Van Morrison: Likeness

“When all the dark clouds roll away
And the sun begins to shine
I see my freedom from across the way
And it comes right in on time
Well it shines so bright and it gives so much light
And it comes from the sky above
Makes me feel so free makes me feel like me
And lights my life with love.”

Van Morrison

Brand New Day
Song lyrics, Moondance (1970)

Love , Life , Way , Feeling

“Once in a blue moon someone like you comes along.”

Van Morrison

“Some people spend their time just runnin' round in circles
Always chasing some exotic bird
I prefer to spend some time just listening for that special something
That I've never ever heard
I like a new song to sing, another show or somewhere entirely different to be
But baby you make me feel so free.”

Van Morrison

You Make Me Feel So Free
Song lyrics, Into the Music (1979)

People , Feeling , Bird , Singing

“Linden Arden stole the highlights
With one hand tied behind his back.
Loved the morning sun and whiskey
Ran like water in his veins.
Loved to go to church on Sunday,
Even though he was a drinkin' man.
When the boys came to San Francisco,
They were looking for his life.
But he found out where they were drinking,
Met them face to face outside.
Cleaved their heads off with a hatchet,
Lord, he was a drinkin' man.
And when somebody tried to get above him,
He just took the law into his own hands.
Linden Arden stole the highlights,
And they put his fingers through the glass.
He had heard all those stories many, many times before,
And he did not care, nor know, to ask.
And he loved the little children like they were his very own.
You say 'Someday, he may get lonely,
Now he's livin', livin' with a gun.”

Van Morrison

Linden Arden Stole the Highlights
Song lyrics, Veedon Fleece (1974)

Love , Life , Children , Law

“And when that foghorn blows,
I will be coming home,
When that foghorn blows,
I wanna hear it, I don't have to fear it,
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul,
Just like way back in the days of old,
And magnificently we will fold
Into the mystic.”

Van Morrison

Into the Mystic
Song lyrics, Moondance (1970)

Fear , Way , Home , Soul

“Come here my love
And I will lift my spirits high for you
I'd like to fly away and spend a day or two
Just contemplating the fields and leaves and talking about nothing
Just layin' down in shades of effervescent, effervescent odors
And shades of time and tide.”

Van Morrison

Come Here My Love
Song lyrics, Veedon Fleece (1974)

Love , Time , Flying

“I look at the side of your face as the sunlight comes
Streaming through the window in the autumn sunshine
And all the time going to Coney Island I'm thinking,
Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all the time.”

Van Morrison

Coney Island
Song lyrics, Avalon Sunset (1989)

Autumn , Thinking , Time

“The warm look of radiance on your face
And your heart beating close to mine
And the evening fading in the candle glow
This must be what it's all about
Oh this must be what it's all about
This must be what paradise is like
So quiet in here. So peaceful in here
So quiet in here, yeah, so peaceful in here.”

Van Morrison

So Quiet In Here
Song lyrics, Enlightenment (1990)

Peace , Heart

“When you come down
From your Ivory Tower
You will see how it really must be
To be like me, to see like me,
To feel like me.”

Van Morrison

Ivory Tower
Song lyrics, No Guru (1986)

Feeling

“I don't think I will ever mellow out. I think if you mellow out, you get eaten up. You become like a commodity. So I don't think I will mellow out. It is not in my blood.”

Van Morrison

An Oral History of Popular Music (1989)

Thinking

“Waiting for the sun to shine
And you know sometimes it gets so painful
Just like talking to yourself
When everything don't seem to have no rhyme or reason we all go
Do do loo do do, do do loo do do
Waiting for the sun to shine.”

Van Morrison

(Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball
Song lyrics, Tupelo Honey (1971)

Pain , Waiting , Sun

“And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like Jelly Roll
And it stoned me
And it stoned me to my soul
Stoned me just like goin' home.
And it stoned me.”

Van Morrison

And It Stoned Me
Song lyrics, Moondance (1970)

Home , Soul

“In the land of a thousand dances,
I dance with you.
I was out I was taking my chances
When dreams came true
When you came into my dream
Like from a whisper to a scream.”

Van Morrison

Heavy Connection
Song lyrics, A Period of Transition (1977)

Dreams , Chance , Dance

“Oh redwood tree,
Please let us under,
When we were young we used to go,
Under the redwood tree,
And it smelled like rain,
Maybe even thunder,
Won't you keep us from all harm,
Wonderful redwood tree.”

Van Morrison

Redwood Tree
Song lyrics, Saint Dominic's Preview (1972)

Tree

“And all the girls walk by
Dressed up for each other
And the boys do the boogie-woogie
On the corner of the street
And the people passin' by
Just stare in wild wonder
And the inside juke-box
Roars out just like thunder.”

Van Morrison

Wild Night
Song lyrics, Tupelo Honey (1971)

People , Girl , Boy , Box

“I can hear her heart beat from a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her that's where I belong
Yet I'm running to her like a river's song.”

Van Morrison

Crazy Love
Song lyrics, Moondance (1970)

Smile , Time , Heart

“Like I say, the way I write songs is, you know, inspirational. I have to wait for it to happen. And when it happens I get lines, and I just write them down, you know. I'm not sort of a Tin Pan Alley sort of songwriter. I just sort of write down what I get - without censoring or questioning what it is and what it means, you know. Like later on I look at what it means, but not at the time.”

Van Morrison

"Nights in Copenhagen with Van Morrison" (1985) interview by Al Jones

Way , Question , Time , Waiting

“You know what they're writing about
Baby you know what they're writing about
It's a thing called love down through the ages
Makes you wanna cry sometimes
Makes you feel like you wanna lay down and die sometimes
Makes you high sometimes
But when you really get in it lifts you right up.”

Van Morrison

You Know What They're Writing About
Song lyrics, Into the Music (1979)

Love , Age , Feeling , Baby

“I've been travellin' a hard road
Baby lookin' for someone exactly like you
I've been carryin' my heavy load
Waiting for the light to come shining through
Someone like you
Make it all worth while
Someone like you
Make me satisfied
Someone exactly like you.”

Van Morrison

Someone Like You
Song lyrics, Poetic Champions Compose (1987)

Light , Waiting , Baby

“Walkin' on a city street who would think you could ever be touched
By a total stranger, not me
But when you came up to me that day and I listened to your story
It reminded me so much of myself
It wasn't what you said but the way it felt to me
About a search and a journey just like mine.”

Van Morrison

Angeliou
Song lyrics, Into the Music (1979)

Way , Search , Thinking