Big Mattress Song of the Week (6-15/6-20)
Sometimes Van Morrison just isn't in the mood. And on those nights his shows can suck. But most of the time he's really good in concert. Like the night in April 1970 when, totally wasted, he played Fillmore West and sang this version of his classic Cypress Avenue.
Click on the red button upper right column of the main page only once please and you can listen while you browse.
Lyrics to song below. (Note that the lyrics Morrison sings are quite different than the actual lyrics below. Substituting the phrase “in all your revelation” for “so young and bold, fourteen years old.“ (He must have known something Letterman didn't, four decades later...)
Also, just to let you know: I had planned to make this Song of the Week a week before the Letterman/Palin controversy occurred...)
And I'm caught one more time
Up on Cyprus Avenue
And I'm caught one more time
Up on Cyprus Avenue
And I'm conquered in a car seat
Not a thing that I can do
I may go crazy
Before that mansion on the hill
I may go crazy
Before that mansion on the hill
But my heart keeps beating faster
And my feet can't keep still
And all the little girls rhyme something
On the way back home from school
And all the little girls rhyme something
On the way back home from school
And the leaves fall one by one by one by one
Call the autumn time a fool
Yeah baby my tongue gets tied
Every every every time I try to speak
My tongue gets tied
Every time I try to speak
And my inside shakes just like a leaf on a tree
I think I'll go on by the river with my cherry cherry wine
I believe I'll go walking by the railroad with my cherry cherry wine
If I pass the rumbling station where the lonesome engine drivers pine
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
Baby, baby, baby
And if I'm caught one more time
Up on Cyprus Avenue
And if I'm caught one more time
Up on Cyprus Avenue
And I'm conquered in a car seat
And I'm looking straight at you
Way up on, way up on, way up on....
The avenue of trees
Keep walking down
In the wind and the rain, darling
You keep walking down when the sun shone through the trees
Nobody, no, no, no, nobody stops me from loving you baby
So young and bold, fourteen years old
Baby, baby, baby...
Comments
Thanks for sharing. Awesome.
Posted by: Lauri Neff | June 13, 2009 4:30 PM
Thanks for giving the "Master" his due. Long live Van Morrison!
Posted by: Stan | June 14, 2009 9:12 AM
What a great cut. Morrison here was not wasted, but at the height of his powers. I would argue that this was much later than 1970. I saw him in the early seventies, before he sobered up, and he was wasted and a train wreck, opening for The Band at Symphony Hall in Boston. It was a sad night. This, I would argue, is a number of years later. Perhaps I am wrong, but I doubt it. Fred
Posted by: Fred | June 14, 2009 2:15 PM
It's possible that the night you saw him was one of those nights that Van just wasn't feeling it. Van did the vocals on a great track by The Band called 4 percent Pantomime. Van was also one of the many highlights of the Band's Last Waltz concert.
Posted by: Dick | June 14, 2009 4:03 PM
This song is a much bootlegged recording dated April 26 1970. This is, in fact, from the tour where Van opened for Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs and Englishmen. It was the last night of a 4-night stand. April 23 and 26 1970 at Fillmore West and April 24 and 25 at Winterland. I own an original poster from this event. Here is the opening number from that show, Moondance. BTW, this was aired on FM radio in the Bay area:
http://tinyurl.com/mhw6y4
Posted by: Deep Track | June 14, 2009 4:21 PM