Van Morrison, born in 1945 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, is a highly acclaimed singer, songwriter, and musician known for his distinctive blend of rock, blues, soul, and Celtic influences. Rising to prominence in the mid-1960s as the lead singer of the band Them, Morrison gained widespread recognition for hits like “Gloria” and “Here Comes the Night.” However, it was his solo career that solidified his status as a music icon. Albums such as “Astral Weeks” and “Moondance” are regarded as classics, showcasing Morrison’s soulful vocals and poetic songwriting. Throughout his career, he has explored various musical styles, from folk to jazz to R&B, maintaining a reputation for artistic integrity and musical innovation. With a career spanning over five decades, Morrison continues to captivate audiences with his evocative music and remains one of the most revered figures in the history of rock and roll.
Van Morrison Quotes
1. “And I want to rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old And magnificently we will fold into the mystic.”
— Van Morrison
2. “Have I told you lately that I love you, have I told you lately there’s no one above you. Fill my heart with gladness, take away all my sadness, ease my troubles, that’s what you do.”
— Van Morrison
3. “If you live the life you love, you get the blessing from above.”
— Van Morrison
4. “You gotta fight every day to keep mediocrity at bay…”
— Van Morrison
5. “Smell the sea and feel the sky.”
— Van Morrison
6. “No guru, no method, no teacher, just you and I and nature, and the father in the garden.”
— Van Morrison
7. “These are the days of the endless summer, these are the days, the time is now. There is no past, there’s only future, there’s only here, there’s only now.”
— Van Morrison
8. “Sartre said that hell is other people, I believe that most of them are.”
— Van Morrison
9. “Let your soul and spirit fly.”
— Van Morrison
10. “Go up to the mountain, go up to the glen, where silence will touch you, and heartbreak will mend.”
— Van Morrison
11. “Spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst But you got to change it On the inside first To be satisfied.”
— Van Morrison
12. “I’m a dweller of the threshold and I’m waiting at the door, and I’m standing in the darkness, I don’t want to wait no more.”
— Van Morrison
13. “Once in a blue moon someone like you comes along.”
— Van Morrison
14. “In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing.”
— Van Morrison
15. “The wild night is calling.”
— Van Morrison
16. “The fog of illusion, the fog of confusion is hanging all over the world.”
— Van Morrison
17. “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
18. “You can’t stop us on the road to freedom, you can’t stop us cause our eyes can see.”
— Van Morrison
19. “Making love in the green grass behind the stadium with you my brown eyed girl.”
— Van Morrison
20. “It’s a marvelous night for a moondance!”
— Van Morrison
21. “I educated myself. To me, school was boring.”
— Van Morrison
22. “Music to me is spontaneous, writing is spontaneous and it’s all based on not trying to do it. From beginning to end, whether it’s writing a song, or playing guitar, or a particular chord sequence, or blowing a horn, it’s based on improvisation and spontaneity.”
— Van Morrison
23. “There’s always stress involved in any genre or art form, there’s always going to be a struggle. If there’s no struggle, you wouldn’t do anything. What are you going do? Retire?”
— Van Morrison
24. “When it’s not always raining there’ll be days like this. When there’s no one complaining there’ll be days like this. When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch. Well my mama told me there’ll be days like this.”
— Van Morrison
25. “At the end of the day, we should give thanks and pray, to the one, to the one.”
— Van Morrison
26. “Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea They thought great thoughts about liberty Poets wrote down words that did fit Writers wrote books Thinkers thought about it.”
— Van Morrison
27. “I’m a working man in my prime cleaning windows.”
— Van Morrison
28. “Ambition will take you And ride you too far and Conservatism bring you to boredom once more Sit down by the river And watch the stream flow Recall all the dreams That you once used to know The things you’ve forgotten That took you away To pastures not greener but meaner.”
— Van Morrison
29. “You come into my dreams from a whisper to a scream.”
— Van Morrison
30. “Don’t want to discuss it, I think it’s time for a change You may get disgusted, some think that I’m strange In that case I’ll go underground, get some heavy rest Never have to worry, about what is worst and what is best.”
— Van Morrison
31. “If I ventured in the slipstream between the viaducts of your dreams, where immobile steel rims crack and the ditch in the back roads stop. Could you find me?”
— Van Morrison
32. “All the girls walk by dressed up for each other, and the boys do the boogie woogie on the corner of the street.”
— Van Morrison
33. “If my heart could do my thinking, would my brain begin to feel?”
— Van Morrison
34. “Sometimes, when the spirit moves me I can do many wondrous things I wanna know when the spirit moves you Did ye get healed?”
— Van Morrison
35. “Common one, my illuminated one, oh my high in the art of suffering. Take a walk with me.”
— Van Morrison
36. “In deep confusion, in great despair, when I reach out for him, he is there. When I am lonely as I can be, then I know God shines his light on me.”
— Van Morrison
37. “Let go into the Mystery, let yourself go. You’ve got to open up your heart, that’s all I know. Trust what I say and do what you’re told, and baby, all your dirt will turn into gold.”
