Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison, OBEis a Northern Irish singer, songwriter and musician. He has received six Grammy Awards, the 1994 Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, and has been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2016 he was knighted for his musical achievements and his services to tourism and charitable causes in Northern Ireland...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth31 August 1945
CityBelfast, Northern Ireland
I write songs. Then, I record them. And, later, maybe I perform them on stage. That's what I do. That's my job. Simple.
The future is keeping you out of the present time.
My records do not require a lot of thought of 'What is this?' and 'What is that?' That would be too contrived for me.
A lot of people who were writing when I came through originally as a singer-songwriter have disappeared.
I think when you get past your second album, it all becomes something of a routine. So you have to struggle against that, find a way of making what you do sound fresh and new each time.
I put out records to this day that are not necessarily in a sequence of anything. Some could be written a while back, some not. There is no set pattern.
The theory is that you don't play a song the same way twice because it's jazz. That's where I'm coming from.
What I don't like is taking it to extremes and making all these intellectualizations about what basically is simple music. It's simple stream-of-consciousness stuff in my songs. What I'm trying to get across is misinterpreted.
I don't have any regrets about the album [ Veedon Fleece ]. But it's the same old story - an album is basically 35 or 40 minutes of what you do. It's 'part' of what you do.
I have some intellectual-type pursuits, like studying philosophy and stuff like that.
I also like to do physical things. I like swimming a lot. I like traveling. Not touring traveling but just plain traveling. I also read a lot. Reading takes up most of my time.
Jazz was always cool. That was what I liked about jazz - it was always cool. Now I see the cats that were basically cool getting kind of uncool. So that ruins what I feel about jazz.
That's the jazz that I like - the stuff that has a soothing effect.
It's real difficult to pin down directions. I just want to do collaboration-tape stuff.