Berns, whom he met in 1965. "I'd actually heard of him because one of my favorite songs was a b-side of a Drifters hit," said Morrison. "Later on, I signed with his record company, Bang Records."

To Morrison's surprise, Imus confessed that years ago he had made a comedy album for Bang Records. "Did you get the money?" Morrison wondered.

"Of course not!" said Imus. "I got no money."

"That was their policy," Morrison said, laughing. "Neither did I."

Following his time at Bang and what he called "a series of ripoffs" at Warner Brothers Records, Morrison recorded Astral Weeks for Warner Brothers at the tender age of 22. He had previously recorded some of the tracks with Berns, but said, "it wasn't going anywhere."

"The way he wanted to produce it was nothing like the way I wanted to do it," Morrison said about the album.

Imus surmised that Warner Brothers had probably been expecting tracks similar to Morrison's monster hit "Brown Eyed Girl," yet Astral Weeks has a distinctively different sound with more of a jazz approach. Asked for the record label's reaction to Astral Weeks, Morrison recalled, "They said what they always say: 'We love you and we love it and we're your biggest fans.'" Then, he said, they totally forgot about it.

During the 1968 recording of the original Astral Weeks Morrison recalled the hands-off approach he took with the musicians. "They were jazz musicians and the approach was jazz," he said. "They were able to follow me. I'd tell them, 'Just follow where I'm going...follow my vocal, and follow the best way you can, and don't get in the way.'"
In the 40 years since Astral Weeks was released, there has been much speculation about the basis for the song lyrics. Morrison insists they are all fictional.

"So, if I think 'Madame George' is Elton John, that's just my problem?" Imus asked.

Morrison agreed that it was, like most things, Imus's problem.

Morrison is baffled that Astral Weeks is considered a rock classic. "The whole thing was anti-rock!" he said. "It was jazz." A live version of Astral Weeks, recorded during a performance Morrison did last year at the Hollywood Bowl, was released Tuesday.

"I didn't really know what the 'F' I was doing until I was actually on the stage at the Hollywood Bowl, and it clicked," said Morrison, who struggled with the decision to perform Astral Weeks live. "But it felt like the right thing to do. As soon as I got on stage, I said, 'Yeah, this is obviously what I'm supposed to be doing.'"

Imus spent last weekend listening to both versions of Astral Weeks, and said he understands how people get caught up in it. He asked Morrison about the experience of singing the album. "Is is always the same?" Imus wondered.

Morrison answered with a quote from Louie Armstrong: "You never sing a thing the same way twice."

As for "Brown Eyed Girl," Morrison called it both a bad experience, and not one of his best songs. "It's not a very in-depth song," he said. "To me, it was a throwaway." While it has appeared in many films, Morrison does not own the rights. "Where's the money?" he joked.

Morrison added that he is not a digital artist. "My people want hard copies," he said. He does not listen to any current music and recoiled in horror when Imus asked him if he likes Bono. "His rock don't have no roll," said Morrison.

Speaking of rock and roll, Morrison did not show up at his 1993 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "It felt to me like a propagandized organization," he said. "There's a lot of people I felt should have been in it who weren't, and it took a long time to get them in." On the other hand, he was proud to accept induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame just last year.

Before Morrison left, Imus asked how his upcoming shows would be structured. "I haven't worked out yet what I'm doing this time around," Morrison divulged, to which Imus replied, "I didn't mean to tell you this, but the concert is tomorrow night."

Imus thanked his normally interview-averse guest, and pointed out that he had not grilled Morrison about "Madame George," or asked him any annoying personal questions.

Said Morrison, laughing, "This was the perfect interview!"

-Julie Kanfer