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In the Garden (Van Morrison song)
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Wikipedia article
"'In the Garden'" is a spiritually inspired song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1986 album 'No Guru, No Method, No Teacher'.
Recording and composition
The album version of the song was recorded in 1985 at Studio D at the Sausalito Record Plant in Sausalito, California.Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p. 525
The lyrics of "In the Garden" contain a line which gives the album its name: "No Guru, no method, no teacher/
Just you and I and nature/And the Father in the garden." Some of the words also fall back to 'Astral Weeks' territory with mentions of "childlike visions", "into a trance" from the song, "Madame George" and "in the garden wet with rain" from "Sweet Thing".
According to Morrison, the song is based upon a form of transcendental meditation, which takes about ten minutes before a person arrives at a degree of tranquility.Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p. 255
Biographer Johnny Rogan has highlighted the song as one of the defining tracks of Morrison's career, comparing it with works such as "Into the Mystic", "Listen to the Lion", and "You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River". He also believes that "Morrison himself recognises 'In the Garden' as perhaps the key recording in the Eighties career."Rogan, No Surrender, p. 359
Other releases
"In the Garden" was one of the songs performed and featured on 'Van Morrison The Concert', Morrison's video film released in 1990.
It was included on 'The Best of Van Morrison Volume Two' In 1993. A live version was one of the songs on the 1994 album, 'A Night in San Francisco'. The compilation album issued in 2007 'Still on Top - The Greatest Hits' contains a remastered version of the song.
Personnel on original release
*Van Morrison vocal
*David Hayes bass
*Jeff Labes piano
*Chris Michie guitar
*Baba Trunde drums
Notes
References
*Heylin, Clinton (2003). 'Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography', Chicago Review Press,
*Hinton, Brian (1997). 'Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison', Sanctuary,
*Rogan, Johnny (2006). 'Van Morrison: No Surrender', London: Vintage Books
Category:1985 songs
Category:Van Morrison songs
Category:Songs written by Van Morrison
Category:Song recordings produced by Van Morrison
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