Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that foghorn blows
I will be coming home
And when the foghorn blows
I wanna hear it
I don't have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will float into the mystic
When that foghorn blows
You know I will be coming home
And when that foghorn whistle blows
I gotta hear it
I don't have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on, girl
Too late to stop now
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won
As we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailors cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
And when that foghorn blows
I will be coming home
And when the foghorn blows
I wanna hear it
I don't have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And magnificently we will float into the mystic
When that foghorn blows
You know I will be coming home
And when that foghorn whistle blows
I gotta hear it
I don't have to fear it
And I wanna rock your gypsy soul
Just like way back in the days of old
And together we will float into the mystic
Come on, girl
Too late to stop now
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira, edited by luvyabro
Into the Mystic Lyrics as written by Van Morrison
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
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To me the greatest Van song of all time. To me in ranks up there with Stairway. Although sadly the song, along with van, is the most underrated song of all time. I think Van is so great, especially in his 68-74 years he was on fire. Im shocked that he never became the superstar he should have been. You know his work was and is better than most of the dribble on the radio (no offense to anyone in particular). im just saying he is probably tied with bob dylan as the greatest songwriter in rock history. does anyone agree? i also agree with jazzy and corissa. Van is the Man.
@johnpauljones86 I have to agree with you. It's one of the most insipring songs out there.
@johnpauljones86 Hawkwind by Daniel Lanois is another one like that. Beautiful song and lyrics - the best song most people have never heard.
@johnpauljones86 I agree with you, my brother. Underated superstar of undeniable talent, both writing and performing. Unfortunate that he is remembered mostly for brown eyed girl, moon dance, and gloria. Domino and into the mystic are incredible... but let's delve into the soul of Van for a moment... TB sheets was a dark but gritty story of reality in his young world. He nailed it so many times. His rythm and writing were unique...as was his voice. I wish you and I could sit down and talk. Van has this special place in my heart. I'm 65 and a dedicated guitarist... my soul locked into the music of the 50s and 60s with such greats as Van. My buddy who I just lost to cancer was a sound man in jamaica. He knew and recorded some of the true "greats" of all time. He saw Van a few years ago and was blown away. It took a lot to earn his respect and Dave said Van was beyond incredible. Even at age, he could put on a memorable performance. <br /> You struck a chord in my soul when you wrote about "The Man, the Legend" Van Morrison. Thank you.
@johnpauljones86 But that’s the way Van wanted it
@johnpauljones86 I totally agree with you that it's his best song. However, have you ever heard Paul Carrack's version?<br /> I never understood the songs meaning until I heard Carrack sing the line: "And our bodies both.were one, as we sailed into the.Mystic". The song became clear to me. The Mystic is a metaphor for the afterglow two people experience after sex.I don't know what Van had in mind with the lyric, but Paul Carrick completely clarified the entire song for me. It's the Afterglow. That's the Mystic. It' the indescrbable experience one gets after sex.If Van didn't mean this, then Paul Carrick totally gave the song a clear and well defined meaning and improved on it
This song is awe-inspiring. If I am ever having a bad day, I just put this song on and turn it up! It instantly makes me feel so much better just to sing at the top of my lungs. It just makes everything seem like it's going to be ok. My dad used to play this for me when I was little. I think it was the first Van Morrison song I ever heard. What a way to start! Now, years later I am hooked to Van!
I think theres a very whimsical meaning to this song. I don't think that he's being literal by any means. 'Into the mystic' I think is another way to phrase 'falling into love'. I associate his use of 'Mystic' as the unknown. I love this song too. I want it to be my first dance when I get married next year.
This was our first dance song and I completely agree with you that there's a very whimsical meaning to this song.
A long life friend passed away this September 11, 2014. Into the mystic was the song played. I didn't know the musical line up of songs or speakers etc. when "Into The Mystic" began to play- I took out my cell phone out and began secretly recording the funeral. All I can say, this was one of the best songs I've ever heard playing at a funeral- gave me shivers.... I don't know meaning of the song- but the part of going HOME and not fearing it. Said so much to me.. I do believe it is a song of living life until death departure. This funeral and my brothers funeral- had best songs ever played- my brothers song were "Wish you were here" and "Shine on you Crazy Diamond". Both By- Pink Floyd..
