50 Fun Facts About Van Morrison

Which 1967 Van Morrison hit, heard in Born on the Fourth of July, has he said never paid him any royalties?

Brown Eyed Girl began life as Brown-Skinned Girl, and a contract Morrison signed without legal advice means, he says, that it has never earned him royalties.

Which Van Morrison song plays during a love scene in the 1981 horror comedy An American Werewolf in London?

Moondance fits director John Landis's scheme for the film, in which every song on the soundtrack refers to the moon, from Blue Moon to Bad Moon Rising.

In which Martin Scorsese concert film does Van Morrison high-kick his way through Caravan with The Band?

The Last Waltz captured The Band's farewell show on Thanksgiving Day 1976, and as Morrison strode off Robbie Robertson called out his nickname, Van the Man.

Which British singer's 1993 cover of Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately reached number five in Britain and America?

Rod Stewart helped turn it into a wedding favourite, though Morrison originally wrote the song as a prayer.

Which director filled his 2021 film Belfast with Van Morrison songs, earning the singer a first Oscar nomination?

Kenneth Branagh has called the film his most personal, and Morrison's new song for it, Down to Joy, was nominated for Best Original Song.

Van Morrison's 1960s band Them took its name from a 1954 horror film about which giant creatures?

Ants mutated by an atomic bomb test overrun the New Mexico desert in Them!, the film that keyboard player Eric Wrixon suggested as a new name for the Gamblers.

Which job did the teenage Van Morrison settle into in Belfast, later celebrating it in a 1982 single?

Window cleaner was the work he took after a few short apprenticeships, and Cleaning Windows recalls how content he was on his round in the early 1960s.

Which Canadian crooner named his 2009 album after Van Morrison's Crazy Love and included a cover of the song?

Michael Bublé described the album as a record about the roller coaster ride of relationships; Morrison's original dates from 1970.

Which Pink Floyd song did Van Morrison sing with Roger Waters in Berlin in 1990, a version later used in The Departed?

Comfortably Numb had Morrison taking David Gilmour's vocal parts at The Wall concert, backed by Rick Danko and Levon Helm of The Band.

Which honour did Van Morrison receive for services to the music industry and to tourism in Northern Ireland?

A knighthood came in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2015, turning the son of a Belfast shipyard electrician into Sir Van Morrison.

Which Them song by Van Morrison, first released as a B-side in 1964, is heard in Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders?

Gloria was only the flip side of the band's first chart hit, yet it became a garage-rock standard covered by Jimi Hendrix and many others.

Which Van Morrison song, heard in As Good as It Gets, became the anthem of Northern Ireland's peace movement?

Days Like This was used by the Northern Ireland Office as theme music for a television advert promoting the ceasefire.

Which Van Morrison song do Jim and Michelle dance to at their reception at the end of American Wedding?

Into the Mystic starts as Morrison's own recording but switches midway to a cover by The Wallflowers because of licensing.

Which American rocker took a cover of Van Morrison's Wild Night to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1994?

John Mellencamp recorded it as a duet with bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, and their version also went to number one in Canada.

Which Irish traditional group recorded the 1988 album Irish Heartbeat with Van Morrison?

The Chieftains teamed up with him again in 1995 for a new version of Have I Told You Lately that won a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

Which British pop veteran duetted with Van Morrison on the 1989 single Whenever God Shines His Light?

Cliff Richard and Morrison sang it together on Top of the Pops after the single was held back for the Christmas market, and it reached number 20 in the UK.

Which 1968 Van Morrison album, recorded in New York with jazz musicians, includes Madame George and Cyprus Avenue?

Astral Weeks was cut in three sessions with players such as Connie Kay of the Modern Jazz Quartet, whom Morrison told to play whatever he felt like.

Which instrument did the young Van Morrison talk his father into buying after hearing jazzman Jimmy Giuffre?

Saxophone lessons came from Belfast jazzman George Cassidy, who lived on the same street, and Morrison played the horn on his first recording in 1963.

Which Los Angeles band was the support act for Van Morrison's group Them at the Whisky a Go Go in June 1966?

The Doors opened for the final week of the residency, and on the last night the two bands, each fronted by a Morrison, jammed together on stage.

Which then little-known band filled in for the absent Van Morrison at his 1993 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction?

Counting Crows performed his song Caravan at the ceremony, an appearance that first brought the band to public notice.

Van Morrison's Wonderful Remark was first released on the soundtrack of which 1983 Robert De Niro film?

The King of Comedy was a Martin Scorsese film whose music was produced by Robbie Robertson of The Band, who also plays guitar on Morrison's track.

Which future rock star was a session guitarist when Van Morrison's band Them recorded Baby, Please Don't Go?

Jimmy Page was a London studio hand four years before Led Zeppelin, and Morrison recalled him playing rhythm guitar on one track.

Which 1987 Robin Williams film features Them's Baby, Please Don't Go, sung by a teenage Van Morrison?

Good Morning, Vietnam included the 1964 recording on its soundtrack, and David Lynch used it again three years later in Wild at Heart.

Which band sang Van Morrison's Jackie Wilson Said on Top of the Pops in 1982 before a photo of a darts player?

Dexys Midnight Runners took their cover to number five, and the picture behind them showed darts player Jocky Wilson instead of the American soul singer.

Van Morrison wrote the score for Lamb, a film starring which Northern Irish actor as a young Christian Brother?

