History Music / VanMorrison

* TransAtlanticEquivalent: In this case, Trans-Irish Sea Equivalent. His first band, Them, were billed as "Ireland's answer to Music/TheRollingStones". However, the legendarily introverted and retiring Morrison was no Mick Jagger.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Uses elements of R&B, {{Blues}}, Rock, {{Jazz}}, FolkMusic, and ClassicalMusic ''all on the same album...'' "Summertime in England" squeezes almost all of those into ''a single'' [[EpicRocking (15 minute)]] ''song''!
-->''My sound is distinctively Irish pop with some Music/RayCharles and [[Music/BobDylan Dylan]] influence.'' (quoted in ''Billboard'' magazine, 1967)

* {{Mondegreen}}: Even ''he's'' not sure what some of his lyrics really are.
-->"'[Into the Mystic]' is kind of funny because when it came time to send the lyrics in WB Music, I couldn't figure out what to send them. Because really the song has two sets of lyrics. For example, there's 'I was born before the wind' and 'I was borne before the wind', and also 'Also younger than the son, Ere the bonny boat was one' and 'All so younger than the son, Ere the bonny boat was won' ..."

* ''Blowin' Your Mind!'' (1967)

It has been estimated that during his career, Morrison has dabbled with nearly every genre of music, with the possible exceptions of reggae, heavy rock[[note]] ''Wavelength'' hovers on the brink of being a full-blown rock number, possibly four or five on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness[[/note]], and rap[[note]]''Rave on, John Donne'' has a long spoken stream-of-consciousness section that hovers on the brink of being a Belfast rap[[/note]]. He has been married three times and has six children. His daughter Shana Morrison is a recording star in her own right.

Sir George Ivan Morrison, otherwise known as Van Morrison, is a singer-songwriter who was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 31, 1945. Exposed to imported American music coming in through the docks, he was hooked on the blues and jazz from an early age. A window cleaner by day, at night he fronted a blues-rock band called Them, who were resident house-band at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast. The group had its big break in 1965 with "Here Comes The Night", which topped the British singles chart, and had limited success in the USA. A string of lesser hits followed, including a cover of Music/BobDylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", a rock version of the blues standard "Baby, Please Don't Go", and a Morrison-penned number that was destined to be covered by some of the biggest names in the business and which is still popular today - the storming anthem "Gloria".

George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), otherwise known as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter. Exposed to imported American music coming in through the docks, he was hooked on the blues and jazz from an early age. A window cleaner by day, at night he fronted a blues-rock band called Them, who were resident house-band at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast. The group had its big break in 1965 with "Here Comes The Night", which topped the British singles chart, and had limited success in the USA. A string of lesser hits followed, including a cover of Music/BobDylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a Morrison-penned number that was destined to be covered by some of the biggest names in the business and which is still popular today - the storming anthem "Gloria".

He left Them in 1967, heading to the USA to try to break into the business there. He was managed by the legendarily rapacious Bert Berns, recording one LP with him, ''Blowin' Your Mind''. The contract Berns put him under was so unfair that it assigned Berns not only the song rights, but also performance rights. Morrison was paid a comparative pittance. The LP did not sell too well, so none of this might have mattered in the long run, except that a single called "Brown Eyed Girl" was released from it. A Creator/{{BBC}} documentary exploring song rights issued estimated that by 2012, this one song had earned $12-15,000,000. Morrison saw little of this cash.

Taken on by Creator/WarnerBrosRecords, Morrison was allocated less than a week's studio recording time to come up with an LP. The result was the critically acclaimed ''Music/AstralWeeks'' - an LP that he hated at the time, but has noticeably warmed to in later years. The album initially went unnoticed, but since then has become highly regarded by fans and critics. Today it is considered one of the greatest rock albums of all time (although [[GenreBusting it isn't exactly typical rock music]]).

In June 2015 he joined Sir Music/CliffRichard and Sir Music/EltonJohn as a Knight of British music[[note]]His Belfast birth qualifies him for full British state honours[[/note]] and became Sir George Ivan Morrison.

