Brown eyed girl
Brown Eyed Girl is a song by Northern Irish singer Van Morrison that was written and recorded in 1967. The song was produced by Bang Records and featured on the album Blowin 'Your Mind! In May 1967 . released. As a single, it reached number eight on the Cashbox Record Charts and tenth place on the Billboard Hot 100 . The song is considered to be Van Morrison's signature song.
The song was the starting point for his career as a solo musician after he left the band Them , which led him to move to the United States , where he eventually got a contract with Warner Brothers .
Paul Williams included the song in his book Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles . He wrote:
"I was going to say this is a song about sex, and it is, and a song about youth and growing up, and memory, and it's also - very much and very wonderfully - a song about singing."
"I was about to say that this is a song about sex, and it is, and about youth and growing up and memories, and it's also - very, and very wonderful - a song about singing."
Morrison's original uncensored recording is still very well known today as it is played by many radio stations. In 2005 and 2007, Morrison received a One Million Broadcast Certificate from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) as a "Top European Writer" after being played seven and eight million times on US radio and television, respectively.
The RIAA lists the song as one of the top 365 songs of the 20th century.
Recording and title
After Morrison ended his contract with Decca Records and the band Them broke up, Morrison returned to Belfast in search of a new record company. After a call from Bert Berns , the owner of Bang Records, he flew to New York, where he quickly signed a new contract. During a two-day recording session on March 28 and 29, 1967, he recorded eight songs, four of which were to be released as single. The recordings were made at the A&R studios, and Brown Eyed Girl was recorded as the 22nd take on the first day of recording. Among the musicians Berns had hired for the recordings were Eric Gale , bassist Russ Savakus , pianist Paul Griffin and drummer Gary Chester. It was released in June 1967. The song, originally called Brown-Skinned Girl , was changed to Brown Eyed Girl by Morrison during the recording . Morrison commented on the original title: “That was just a mistake. It was kind of a Jamaican song. Calypso. It came to my mind. I changed the title. ”“ After we recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn't even notice that I had changed the title. I had put it down with my guitar and it said Brown Eyed Girl on the band box. It's one of those things that just happen ”.
text
The nostalgic text about an earlier love was seen by many radio stations as too ambiguous and not played often. A defused radio version was recorded in which the passage “making love in the green grass” was replaced by “laughin 'and a-runnin', hey hey” from the previous verse. The modified version appeared on some samplers, while the remastered CD has the original recording.
Follow-up time
Through the contract with Bang Records, which was signed without legal assistance, Morrison never received a fee for writing or recording the song. The contract held him liable for all recording costs, and when these were paid they became the "subject of creative accounting". Morrison expressed his frustration with the contract in the sarcastic song The Big Royalty Check .
recognition
- In January 2007, Brown Eyed Girl was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .
- In November 2004, Brown Eyed Girl at number 109 of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time of the Rolling Stone Magazine selected.
- It is also listed in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll .
Cover versions
Brown Eyed Girl has been recorded by numerous musicians including Jimmy Buffett , Everclear , Billy Ray Cyrus , Johnny Rivers , Bruce Springsteen , U2 , Bob Dylan , Brian Kennedy , Steel Pulse , Green Day , Lagwagon , John Anderson , El Chicano , Busted , The Black Sorrows , Ronan Keating , Reel Big Fish , Joe Camilleri , Joe Stampley, and Laurel Aitken . In 1977 Hansa published a German-language adaptation by Hugo van Haastert entitled Frankfurt / Main .
literature
- John Collis: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart . Little Brown and Company, 1996, ISBN 0-306-80811-0
- Clinton Heylin: Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography . Chicago Review Press, Chicago 2003, ISBN 1-55652-542-7
- Johnny Rogan: Van Morrison: No Surrender . Vintage Books, London 2006, ISBN 9780099431831
- Steve Turner: Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now . Viking Penguin, 1993, ISBN 0-670-85147-7
- Paul Williams: Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles . Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., 1993, ISBN 0881849669
- Ritchie Yorke: Into The Music . Charisma Books, London 1975, ISBN 0-85947-013-X
Individual evidence
- ↑ Turner. It's Too Late to Stop Now . P. 77
- ↑ Roy and the Sweets ( Memento of the original from July 26, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Yorke, Into the Music, p. 42
- ↑ Greatest Irish Bands
- ↑ Williams: Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles . P. 122
- ^ BMI Honors Top European Writers, November 28, 2005
- ↑ 2007 BMI London Awards
- ↑ 365 Top Selling Songs of the 20th Century . info.net/usa. Retrieved January 1, 2009.
- ↑ Heylin: Can You Feel the Silence . Pp. 144-147
- ^ Turner: Too Late to Stop Now . P. 76
- ↑ Heylin: Can You Feel the Silence? . P. 152
- ↑ Rogan: No Surrender. P. 199.
- ↑ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence ?. P. 150
- ↑ Gary Chester Website ( Memento of the original from January 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Rogan, No Surrender . P. 201
- ^ Collis: Inarticulate Speech of the Heart . P. 81
- ↑ Rogan: No Surrender . P. 43
- ^ Van Morrison at Rancho Nicasio . martaypix.com. Retrieved August 27, 2008.
- ↑ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence. P. 148
- ↑ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Brown Eyed Girl at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Bruce Springsteen lyrics: Brown Eyed Girl . springsteenlyrics.com. Archived from the original on July 20, 2009. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ↑ U2 3 Nights Live: Second Night . u2gigs.com. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ↑ Bob Dylan: Brown Eyed Girl on Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Brian Kennedy - All songs at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ GDA Song List . greendayauthority. Archived from the original on October 14, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
- ↑ Lagwagon: Songs at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Takin 'the Country Back on Allmusic (English)
- ↑ Busted, Hammersmith Apollo . independent.co.uk. Retrieved October 26, 2009.
- ↑ Ronan Keating at Blickling . bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 27, 2009.
- ↑ Album review: Reel Big Fish - Fame, Fortune, and Fornication . consequencesofsound.net. Retrieved October 25, 2009.
Web links
- Brown Eyed Girl at Allmusic (English)