Liam Neeson later recited Morrison's spoken-word piece Coney Island on a 1994 tribute album that the singer helped to put together.

Which actor presented Van Morrison with a 2007 Oscar Wilde award for his contribution to more than fifty films?

Al Pacino compared the singer to Oscar Wilde, calling both of them visionaries who push boundaries.

Which 1970 Van Morrison single, a tribute to a New Orleans piano star, reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100?

Domino honours Fats Domino and is Morrison's highest-charting single, one place above his far better known 1967 debut hit.

Which 1965 Them single, written by producer Bert Berns, took Van Morrison's band to number two in the UK?

Here Comes the Night had first been rush-released in a version by Lulu, which stalled at number 50 before Them's recording took off.

Which songwriter wrote It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, covered by Van Morrison's band Them and later sampled by Beck?

Bob Dylan later sang a duet with Morrison for a BBC Arena special, and Beck built his song Jack-Ass on the Them recording.

Which guitarist teamed up with Van Morrison on the 2020 charity single Stand and Deliver?

Eric Clapton and Morrison made it a protest against Covid lockdowns, with the profits going to Morrison's Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund.

Which 1987 Van Morrison ballad has become a film staple, playing in both French Kiss and Bridget Jones's Diary?

Someone Like You has turned up in at least seven films, one of which borrowed its title, and it gave Morrison the framework for a later love ballad.

Which Van Morrison single, sung by Shakira at a 2009 Obama inaugural ball, plays in the films Michael and Fever Pitch?

Bright Side of the Road was a 1979 single from the album Into the Music, and Shakira sang it at the Neighborhood Ball on the night of the inauguration.

Which Van Morrison title track from 1971 plays over the end credits of the Peter Fonda film Ulee's Gold?

Tupelo Honey suits the film: Fonda plays a Florida beekeeper whose prized crop comes from the nectar of the tupelo tree.

Which Wes Anderson film uses Van Morrison's Everyone for its final shot and the transition to the credits?

The Royal Tenenbaums closes on the song, yet it was left off every one of the film's soundtrack releases.

Which 1995 Hugh Grant comedy features Van Morrison's These Are the Days, a track from Avalon Sunset?

Nine Months earned the 1989 track a place on the download edition of Morrison's 2007 collection of his film songs.

Which 1996 romantic comedy starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer features Van Morrison's Have I Told You Lately?

One Fine Day borrowed a ballad that a poll of 1,300 UK DJs voted sixth among the best first-dance wedding songs.

Which New York label, co-founded by producer Bert Berns, released Van Morrison's first solo hit in 1967?

Bang Records took its name from the first-name initials of Bert Berns, Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Gerald Wexler, and also released Hang On Sloopy by the McCoys.

Where in East Belfast was Van Morrison born at number 125, an address later used as a song title?

Hyndford Street lies in Bloomfield, near Cyprus Avenue, which Morrison described as a place where there's a lot of wealth.

Which British skiffle star joined Van Morrison and Chris Barber on stage in Belfast for The Skiffle Sessions?

Lonnie Donegan's Rock Island Line had drawn the young Morrison to skiffle, and the live album revived Donegan's career in his final years.

Which veteran bluesman's 1997 album Don't Look Back was produced by Van Morrison and won a Grammy?

John Lee Hooker had first duetted with Morrison in 1971, and the album's title track was a song Morrison had recorded with Them in the 1960s.

Caledonia, the word in the name of Van Morrison's 1970s Soul Orchestra, is a poetic name for which country?

Scotland lends its old Roman name to the eleven-piece Caledonia Soul Orchestra, the band behind a 1973 tour often called Morrison's peak as a live performer.

In which upstate New York town were Van Morrison and members of The Band near-neighbours in the early 1970s?

Woodstock made him friends with The Band, whose song 4% Pantomime, a duet with Morrison, hails him as the Belfast Cowboy.

Which British organist and 1960s hitmaker played on Van Morrison's albums between 1989 and 1997?

Georgie Fame, who topped the UK chart with Yeh Yeh, became a member of Morrison's band and also acted as his musical producer.

Which French poet, who gave up writing while still young, is named in the title of a 1985 Van Morrison single?

Arthur Rimbaud inspired Tore Down a la Rimbaud, a song Morrison began in the 1970s after reading that the poet had stopped writing altogether.

Which 2012 romantic comedy with Jason Segel and Emily Blunt fills its soundtrack with Van Morrison originals and covers?

The Five-Year Engagement even finds room for the 1982 hit cover of Jackie Wilson Said alongside Morrison's own recordings.

Van Morrison's stage name is a shortened form of which name he was given at birth in Belfast?

Ivan is his middle name: he was born George Ivan Morrison, the only child of a shipyard electrician and a former singer and tap dancer.

Which 1991 road movie features a cover of Van Morrison's Wild Night sung by Motown star Martha Reeves?

Thelma & Louise used her version three years before another cover of the song became a US top-three hit.

Which American folk-blues singer of Rock Island Line did Van Morrison hear in his father's record collection?

Lead Belly was among the artists in one of Northern Ireland's largest record collections, which Morrison's father had built up while working in Detroit.

Which 1974 Van Morrison double live album was released with no studio overdubs at his insistence?

It's Too Late to Stop Now drew on 1973 shows at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and the Rainbow in London.

For which Welsh singer did Van Morrison write and produce four songs on the 1991 album Carrying a Torch?

Tom Jones worked with him again in 1999, when the pair sang Morrison's Sometimes We Cry on the album Reload.