The ‘stream of consciousness’ in the albums of Van Morrison
While Van Morrison may be best known for the hit single ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, he ought to be revered for his albums that carefully examine the beauty of love, religion and nature. After playing with the Northern Irish rock band Them, Morrison embarked on a solo career under the guidance of Bert Berns.
Berns had steered Morrison toward a pop sound, which is why ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ came to be. However, when Berns died in 1967, Warner Bros Records bought out his previous recording contract, and Morrison was able to record Astral Weeks, which was released in 1968.
Though Astral Weeks was initially a poor seller, it would become known as one of Morrison’s best-ever full-length efforts. It showcased the first time he would depart from the traditional R&B and rock influences and dip into Celtic mythology and folk instead.
A distinctive feature of the album would be the lyrics that were thoroughly engaged in a mode of ‘stream of consciousness’. Stream of consciousness is typically a literary technique that combines the several thoughts that occupy a person’s mind in a singular moment.
The writers James Joyce and Marcel Proust would employ the technique in their novels, and with Astral Weeks, Morrison would allow his conscious thoughts to come to the fore. On the album’s title track, we hear Morrison “venture through the slipstream, between the viaduct of dreams,” which would largely explain the nature of his lyrical output.
Elsewhere, on ‘Beside You’, we would listen to Morrison’s thoughts bubble up from his consciousness, where none were too sensitive or vulnerable to express. Much of Astral Weeks sees Morrison long for his lover as he roamed the Irish and British countryside, attempting to clear his head of the thoughts that need attention. In fact, its very title suggests that it is a dreamlike work composed from the depths of Morrison’s subconscious.
Morrison would return to this stream of consciousness on the albums Veedon Fleece and Common One. Veedon Fleece has regularly been compared to Astral Weeks, though it broke even more into the realms of Celtic myth and folklore. It is sometimes considered Morrison’s forgotten masterpiece.
As for Common One, it would arguably take the stream of consciousness motif even further than Astral Weeks had, particularly on the album’s opening track ‘Haunts of Ancient Peace’. Morrison would even refer to James Joyce and the English poet T.S. Eliot in ‘Summertime in England’.
Like many artists, it can be easy to look past them owing to their success of a particular track; just take a look at the Verve, for instance. But beyond ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, Morrison is a true poetic champion who borders on literary perfection. If Bob Dylan can be crowned with the Nobel Prize for Literature, then it is only fair that artists such as Morrison be given the attention they deserve.
