I only have one favourite song and this is not it.
Maybe next week or next year that will change. I'm flexible.
However, to this cracked face as it faces north into the winter sun, eyes closed and ears cocooned by comfy headphones, this tune is a beautifully crafted version of one of my all time favourite songs - the type of tunes that make me smile, bop, hop, shuffle, take me back, give me hope, warm me up, chill me out. Songs that transcend time (and their author's mortality).
This ditty, which was first released in 1968 (2008 version above) is so evocative that a video clip would add very little to the experience. It's pure music. This live rendition, where all the players cook, takes it to an almost elegiac level (for my old ears anyway).
The Van Man transcending time.
I'm also inspired by the perseverance through adversity contained in the whole back story, as 19 year old Van Morrison, with electric hits Gloria and the old Big Joe Williams tune, Baby Please Don't Go (a decade before AC/DC) under his Irish belt, battles with his record company and US Immigration to release this cracker at the old age of 23. Read a summary here. 1968 version here.
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