— Van Morrison
38. “There’s always got to be a struggle. What else is there? That’s what life is made of. I don’t know anything else. If there is, tell me about it.”
— Van Morrison
39. “Let go into the mystery. Let yourself go. And when you open up your heart, you get everything you need. Baby there’s a way and a mystic road. You’ve got to have some faith to carry on, you’ve got to open up your heart to the Son.”
— Van Morrison
40. “Laying underneath the stars Can be so much fun Especially when you’re feeling good When you’re with the one you love.”
— Van Morrison
41. “There’s an angel that’s watching right over you All your trials have not been in vain Won’t you lift your head up to the starry night Finding strength in the things that remain.”
— Van Morrison
42. “Enlightenment, don’t know what it is. It’s up to you, the way you think.”
— Van Morrison
43. “I have seen without perceiving I have been another man Let me pierce the realm of glamour So I know just what I am.”
— Van Morrison
44. “If you never hear from me that just means I would rather not.”
— Van Morrison
45. “Way over on the railroad, Tomorrow all the tipping trucks will unload together, Every scrapbook stuck with glue, And I’ll stand beside you, Beside you, child.”
— Van Morrison
46. “Every performance is different. That’s the beauty of it.”
— Van Morrison
47. “Music is spiritual. The music business is not.”
— Van Morrison
48. “Let me purify my thoughts and words and deeds that I may be a vehicle for thee.”
— Van Morrison
49. “I’m very lucky, I’m happy with life because my experiences led me to do what I had to do. I don’t have any regrets whatsoever.”
— Van Morrison
50. “Hearing the blues changed my life.”
— Van Morrison
51. “Singing is my profession – there is no plan B.”
— Van Morrison
52. “It will make you feel good, and it will make you feel whole, when the spirit moves you and it fills you through and through.”
— Van Morrison
53. “Leave your thoughtlessness behind you then you may begin to understand. Clear the emptiness around you with the waving of your hand.”
— Van Morrison
54. “These days politics, religion, media seem to get all mixed up. Television became the new religion a long time back and the media has taken over.”
— Van Morrison
55. “My thinking musically has always been more advanced – it is difficult to get it down onto paper sometimes, even now.”
— Van Morrison
56. “I do see value in music criticism. Most of the criticism I have received over the years has been very good.”
— Van Morrison
57. “I never, ever said that I was a nice guy.”
— Van Morrison
58. “Well I’ve got to get out of the rat-race now I’m tired of the ways of mice and men And the empires all turning into rust again. Out of everything nothing remains the same That’s why I’m cloud hidden Cloud hidden Whereabouts unknown.”
— Van Morrison
59. “From the dark end of the street – To the bright side of the road – We’ll be lovers once again on the – Bright side of the road.”
— Van Morrison
60. “Going down the old mine with a transistor radio.”
— Van Morrison
61. “I had my eyes closed in the dark, I sighed a million sighs, I told a million lies, to myself, to myself.”
— Van Morrison
62. “When the ghost comes round at midnight Well you both can have some fun He can drive you mad, he can make you sad He can keep you from the sun When they take him down, he’ll be both safe and sound And the hand does fit the glove And no matter what they tell you, There’s good and evil in everyone.”
— Van Morrison
63. “Enlightenment says the world is nothing Nothing but a dream, everything’s an illusion And nothing is real.”
— Van Morrison
64. “Jackie Wilson said it was Reet-Petite, kind of love you got knock me off my feet.”
— Van Morrison
65. “Love of the simple is all that I need, I’ve no time for schism or lovers of greed.”
— Van Morrison
66. “Become enraptured by the sights and sounds in intrigue of nature and beauty, come along with me and take it all in. Come here my love.”
— Van Morrison
67. “When heart is open, you will change just like a flower slowly opening.”
— Van Morrison
68. “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
69. “There is no black-and-white situation. It’s all part of life. Highs, lows, middles.”
— Van Morrison
70. “Memories, how they linger in the twilight and in the wee small hours sometimes just before dawn.”
— Van Morrison
71. “When I started studying tenor saxophone as a kid in Belfast, I did so with a guy named George Cassidy, who was also a big inspiration.”
— Van Morrison
72. “I never paid attention to what was contemporary or what was commercial, it didn’t mean anything to me.”
— Van Morrison
73. “A famous person to themselves, they don’t get up in the morning and think, I’m famous. I’m not famous to me. Famous is a perception.”
— Van Morrison
74. “I forgot that love existed, troubled in my mind. Heartache after heartache, worried all the time. I forgot that love existed Then I saw the light Everyone around me make everything alright.”
— Van Morrison
75. “In the gentle evening freeze, by the whispering shady trees I will find sanctuary in the Lord.”
— Van Morrison
76. “Way across the country where the hillside mountains glide, the dynamo of your smile caressed the barefoot virgin child.”
— Van Morrison
77. “As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.”
— Van Morrison
78. “If my heart could do my thinking, and my head begin to feel, I would look upon the world anew, and know what’s truly real.”