@Jovia <br /> your comment is so moving to me. When my husband, who loved sailing, life and Van Morrison and had no fear of death, died last year, I could think of no more appropriate song to play at the ceremony than "into the mystic". I too believe it's about living life to the fullest and not fearing death. I also chose Wish you were here. Whenever I here these songs I want to cry but into the mystic is also comforting.
I wonder if oz_van_fan isn't onto something, that is, the ocean as theme, but then, when Van wrote this he was a young man, recently hooked up with a lady, hanging out in Mystic, Quebec, near the border, off the road that most Quebecers take when going down to Hianisport... so it could be his ocean is a sea of love. Others who were born before the wind, and who floated magnificently were the pre-flood Atlanteans, some of whom may have set up shop in Celtic myth. Fog horns blow for danger, warning and crossing the bar - dying, when one lets a sould or spirit fly into the mystic. Dying - so young - and in love? Well there is the childhood TB and there is also dying to love (as in towards or going towards) a euphemism for coming (as in sex). From breldems - born to be king - or high born - like one who can trace Astral connections back in time to , say , Atlantis ... TO trippinbtm - the boat and the girl are Janet Planet - see the back of the album for notes. She moves him.
great songs and poetry are greater than the sum of their parts. They also launch our consciousness to expand beyond narrow and shallow fixed beliefs. "Into the mystic" give us a sense of eternity and the mystical experience of life. A metaphysical metaphor if there ever was one. \ born before the wind /younger than the sun what doe that do for your consciousness? your sense of spirit? "the bonny boat was won" _ the body perhaps? The mystics ode to Life love and death
Lyre heart (above)is also on to something. Smell the sea and feel the sky Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic the fog horn (death calling ) I don't have to fear it CAlling me home back into the fold .... the richness of Van's deep sense of spirit!- A genius ...perhaps; inspired Infinitely I wanna rock your Gypsy Soul ....Together we will flow into the mystic Tantrashaman
you are right. it is divine inspiration. i can best explain by phone---770-502-4500--Todd--don't fear it.. call
Mystic River, River Misty, Mists, Ocean, Love, Life, Death...
its about all of the above, none of the above. that's (IMHO) how songwriting works... something is a trigger, one image becomes another, a feeling, a sense of a distant memory... lost in time and mist.
that's the mystic. we go there in many ways, and at many times. for me, the surface imagery, the scene that i go to when i hear this song, is definitely on a tiny boat floating along, bobbing along on calm waters, through a white mist that makes any notion of where we are, where we came from, or where we're going fairly irrelevant. thankfully irrelevant.
but behind that scene is definitely the slow journey of life itself, as we head off into the unknowable white horizon of... the mystic.
what is remarkable about this telling of that tale is the calm confidence with which Van Morrison takes us along on this peaceful voyage to the unknowable, infinite beyond.
first off, word to songmeanings being back van said that he wasn't even sure of the lyrics to this song. it could be "misty" instead of "mystic" at one point of the song. Also "younger than the sun" could be "...son", "born" in the first line could be "borne", and "Ere the bonny boat was won" could be "...one". At this point Van was writing lyrics placing the sound above content. This song was meant to be interpreted as the listener chooses to.
i agree with most ppl here that van is a genius. his music is so insanely fucking awesome that words simply cannot describe it.
into the mystic is, essentially, a tribute to the ocean and the sailor, a relationship as old as man himself. a true seafarer appreciates the mystery and magic of the ocean. this sentiment is seen in lines such as
"Hark, now hear the sailors cry Smell the sea and feel the sky Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic."
"the mystic" is obviously a reference to the ocean, and van keeps this as his central thematic pillar.
another dominant discourse in the song is the the thoughts and feelings of the sailor himself. upon return from a voyage, he is rewarded with a reunion with his girl, but still longs for the sea. he wishes to take her with him, so that he can merge both of his loves:
"And when that fog horn blows you know I will be coming home And when thst fog horn whistle blows I got to hear it I don't have to fear it I want to rock your gypsy soul Just like way back in the days of old And together we will float into the mystic Come on girl..."
well, thats how i interpret the song, and as a seafarer myself, this song has a speacial meaning to me, and is perhaps my fav van song. and thus my fav all time song haha.
van, ur the man.
this song is about fishermen coming home after months out at sea(: