Even alone in the photo booth, this was the closest Van could come to a smile…
So here I am, second full day in Ireland (first full day of actually being conscious, as I was still feeling out of it yesterday from the 20+ hour journey), and I’m just now getting around to posting from here. I thought it might be appropriate to go Irish, naturally, and of course that brought to mind Van Morrison. But imagine my surprise when I discovered he’s actually Northern Irish, not born in Ireland per se at all (born in Belfast, as it turns out). But I’ve been meaning to post some Van Morrison for a long time anyway, so I’m going to do it regardless. After all, I’m not posting all Irish music while I’m here, by any means…
But then the question arose of what to go with, from the many songs in his repertoire. I do love pretty much everything he did in the late ’60s and early ’70s (beyond the mid-to-late ’70s, he lost something of whatever I enjoyed so much), but to pick a single album that is a joy to hear every time I put it on, I have to go with his 1970 album, Moondance. There isn’t a bad song on the record; no, I take that back: there isn’t even a less-than-great song on the record. It’s simply a masterful collection of songs from one of rock’s best vocalists. So really, any one of the songs could easily be here on Reselect today — but I opted to go with “Everyone,” one of the few songs on the album that I think is maybe a little less well-known than the others. (Of course, I could be completely wrong on that . . . it’s just a gut feeling.)
“Everyone” is one of the most upbeat songs on the album — maybe even of Morrison’s career. (As an aside, I have to admit that it always strikes me a bit oddly to hear him being so upbeat, in fact, noted curmudgeon that he is.) It’s a song of hope and looking forward to happy days and times ahead, and even better than that, wishing those good times for everyone, everyone, everyone, everyone . . .
