Astral Weeks Lyrics
http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/reviews/astral.html
The most wonderful essay about this album can be found here. I think it'll help all of you get closer to the creative and mystical mind of the very young man who made Astral Weeks. I'm convinced that even Van couldn't explain what some of these songs mean, as he opened up let the mystic flow into him. He escaped all boundaries and made a timeless work about yearning and coming of age, about sex and death, acceptance and love. I'd put it up against some of the greatest poetry or prose we have.
Once in a while over his career Van has touched something like this again, but rarely. St. Dominic's Preview had some, Veedon Fleece had a lot, but never did he, nor anyone in this era, equal the beauty and enigma that is found in Astral Weeks.
Irish?.........Well anyway I thought I'd add another little piece of info. This song was actually recorded last, kind of as an afterthought to fill space. In fact the session flutist had already gone home, the flute you hear in the song is the flutist who had been playing in Van's Jazz trio.
@johnpauljones86 LIttle did he know how great this song would be among his fans!
@johnpauljones86 LIttle did he know how great this song would be among his fans!
Weaves so many images together. Such a chill and amazing song, though it feels effortless and light. Like it could just vanish at any moment but it's memory would always remain.
This is one of my favorite songs on one of my favorite albums. I think that it's all about finding yourself, love, and that which is beautiful in the world.
By the way he is poor and she is rich. Also he is big into astrological stuff. The Astral plain is the level above this one, its weird because things arent what they seem in that level. Things can come and go in exist randomly. It is believed that one can possibly wish something hard enough in that realm and it will occur in this world. Also kissing the eyes has something to do with Tir Na Nog. Irish folklore. He thinks that if his eyes are kissed it will give him sight into the the Astral plain. Deep. i dont fully understand it myself.
The chord structure of the song is quite repetitive (and I believe that enforces his lyrics even more), but the complexivity of the words is what makes the song so beautifully poetic and eternal. My interpretation of the Astral Weeks is pretty simple to grasp though.. Van is writing about his love.. and how if he got into the very depths of her thoughts, where all the peculiarities of life that could alter her genuine train of thought were gone.. at the core of her true soul.. would she still do it all the same? Would she come find him? Would she even want to? Would she kiss his eyes and love him for the man he is? Or would life be different? Would she lay him down in silence, in a soothing calm, to be reborn to come back into her life over and over for internity.. as to question does she love him so much that she would put him on replay? Like an old record she loves too much to throw away. This song to me, is about him questioning life, love, and how differences can often alter life's path.. and in turn, ponder the unknown.
hey, thanks a lot. i play this song a lot on my guitar.
hey, thanks a lot. i play this song a lot on my guitar.
I just created an account here to +1 your interpretation.
I just created an account here to +1 your interpretation.
@wauf beautifully said. I do think he was speaking of a specific person, Janet Planet. They were together at the time and she had a young son from a previous relationship, which make the lyrics "taking care of your boy" "seeing that he's got clean clothes" "putting on his little red shoes" is so sweet and poignant to me.
@wauf beautifully said. I do think he was speaking of a specific person, Janet Planet. They were together at the time and she had a young son from a previous relationship, which make the lyrics "taking care of your boy" "seeing that he's got clean clothes" "putting on his little red shoes" is so sweet and poignant to me.
What can be said that hasn't already been said out the Man, the Myth, the Mystic, the Morrison. This as you know is the very first song on his first solo album.(Not counting what he did for Bert Bang's Bang records) It is the beginning of the story of the album Astral Weeks. It starts off in a style similar to maybe Dylan. With the semi-concrete images. Viaducts of your dreams?. In any case some of the most beautiful lyrics ever. Sets the story of a boy, a younger Van in Belfast, who is taken by this one girl that he yearns for and imagines himself with her. He's got it bad for her. But her persists in the next song. Beside You
one of my favorite songs ever. so summer-y and peaceful.
thought i would share....
Morrison sings of lost love, death and nostalgia for childhood in the Celtic soul that would become his "signature." Astral Weeks didn't reach the charts, but its mystic poetry, spacious grooves, and romantic incantations still resonate in ways no other music can."
Surely "leatherette" shoes? Too poor to afford leather (this is the late 50s/early 60s Belfast of Van's childhood) but his Mammie is making sure he gets turned out smart and clean anyway.
The intermingling of working class Belfast with American blues/country references is what gives these songs their unique imagery ... like the cherry wine that appears on Cyprus Avenue of all places