Elementary

Today you are going to learn about Van Morrison.

First read the text to see who he is.

Van Morrison is a singer-songwriter from Belfast, Northern Ireland. He plays a variety of

instruments, including the guitar, harmonica, keyboards, drums, and saxophone. A lot of people
think he is one of the most unusual and influential vocalists in the history of rock and roll.
Morrison's career, lasting for some four decades, has influenced many popular musical artists. In
1993 he was introduced into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 2003. In 2000, Morrison ranked number 25 on American cable music channel VH1's list of its
100 greatest artists of rock and roll, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him 42nd on
their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He currently lives in Killiney in South Dublin,
Ireland.

Complete the lyrics with the words given.

FILL / ABOVE / SHINES / SADNESS / MINE

Have I Told You Lately

Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there's no one _________ you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my _________
Ease my troubles, that's what you do
Oh the morning sun in all its glory
Greets the day with hope and comfort too
And you _________ my life with laughter
You can make it better
Ease my troubles that's what you do

There's a love that's divine

And it's yours and it's ___________
Like the sun at the end of the day
We should give thanks and pray to the One

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that's what you do

There's a love that's divine

And it's yours and it's mine
And it __________ like the sun
At the end of the day we will give thanks
And pray to the One

Have I told you lately that I love you

Have I told you there's no one above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles, that's what you do
Take away my sadness
Fill my life with gladness
Ease my troubles that's what you do
Fill my life with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles that's what you do

Intermediate

First read the text about his life and his sources of inspiration.

His work is thoughtful, often spiritual in nature, and combines elements of jazz , R&B , Celtic
traditions, and stream-of-consciousness lyrics.

Van Morrison was born in Belfast , Northern Ireland , in 1935 and was named George Ivan
Morrison. Better known as the Celtic sorcerer, Morrison began playing different instruments and
composing songs in an Irish band during his teen years. His musical heritage was inevitable since
h e was exposed to music from an early age with his father collecting American jazz albums and
his mother being a singer.

Journalists have described Morrison as one of the most serious singers with high moral values,
something that lacks in the music business. His lyrics and music are influenced on the works of
poet and New Age prophet William Blake, Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac, J.D. Salinger,
occult and spiritualist poet W.B. Yeats, Alice Bailey, and of many other religious visionaries.
Those authors add mythic powers to Morrison's singular musical vision and his articulation of
emotional truths.

Complete the lyrics with the words given.

WATER FALL / SKIPPING / STADIUM / CAME / SUNLIGHT / OVERCOME / OWN

Brown Eyed Girl

Hey where did we go,

Days when the rains _______
Down in the hollow,
Playin' a new game,
Laughing and a running hey, hey
___________ and a jumping
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a thumpin' and you
My brown eyed girl,
You my brown eyed girl.
Whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio
Standing in the _________ laughing,
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall,
Slipping and sliding
All along the ____________, with you
My brown eyed girl,
You my brown eyed girl.
Do you remember when we used to sing,
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
So hard to find my way,
Now that I'm all on my ________.
I saw you just the other day,
My how you have grown,
Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometime I'm ___________ thinking 'bout
Making love in the green grass
Behind the ____________ with you
My brown eyed girl
You my brown eyed girl
Do you remember when we used to sing
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da.

Advanced

Read the text to learn about Van Morrison’s style and sources.

Van is directly inspired by the visionary poet, William Blake on You Don't Pull No Punches But
You Don't Push The River (on the Veedon Fleece album), Summertime In England (Common
One), Ancient of Days (A Sense of Wonder), Let the Slave (A Sense of Wonder), When Will I
Ever Learn to Live in God? (Avalon Sunset) and Golden Autumn Day (Back on Top).
Yeats is another poetic champion to whom Van returns time and time again for inspiration.
Listen to Here Comes the Knight (No Guru, No Method, No Teacher), Before the World Was
Made (Too Long in Exile) and Rave on, John Donne (on Inarticulate Speech of the Heart).
Say what you like about Van - curmudgeon, grump, whatever - but he has remained true to his
muse while those around him in the music sold their souls to Mammon. Van is the music
industry's true anti-star - "a maverick not by choice but by conviction", as he once said.
If Van Morrison didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
"One time Van said to me that he didn't want to talk," his mother, Violet, once said, "but music
was running through his head all the time. He said he didn't know whether he'd been blessed or
cursed because the words and music wouldn't leave him."
"Everything is a curse and a blessing, "Van told Uncut magazine in a rare interview. "There's two
sides to everything in life. Don't think I haven't tried to walk away from it all. I've made a few
concerted efforts at walking away. But it's pointless. You have to understand that I don't choose
the music. It chooses me. My love for the music is the core of it for me.
"Maybe there's people who do music for different reasons. Financial reasons or ego reasons.
Maybe they can walk away from it. But I can't. Because my connection to the music can't be
broken. This is a need. Let's be clear about this: there is no f***ing choice."
Lets be clear about this. Van Morrison - the lyrical, elegiac bard from east Belfast - is a f***ing
genius. Read aloud the following lines from Sweet Thing (1968) and tell me otherwise: "And I
shall drive my chariot/ Down your street and cry/ 'Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite/ And I don't know
why."
His music, he says, is "aimed at establishing a meditative state within the listener of transcendent
moments". He talks about just "picking up what was in the air".
You get the impression that Van's spiritual antennae are-never switched off. He once told me that
he felt "compelled" to write. He won't thank me for revealing any of this, or the compliments or
the high-blown analysis of his genius. "Words on a page," he once sang, "please don't call me a
sage."
George Ivan Morrison, born August 31, 1945, an only child to Protestant parents, grew up in
thrall to Jelly Roll Morton, Woody Guthrie, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson and his "guru",
Leadbelly. He talks about hearing Leadbelly for the first time as a four-year-old and how "that
opened up the door for me".

Complete the lyrics with the words given.

CAME / PICK-UP / POURIN’ / DRY / WET / THROATS

And It Stoned Me
Half a mile from the county fair
And the rain keep __________ down
Me and Billy standin' there
With a silver half a crown
Hands are full of fishin' rod
And the tackle on our backs
We just stood there gettin' ______
With our backs against the fence
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Hope it don't rain all day
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 going home
And it stoned me
Then the rain let up and the sun ________ up
And we were gettin'________
Almost let a ________ truck nearly pass us by
So we jumped right in and the driver grinned
And he dropped us up the road
We looked at the swim and we jumped right in
Not to mention fishing poles
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Oh, the water
Let it run all over me
On the way back home we sang a song
But our ______ were getting dry
Then we saw the man from across the road
With the sunshine in his eyes
Well he lived all alone in his own little home
With a great big gallon jar
There were bottle too, one for me and you
And he said, \"Hey! There you are.\"