THE BERKELEY PLACE TOP 20 VAN MORRISON SONGS
Wow this is hard. Limiting myself to just twenty of the master’s songs. Especially when eight of them could be from Moondance. I tried to pick some songs showing his amazing breadth and scope, from various points in his career. Tell me how I did in the comments!
20. Scandinavia (1982). I thought it would be fun to start this tribute to one of the most powerful and evocative voices in rock and roll with an instrumental. Scandavia, from Morrison’s borderline New Age album “Beautiful Vision” features Mark Isham and Peter Van Hooke, and got nominated for a Grammy. It’s a difficult composition and, to my knowledge, has never been covered by another band. Ever.
19. Enlightenment (1990). “Chop that wood. Carry water. What’s the sound of one hand clapping? Enlightenment, don’t know what it is.” This is about as overtly spiritual as mainstream pop songs can get (Morrison later sings that he’s “In the here and now, meditating, and still I’m suffering…But that’s my problem”).
18. I’m Not Feeling It Anymore (1991). An album cut from his double album Hymns to the Silence—the record that produced several singles (notably, “I Can’t Stop Loving You,” “Why Must I Always Explain,” and “Some Peace of Mind”). The album was really about dealing with the industry and the troubles of life, and felt almost like he was giving up on music entirely—and this song perfectly encapsulated that message. The amazing thing about it is how the lyrics sounded so resigned, but musically and vocally it felt like Morrison had new life and new inspiration.
Here’s a Tom Jones duet version.
17. Whenever God Shines His Light (1989). Usually the last thing I want when I pick up a VM album is to hear someone else singing, but Cliff Richards’ light vocals are the perfect foil for Morrison’s deep bass, and a great addition to a song about loving God. After this album, Morrison’s albums became increasingly dark and bitter—for about a decade—and focused on how he felt (somewhat deservedly) that the music industry had ripped him off. So I guess he was getting all the Christian love out of his system. Some will say it doesn’t have the gravitas of his other work, and that’s true, but sometimes a simply ditty on faith is just what the doctor ordered. Plus, as I said, I didn’t want to make an entire list of just Moondance and Astral Weeks-era stuff.
Covers: Yes! Finally! A VM song that’s been covered! It’s a terrible cover, but the video is funny.
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