Van Morrison has started looking like the grumpy old man that he always was (remember astral weeks, he was just 23 when he made the record that contained the experiences of several lives), complaining in every damn interview that he is neither famous nor understood enough. This is my attempt to give him an existence in the musical consciousness of whoever has never heard of him but accidentally reads this piece.

Let us take his version of caravan from the live album it’s too late to stop now. The song on the surface isn’t about much- gypsies, caravans, radio etc. but the lyrics adjunct with the lyrics gives it an ethereal quality, and yup theres the way he sings it. I doubt whether anyone in his right mind can sing quite like him, I doubt whether he himself can sing the same song exactly the way he did the last time around.

The song has a flexible structure and can be played backwards if possible, but here it starts with the clappings, a ubiquitous presence at any live show which is seamlessly replaced by piano notes before van launches into the vocals which seem controlled at first but is just a lil pleasantries before he takes the song by the sruff of its neck on the words ‘emily rose’, and then on its methodical musical madness right to the end where he harmonises and introduces the band over bluesy piano notes.