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100听|听Top 100
Brown-Eyed Girl
Van Morrison
By 1966 Van Morrison was, in the eyes of the world, a 21 year-old has-been. He was back living with his parents in Northern Ireland, following a few brief moments of chart fame (鈥楪loria鈥, 鈥楬ere Comes The Night鈥, 鈥楤aby Please Don鈥檛 Go鈥) with the Belfast R&B band |
 Song facts |
| Composer |
Van Morrison |
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| Genre |
Pop |
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| Album |
Blowin' Your Mind! |
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| Year Of Release |
1967 |
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Them. However, Bert Berns, Them鈥檚 American producer, still had faith in the young Morrison鈥檚 abilities - and it was Berns, a record executive and songwriter (鈥楾wist & Shout鈥, 鈥楶iece Of My Heart鈥), who paid for Van to undertake some solo sessions in New York during the early part of 1967. In the decades since, those sessions have been endlessly recycled on disc, much to Morrison鈥檚 distaste. But at the time, even the legendarily grumpy one must have been grateful: Berns applied his keen commercial ear to fashioning Van鈥檚 introspective and personal material - and one of the songs that surfaced, 鈥楤rown Eyed Girl鈥, gave Morrison a career. Berns immediately recognised the song鈥檚 hit potential and it was rush-released as a single in America, where it duly became a hit. Many years later, the notoriously terse Morrison admitted that 鈥楤rown Eyed Girl鈥 had begun life as 鈥渁 calypso thing鈥, vaguely inspired by Lewis Carroll鈥檚 novel Sylvie & Bruno. Undeniably catchy and uncharacteristically upbeat, 鈥楤rown Eyed Girl鈥 established Van in America.
Van Morrison on his musical influences |
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Van Morrison's first musical love was American black music, but music closer to home has been an inspiration to him as well. "There's always been this听Folk element since Astral Weeks".
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Other versions |
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听Reggae veterans Steel Pulse covered Brown Eyed Girl on their 'Rage and Fury' album from 1997.
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Songwriting tips Ground rules and advice on making the partnership run smoothly听in Writing Relationships.Being on stage is nervewracking but part of the process. And, you never know who's watching. More in Performing. |
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