Cyprus Avenue

It's about the narrator being in love, yes, but he's not fourteen: the girl is, and he's much older. He's "conquered in a car seat," sweating, delerious, driven mad by his strong but forbidden love for her, while she's oblivious to him, making up rhymes with her friends. His insides are shaking because he loves her so powerfully and irrationally. His insides shake, his heart beats, his feet tap, and there's nothing he can do about it. He loves her for her youth and it's that very youth that prevents him from having her.

Youthful exhiliration, intoxication, optimism, euphoria.

btw - Van and his family lived on Hyndford Street in East Belfast from 1945 until 1961. Cypress Avenue was a step into unaccustomed wealth for Van, as is intimated several times in his various lyrics

Different sound this time. More leisurely. He seems to enjoying a stroll down Cypress Avenue, the biggest richest street in town (if your from new orleans, think st. charles-ish) and hes ''walking down''. he seems to have somehow made a step up in the world. As hes peacefully strolling he lets us know whats going on. He and girl hooked up. She picks him up and wants to go driving but hed prefer to walk down the street with her. So he got his wish. But will the happiness last? End of Side 1

Haha. I like that.

What a gorgeous love song... I love the: And wait a minute, yonder comes my lady Rainbow ribbons in her hair Yonder comes my lady Rainbow ribbons in her hair Six white horses and a carriage She's returning from the fair

Truly a sound that belonged to Van, and only the Van, of 1969

How about the harpsicord on this - not many rosk songs use harpsicord and double bass for percussion

harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/reviews/1971_straight.html

Rick: I noticed on Astral Weeks that some of the songs and some of the images seem to have been carried on from your earlier work. "Cypress Avenue," for instance, has a lot in common with "Little Girl" from your "Here Comes the Night" album.

Van: Yeah,it's a similar thing.

The feeling I get in this song is that he's caught in a traffic jam and is getting impatient, but then he starts to notice little things that he wouldn't if he was driving at a normal speed, like the little girls coming home from school, and starts to enjoy himself.

Interesting that the "six white horses" (innocence) on this song becomes the "horse white as snow" (heroin) on "Slim Slow Slider."

This is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I have thought a long time about it. I think it is about a man who gives initially gives a chance ride in his car to a young girl in distress. Maybe she was getting soaked in the rain, walking home from school. She leads a very protected life, and does not know to not accept rides from strangers. He delivers her home to her mansion, and is smitten by her. He keeps on returning over and over again, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. He fears he will go crazy because he is acting like a stalker, but he comes out of love and powerlessness. She knows he is there, and encourages him by dropping things of hers for him to pick up as a trinket or treasure from her. She is intrigued and not fearful. He is tongue-tied. One day, he decides to get out of his car and walk by the railroad nearby, hoping to get drunk to make his feelings go away, even thinking that the railroad might help take him far away, to get her off his mind. It doesn't work. Instead, she comes by in a rich carriage, and sees him desolate by the railroad. The next time he drives by, he goes way up Cyprus Avenue, this time much closer to her home, thinking no one will notice because it is raining. She sees him, and comes out of her house in the wind and rain, to meet him again. As she approaches, the clouds appear to clear by her, and the sun shines on her like a Heavenly blessing.

its about van being in love when he was 14!