Van Morrison, Irish troubadour, rock n’ roll poet, progenitor of the legendary Astral Weeks, turns 75 today.
Keep Er Lit, a new book of selected lyrics was published earlier this year. This follows on from Lit Up Inside – Selected Lyrics (published by City Lights in 2014)
Here’s some selected reviews of that book – from the Irish Times, from the San Francisco Chronicle and from the New York Journal of Books
Here’s Van at a Q & A in London, following the publication of Lit Up Inside:
From a more-recent interview, this past March, in the London Independent:
“Does Morrison consider lyric writing the equivalent of poetry? “Some of my works are just straight poetry, some could be a song or a poem and some are poetry with a music back-up, like ‘On Hyndford Street’, which was based on my early days, listening to my father’s record collection and Radio Luxembourg,” he replies. Morrison grew up in a street of small, terraced houses barely a mile from the Lagan river that runs through the centre of Belfast. “I have a book of Cole Porter’s songs and his lyrics are just poetry. I don’t think there is a lot of difference.”
Martin Chilton’s interview -“Van Morrison in lockdown – “I am trying to get back into writing songs” finds Morrison surprisingly forthcoming and informative. Van, as Chilton notes “has been known to have fractious interviews” (for example, – this one). Lockdown, however, seems to have made him more open, a little more loquacious. He speaks freely of his jazz and blues influences (Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Little Walter, John Lee Hooker, and others). He readily acknowledges early influences on his singing (among them, Lead Belly, Ray Charles and Sam Cooke) – but always recognizing the importance of having his own style. “I developed my own style after a bit, which is what one has to do if you are going to continue to do it.”, Chilton quotes him as saying. “Nobody wants something that is a copy of a copy. You have to put your own stamp on music.” With over 40 albums now (and in addition six live albums), Van Morrison clearly has done just that.
Regarding Astral Weeks – a strong recommendation for this book – Ryan H Walsh’s – Astral Weeks – A Secret History of 1968 (2018) (not just about Van, about so much more, but Van’s the lynch-pin –
“Down on Cyprus Avenue/ With a childlike vision leaping into view/Clicking, clacking of the high heeled shoe/ Ford and Fitzroy, Madame George..”
To Hyndford Street, feeling wondrous and lit up inside/With a sense of everlasting life
And reading Mister Jelly Roll and Big Bill Broonzy/ And Really The Blues by “Mezz” Mezzrow/And Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac/Over and over again/And voices echoing late at night over Beechie River/And it’s always being now, and it’s always being now
It’s always now..”