Warning! If you are only looking for pictures of beautiful interiors, you can stop reading here. Instead, there will be pictures from our beautiful world that no other interior environment can match. This post will be about spirituality and Van Morrison’s fantastic lyrics and music. I am a big admirer of this artist who has been active for over 50 years and who, unlike his peers from the 60s, is still creative and productive and composes lyrics and music that have something to say to everyone.
It can be said in general that our old spiritual and church tradition is not particularly relevant today, at least not in our part of the world. The church pews are empty, and the new temples of the people have become the great marketplaces.
Van broke through in the mid-60s in the pop group Them and of course he was the creative force there.. Most of the pop groups that were active during the 60s lasted for a few years and most of them were already broken up before the start of the 70s. Of course there are exceptions, such as the Rolling Stones, who in my opinion have not done anything of value since 1978 and since then have only survived on old merits. But I am and have always been a big fan of the old songs that are just so good.
I’m in a Van period again and have become more and more obsessed with songs with references to spirituality and religion. Of course, Van writes about other things than spirituality and especially about human problems, but not very many love songs.
Most of the lyrics are cautiously spiritual in nature, a bit vague and open to interpretation, while a few are openly spiritual. The cautiously spiritual is probably because Van doesn’t want to scare away his large following.
I’m going to cover those that I consider to be overtly spiritual for the sake of clarity and use wonderfully beautiful images that accompany Van’s music perfectly.
The lyrics are excerpts.
IF I EVER NEEDED SOMEONE
Lord, if I ever needed someone , I need you,
To see me through the daytime
And through the long, lonely night
To lead me through the darkness
And on into the light.
Our globe photographed from the moon.
WHEN WILL I EVER LEARN TO LIVE IN GOD
And up on the hillside its quiet
Where the shepherd is tending his sheep
And over the mountains and the valleys
The countryside is so green
Standing on the highest hill with a sense of wonder
You can see everything is made in God
Head back down the roadside and give thanks for it all
The green hills of Ireland, Van’s homeland.
Master’s eye
How the light shone from the master’s eyes
Or how the truth shone, from the master
Why didn’t they leave us to wander through buttercup summers
And my questions all were answered
When the light shone from the master
When the light shone, from the master’s eyes
Buttercup summers….
How the light shone from the master’s eyes….
These are the days ( utdrag ur texten)
These are the days by the sparkling river
And His timely grace and the treasured find
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned the water into wine
These are the days now that we must savor
And we must enjoy as we can
These are the days that will last forever
You’ve got to hold them in your heart.
These are the days of the endless summer…
These are the days by the sparkling river ……
This is the love of the one great magician
Turned water into wine…
No religion
And they ask what hate is
It’s just the other side of love
Some people want to give their enemies
Everything they think that they deserve
Some say why don’t you love your neighbours
Go ahead, turn the other cheek
But have you ever met anybody who’s ever been the meek
And it’s so cruel to expect the saviour to save the day
And there’s no religion, no religion, no religion here today
Magical forest…
Northern Lights in Lapland.
It’s not just old-timers who Morrison writes about his spiritual quest; there’s a newcomer named Michael Kiwanuka, a British soul artist with roots in Uganda, who performs his spiritual music in a very quiet way.
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