Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl Song

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Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl Song

When we hear the song Brown-Eyed Girl, it is safe to assume the majority of us think of the Van Morrison version that was first introduced in his album Blowin’ Your Mind, released in 1967. Since that time the song’s legend and popularity have grown to unprecedented heights. Many artists have redone the song, some with a similar music style to Morrison (like Jimmy Buffet), and others of a completely different genre like the punk rock band Green Day. In my essay I will argue that the stylistic differences between the two songs are not a barrier. Rather, in combination with the similarities associating with cover songs, they form a bridge between two genres. In this case, it is achieved by expanding people’s tastes that are used to soft rock, to punk rock, and visa versa. By illustrating the similarities and differences between the two works, I will show how the appeal of the two songs is possible between two diverse listening groups.

Morrison has been a very prolific and popular artist ever since the late 1960’s. He has released nearly one album per year since his first solo recording, following the breakup of Them. Morrison has recorded with a number of labels, which has allowed his albums to fall primarily into two time periods. For the early part of Morrison’s career, his songs were less developed due to his inexperience and lack of individualism. During the later part, he gained increasing control over his music to the point where he essentially became his own label. Morrison’s version of Brown-Eyed Girl was produced during this time of independence. The inspiration for the song came from one of Morrison’s friends, who was the husband of the famous Brown-Eyed Girl. She w...

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I would like to acknowledge those who where instrumental in helping me put this paper together. A special thanks goes out to my classmates and even more specifically my group members Benjamin Mickle, Andrew Wallace, and Jeffrey Sheely. From their advice in varying my sentence structure, to the pushing of more description, I was able to enhance my paper. Thank you all.

End Note:

1. The Van Morrison Website. Sept. 15, 2002. <http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/van.html>

Sources:

Engel, Edo. Green Day Home Page. Sept. 14, 2002. <http://pmwww.cs.vu.nl/home/edoe/Green_Day/>

Gray, Brian. WWW.GREENDAY.NET. Sept. 15, 2002. <http://www.greenday.net/>

Hayward, Michael. The Van Morrison Website. Sept. 15, 2002. <http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/~hayward/van/van.html>

Van Morrison Praise Page. Sept. 14, 2002. <http://www.comp-wiz.com/van/>

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