George Ivan Morrison (born August 31, 1945), otherwise known as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter. Exposed to imported American music coming in through the docks, he was hooked on the blues and jazz from an early age. A window cleaner by day, at night he fronted a blues-rock band called Them, who were resident house-band at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast. The group had its big break in 1965 with "Here Comes The Night", which topped the British singles chart, and had limited success in the USA. A string of lesser hits followed, including a cover of Music/BobDylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a Morrison-penned number that was destined to be covered by some of the biggest names in the business and which is still popular today - the storming anthem "Gloria".

* BreakupBreakout: Morrison's career began to soar to new heights after he left Them. his old group never recovered and sank into obscurity.

* NotChristianRock: He's done many songs with spiritual themes, and the ''Into the Music'' album was widely viewed as a sign that he'd embraced Christianity.[[note]]an impression bolstered by its being released almost side-by-side with Music/BobDylan's first Christian album ''Slow Train Coming''[[/note]] But his personal religious sentiments are actually really hard to pin down. His mother was a Jehovah's Witness and his song "Kingdom Hall" reflects that connection in his youth. As an adult he got involved in various NewAge pursuits, and also had a very brief flirtation with the ChurchOfHappyology, but also referred to himself in an interview as a "Christian mystic."

* NotChristianRock: Has done many songs with spiritual themes, and the ''Into the Music'' album was widely viewed as a sign that he'd embraced Christianity[[note]]it was released almost simultaneously with Music/BobDylan's first Christian album ''Slow Train Coming''[[/note]]. But his personal religious sentiments are actually really hard to pin down. His mother was a Jehovah's Witness and his song "Kingdom Hall" reflects that connection in his youth. As an adult he got involved in various NewAge pursuits, and also had a very brief flirtation with the ChurchOfHappyology, but also referred to himself in an interview as a "Christian mystic."

It has been estimated that during his career, Morrison has dabbled with nearly every genre of music, with the possible exceptions of reggae, heavy rock[[note]] ''Wavelength'' hovers on the brink of being a rock number, possibly three or four on the sliding scale[[/note]], and rap[[note]]''Rave on, John Donne'' has a long spoken stream-of-consciousness section that hovers on the brink of being a Belfast rap[[/note]]. He has been married three times and has six children. His daughter Shana Morrison is a recording star in her own right.

It has been estimated that during his career, Morrison has dabbled with nearly every genre of music, with the possible exceptions of reggae, heavy rock, and rap. He has been married three times and has six children. His daughter Shana Morrison is a recording star in her own right.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Uses elements of R&B, {{Blues}}, Rock, {{Jazz}}, {{Folk}}, and {{Classical}} ''all on the same album...'' "Summertime in England" squeezes almost all of those into ''a single'' [[EpicRocking (15 minute)]] ''song''!

* BodyHorror: Implicit in "TB Sheets". TruthInTelevision; Dying of Tuberculosis is NOT glamorous or "Romantic".

** A couple years earlier "she comes to my room" scared some radio stations away from playing "Gloria". The cover by The Shadows of Knight eliminated that line and became a bigger hit than the Them version.[[note]]Music/PattiSmith's cover flipped the gender perspective completely and was even more problematic for radio.[[/note]]

* FreestyleVersion: He tends to this wnenever he does a cover version. His cover of ''It's All In The Game'' starts out as a conventional cover sticking more-or-less to the official lyrics, but by the end it has diverged so much that on the ''Into The Music'' album, the second half of the cover is listed as a seperate track and given a new name (with songwriting credits for the lyrics given to Van).

* GenreRoulette: ''Saint Dominic's Preview''. All the songs are the usual Morrison genre blends, but each one has a sound and style that doesn't get repeated on the album[[note]] "Listen To The Lion" and "Almost Independence Day" are conceptually similar but go off in different directions musically[[/note]]. His other albums are also eclectic but usually have more of a uniform foundation.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly: Uses elements of R&B, {{Blues}}, Rock, {{Jazz}}, {{Folk}}, and {{Classical}} ''all on the same album...'' "Summertime In England" squeezes almost all of those into ''a single'' [[EpicRocking (15 minute)]] ''song''!

