Van Morrison reveals why he "can’t relate” to 1967 signature song 'Brown Eyed Girl' anymore

30 September 2024, 16:43

The beloved Belfast icon is back with a new album.

The cannily titled New Arrangements And Duets sees Van Morrison re-jig and reimagine a host of his classic songs.

Released last week, the album features collaborations with friends and admirers in Willie Nelson, Joss Stone, Kurt Elling, and Curtis Stigers.

It's been a decade in the making, having chosen the songs to be reworked as big band compositions way back in 2014, and recording the guest vocals between 2018 and 2019.

After announcing the album back in June earlier this year, Morrison wrote: "This album represents a small percentage of the huge amount of unreleased material we are hoping to roll out in the near future, rather than letting it gather dust in some archive."

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So the new album seems like the first of many instalments we'll hear of Van Morrison's reimagined back catalogue.

Though there's one song we're long-time fans of the singer are unlikely to hear in a new way.

In a recent interview with The Sun, Van Morrison said he cringes when he plays 'Brown Eyed Girl' these days as he "can't relate" to it as an elder statesman.

The 1967 single is largely considered to be Morrison's signature song, so there's always clamour for him to perform it live.

Having performed the song for nearly sixty years, he admitted he finds it more difficult than ever to play live.

"How can a 79-year-old guy sing about something he wrote when he was 20?"

"It’s basically a teenage song. I can’t relate to it much now, you know," he remarked in the interview.

Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl (Official Audio)

Morrison goes on to elaborate that he doesn't feel comfortable being considered a pop or rock star, but prefers to classify himself as a "jazz singer".

“I don’t see myself as being part of the rock and pop world," the Astral Weeks legend said. I am basically a jazz singer. No matter what genre I’m working in, I’m always improvising."

“Jazz is always forward moving and forward-looking. I learned from the Louis Armstrong school. Louis said, ‘I never sing a song the same way twice'."

"That kind of stuck. And I never sing a lyric the same way twice either. When I do songs live, I often change lyrics here and there, bringing them up to the present."

Later in the interview, Morrison discusses the opportunity to record a duet with Willie Nelson on 'What's Wrong With This Picture?' and 'Steal My Heart Away'.

Having shared a stage together in Pittsburgh one night, they instantly hit it off and decided to enter the recording studio together the following day.

"It had been on my mind to do a duet with Willie Nelson for a long, long time but I didn’t get the opportunity."

“It was absolutely fantastic," he said, praising the outlaw country icon. "Very relaxing and very professional. Willie came in and delivered."

"I played those songs for him and he was into them. There’s not a lot of pondering with this stuff. The less back and forth the better."

"Willie covers all the bases and, to me, he’s very similar to Ray Charles. I like his work and I heard he liked mine."