— Van Morrison
79. “I’ve got love in my life, as well as trouble and strife.”
— Van Morrison
80. “A fantabulous night to make romance.”
— Van Morrison
81. “You can’t stay the same. If you’re a musician and a singer, you have to change, that’s the way it works.”
— Van Morrison
82. “It’s all complete instinct and intuition, and that’s extremely difficult to teach.”
— Van Morrison
83. “I went back to Belfast and started a club, the Maritime. No one had thought about doing a blues club, so I was the first.”
— Van Morrison
84. “I shall drive my chariot down your street and cry hey it’s me.”
— Van Morrison
85. “When the spirit moves me, I can do many wondrous things.”
— Van Morrison
86. “Someone once described me as a maverick and that’s what I would say. I’m a maverick not by choice but by conviction.”
— Van Morrison
87. “Did you ever hear about the rock and roll singer who got 3 or 4 Cadillacs, saying power to the people, dance to the music, wants you to pat him on the back.”
— Van Morrison
88. “I don’t think nostalgia has to be negative.”
— Van Morrison
89. “I understood jazz, I understood how it worked. That’s what I apply to everything.”
— Van Morrison
90. “The point of jazz is, you do something and then you go on.”
— Van Morrison
91. “I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn’t there before that.”
— Van Morrison
92. “Large audiences did not suit my low-key approach.”
— Van Morrison
93. “See the man on the TV with a phony smile. Bring you up, bring you down, he can turn your head around.”
— Van Morrison
94. “I just need somewhere to dump all my negativity.”
— Van Morrison
95. “Being famous was extremely disappointing for me. When I became famous it was a complete drag and it is still a complete drag.”
— Van Morrison
96. “I’ve never felt like I was born with a silver spoon at all, although I’ve felt like howling at the moon a lot of times!”
— Van Morrison
97. “Skiffle was blues featuring a washboard and acoustic instruments. It encompassed blues, with elements of folk, jazz, and, at times, American country-and-western music.”
— Van Morrison
98. “If it’s what you do and you can do it, then you do it.”
— Van Morrison
99. “I’d love to live in Ireland but I’d like to live as me, not what someone thinks I am. People don’t understand – I lived there before I was famous.”
— Van Morrison
100. “It was really strange for me when I started to play concerts in America where the audiences were all sitting down.”
— Van Morrison
101. “Even today, skiffle is a defining part of my music. If I get the opportunity to just have a jam, skiffle is what I love to play.”
— Van Morrison
102. “The blues – there’s no black and white – it’s the truth.”
— Van Morrison
103. “I learnt from Armstrong on the early recordings that you never sang a song the same way twice.”
— Van Morrison
104. “I am about the arrangements and the layers of depth in the music.”
— Van Morrison
105. “This Hollywood ain’t no good, I would rather be like Robin Hood.”
— Van Morrison
106. “You take stuff from different places, and sometimes you stick a line in because it rhymes, not because it makes sense.”
— Van Morrison
107. “Skiffle was a name that was attached to what was, in essence, American folk music with a beat.”
— Van Morrison
108. “For a long time, I couldn’t actually deal with playing concerts; it was a totally alien concept to me, ’cause I was used to playing in clubs and dance halls.”
— Van Morrison
109. “I don’t feel comfortable doing interviews. My profession is music, and writing songs. That’s what I do. I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it.”
— Van Morrison
110. “If you’re a pop singer, you don’t need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over.”
— Van Morrison
111. “I always record far more than I can use. There’s probably twice as much recorded as comes out.”
— Van Morrison
112. “You have to understand a bit about the poetry of the blues to know where the references are coming from.”
— Van Morrison
113. “You’ve got to separate the singer and the songs.”
— Van Morrison
114. “If you get into introspective blues or something where you’re stretching out a bit, large audiences don’t respond to this, so you have to give them what they want, basically.”
— Van Morrison
115. “When I started you were more in touch with the people you were playing to. There wasn’t the distance or the separation that there is now.”
— Van Morrison
116. “My ambition when I started out was to play two or three gigs a week. And that’s what I’m doing.”
— Van Morrison
117. “I never bought the commercial thing, at any stage of the game.”
— Van Morrison
118. “I deliberately try not to cater for the commercial market, so I can’t see myself in competition, you know, with second or third generation rock stars.”
— Van Morrison
119. “I’m not a rock singer and I don’t want to be a rock singer. I’m not interested. It doesn’t seem to get across.”
— Van Morrison
120. “The first piece of music that captured my imagination was probably Ray Charles Live At Newport.”
— Van Morrison
121. “The way I was singing the songs was jazz.”
— Van Morrison
122. “You learn to read the audiences after a while, and there are all different kinds of gigs.”
— Van Morrison
123. “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.”
— Van Morrison
124. “I just wanna get on with the show.”
— Van Morrison
125. “Meet them halfway with love, peace, and persuasion, and expect them to rise for the occasion.”
— Van Morrison