* NewSoundAlbum: ''Too Long In Exile'' was this after the increasingly esoteric and meditative 80s albums. ''...Exile'', as the title suggests, marked the first in a series of albums taking Van back to his rhythm'n'blues roots.
* NotChristianRock: Has done many songs with spiritual themes, and the ''Into The Music'' album was widely viewed as a sign that he'd embraced Christianity[[note]]it was released almost simultaneously with Music/BobDylan's first Christian album ''Slow Train Coming''[[/note]]. But his personal religious sentiments are actually really hard to pin down. His mother was a Jehovah's Witness and his song "Kingdom Hall" reflects that connection in his youth. As an adult he got involved in various NewAge pursuits, and also had a very brief flirtation with the ChurchOfHappyology, but also referred to himself in an interview as a "Christian mystic."

* OdeToYouth: "These are the Days"

* OneManSong: "Jackie Wilson Said".

* {{Scatting}}: Often employs this, most notably on the intro to "Jackie Wilson Said".

* TakeThat: Many, over the years, mostly to unnamed people in the music business, or the industry itself. Perhaps the most notable is the suite of ''36'' songs he recorded to fulfill his contractual obligation to Bang - they have nonsense lyrics and titles like "Ring Worm", "Blowin' Your Nose", "Nose In Your Blow" and "Here Comes Dumb George". [[GoneHorriblyRight They have been released multiple times anyway, and Morrison gets little or no royalty fees for them.]]

** "Caledonia", which is the ancient Roman name for Scotland. Morrison has Scottish ancestry on his father's side and it's referenced so often in his work that it's something of an ArcWord. It's even his daughter's middle name.

* VocalEvolution: He often sang further forward in his younger days, including a couple of tracks in falsetto (like "Fair Play" on ''Veedon Fleece"). From the Nineties, though, he increasingly sang deeper and from the chest, and became more of a GutturalGrowler.

* ShoutOut: He mentions ''lots'' of singers or other musicians in his lyrics: Music/RayCharles, Music/FrankSinatra, Music/HankWilliams, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson, Huddie (Music/LeadBelly) Ledbetter, Jelly Roll Morton, and on and on.

George Ivan Morrison, otherwise known as Van Morrison, was born in Sandy Row, Belfast, on August 31, 1945. Exposed to imported American music coming in through the docks, he was hooked on the blues and jazz from an early age. A window cleaner by day, at night he fronted a blues-rock band called Them, who were resident house-band at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast. The group had its big break in 1965 with "Here Comes The Night", which topped the British singles chart, and had limited success in the USA. A string of lesser hits followed, including a cover of Music/BobDylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a Morrison-penned number that was destined to be covered by some of the biggest names in the business and which is still popular today - the storming anthem "Gloria".

* ShoutOut: He mentions ''lots'' of singers or other musicians in his lyrics: Music/RayCharles, Music/FrankSinatra, Music/HankWilliams, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Mahalia Jackson, Huddie (Lead Belly) Ledbetter, Jelly Roll Morton, and on and on.

* {{Oireland}}:
** His collaboration with trad music veterans The Chieftains, versions of Irish traditional songs performed on native instruments with Morrison performing vocals.
** Also the track "Streets of Arklow", on the ''Veedon Fleece'' album.
** He also namechecks places from his native Belfast throughout the ''Astral Weeks'' album.
** The jolly (for Morrison) song "Cleanin' Windows" is all about those carefree teenage days working as a window cleaner in East Belfast.

George Ivan Morrison, otherwise known as Van Morrison, was born in Sandy Row, Belfast, in August 1945. Exposed to imported American music coming in through the docks, he was hooked on the blues and jazz from an early age. A window cleaner by day, at night he fronted a blues-rock band called Them, who were resident house-band at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast. The group had its big break in 1965 with "Here Comes The Night", which topped the British singles chart, and had limited success in the USA. A string of lesser hits followed, including a cover of Music/BobDylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a Morrison-penned number that was destined to be covered by some of the biggest names in the business and which is still popular today - the storming anthem "Gloria".