We’re not your dad and moms blog so we don’t want to get too much into convincing anyone to like Van Morrison, or any music thats been difficult to enjoy because every chode on earth cites it as their favoritre. If anything, by writing this post, we are feeling comfortable with you as a readership by sharing this (almost) embarassing fact that we think Van Morrison is a pretty bad ass little person. But not for the reasons you think and thats not what this post is about.
Instead we got to thinking the other night while watching Van on Jimmy Fallon (yikes, poor guy) that anyone who is the source of having inspired Lester Bangs to write one of the most emotionally informed, intelligent, berserk, and touching pieces of writng we’ve ever read about why music matters, is okay in our book.
You can say to love the questions you have to love the answers which quicken the end of love that’s loved to love the awful inequality of human experience that loves to say we tower over these the lost that love to love the love that freedom could have been, the train to freedom, but we never get on, we’d rather wave generously walking away from those who are victims of themselves. But who is to say that someone who victimizes himself or herself is not as worthy of total compassion as the most down and out Third World orphan in a New Yorker magazine ad? Nah, better to step over the bodies, at least that gives them the respect they might have once deserved. where I love, in New York (not to make it more than it is, which is hard), everyone I know often steps over bodies which might well be dead or dying as a matter of course, without pain. and I wonder in what scheme it was originally conceived that such an action is showing human refuse the ultimate respect it deserves.
Take some time to read the rest
We can probably agree that noone cares about live albums of studio albums recorded 30 years after the originals and that if someone were to readress a group at Gettysburg, the context would get lost and the only coverage would be that of the local school newspapers.
Still here is the video of the song that was on Fallon and is the thrid track on Astral Weeks:
Some more stuff:
An interview with Morrisson when rock writing was fresh and was less of the self concious creep it is today
A good blog post about Bangs with a bunch of his content
**We’re aware this use of -ey is some type of nuanced vernacular that Rosy O’Donnell invented as a way to empower awkward, sexually frustrated, angry, overweight Catholic women. It draws the line in the sand, speaks cute through the beard stubble and respiratory problems. Still, we’re secure in our masculinity but our language command is sometimes weak. 
