VAN MORRISON TRAIL - See Van Morrison's early inspiration and life in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A beautiful walk and journey of discovery for anyone - not just fans!
George Ivan Morrison - or Van Morrison as mostly known - is an Irish singer and songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, who was influenced with some of the places that formed a great part of his early life and thus he referred to them in the songs he used to write.
The beginning of Van's career started as a teenager when he used to play different instruments for different Irish show-bands in the late 1950's; he used to play guitar, harmonica, keyboards and saxophone, and playing the most popular hits at that time. Van Morrison kept moving forward with his career and in the 1960's he was the lead singer of the Northern Irish R&B band "Them", with whom he recorded the garage band classic "Gloria". Moving a little bit higher and coming to the point where Morrison recorded his first single in 1967 and which was given the name "Brown Eyed Girl" under the pop-hit oriented guidance of Bert Berns. Afterwards, Van Morrison passed through lots of different stops related to his life career - at some points he reached his top success and at other times he might have not.
The early life of Van Morrison started in Bloomfield, Belfast, Northern Ireland, since he was born there in 1945 (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXz7_Rt0UaI). The talent seems to be passing through the family because Van's mother, Violet Stitt Morrison, had been a singer and tap dancer in her youth, but his father was a shipyard electrician.
Even though Van's father was not a singer or a musician, he actually loved music and he had one of the largest record collections in Ulster during that time which Van used to listen to and which influenced who he has become; he used to listen to Jelly Roll Morton, Ray Charles, Lead Belly, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, and Solomon Burkie.
The primary school life of Van was at Elmgrove Primary School which is still found until today and which we started our trail with before moving forward to "The Hollow" that is located right next to the school. The Hollow was actually one of the places that inspired Van Morrison since he wrote about it in his hit song "Brown Eyed Girl".
There are actually different things that Van used to refer to in his songs, such as the tall electricity pylons which he referred to in his songs: "You Know What They're Writing About" and "On Hyndford Street" (the name of the street he was born in).
There are really interesting things to be known about Van Morrison when it comes to the trail we followed in Belfast regarding his early life. One of the things we also knew about was that Van Morrison used to cross the small bridge that is found in the Hollow with his friends in order to bring supplements for their celebrations.
Most of the songs which were written by Van Morrison were inspired by the places that he used to be part of during his early life or even during his teenage times. Another song was about the Orangefield Park which we also got the chance to come across during this trail; this is a huge park that only became public after it was bought by Belfast Corporation and it even served in different ways throughout the old times especially during the wars.
There are actually different things which Van Morrison used to refer to in his songs and which you might not even expect, such as the railways in his songs "As Evening Train", "Cyprus Avenue", and "On Hyndford Street". This railway is not used for trains anymore, but is now a place for walking and also used as a cycling path.
The next stop in this trail related to Van Morrison was the Cyprus Avenue which inspired him for writing a song with the same name and which he described with specific words.
Finally we reached the Donald's Church where Van's parents were married at. While listening to the "On Hyndford Street", you will hear the bells ringing at the back of the song, not just that, but Van also referred to those bells in another song of his which is named "Beside You".
It is always interesting to see these places in Belfast (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiUR8SoBens) especially if you are a fan of Van Morrison; otherwise it is still beautiful to explore those gems of the city and know more about their history.
Visit some of the places around Belfast that influenced Sir George Ivan Morrison in his early life.
Did you ever wonder -
Where is Van Morrison from?
Who is Van Morrison?
Seek some Van Morrison Quotes?
Want to see Van Morrison Cyprus Avenue?
Wonder about Van Morrison Northern Ireland?
Van Morrison Influences?
The Van Morrison Family?
The Van Morrison House?
Van Morrison History?
Do check out this Van Morrison Video - hopefully we have answered all these questions and many more!
Some of the best locations around Ireland / Northern Ireland and further afield. A travel blog/vlog of the hidden treasures that are on our doorstep.
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