As I touched on in this post way back when, music is about the closest I get to religion. But when its hits me, it gets me deep and brings me to church.
There might not be a more perfect distillation of this feeling than Van Morrison’s “In The Garden,” this week’s CoTW.
Holy M*s*s, what an excellent choice of a cover!
"In The Garden" is my absolute favorite Van Morrison song, and Van is one of the greatest artists ever. So this is one of my all-time favorite tunes.
Your (Bill's) version is lovely, great work, really warm 'n' gorgeous. (I know you've played Van before, CotW #20 "Carrickfergus" is equally good.)
The penultimate version of this song-to-end-all-songs can be found on the stunning Van M bootleg "Montreux 1987" … Georgie Fame provides the organ and a great gig ends with a version of "In The Garden" that goes beyond words…
Bill: This song was listened to over and over in the summer of 1990 when a friend of mine introduced me to the Van which was much more than the Hits would suggest. When this music was released in 1986 this Van was not being played on any radio station that I listened to…
Thankfully, living on Martha's Vineyard during the summer with a pal who used to RUN to the record store whenever Van's latest was released meant that I would be immersed in the total Van anthology forever.
I listened to it over and over that summer and then beyond, and then went hardcore with my Van collection. I've always envied my friend Eric because of how much he loves Van–he is rewarded with so much music year in year out, and has stayed with him through all of his records.
This cover of yours makes it your own and continues to pack the punch Van intended.
Goosebumps, wisdom, sadness, joy, and just two people trying to get their lives in sync…Wow, what a cover!
Bravo.
really beautiful, i love it. your voice sounds great on this one.
When can we start ranking our favorite CoTW into a top 20? I'm putting this at #2 behind "Hardly Gettin Over it," with "Dreamin" at #3.
Actually, now that I wrote that – I think we have a good benefit show. Let the people decide the set list and we'll pony up a nice donation some time this summer.
I'm thinking some town green – Salem, Lexington, Wakefield? You won't even need an amp.
Is it possible that a song that clocks at 7:18 isn't long enough? I haven't felt this excited about a song that stretched this long since I first heard U2's "With or Without You" with the "Stars Will Shine," and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" outro.
Masterfully done! Wow…
.: I am sitting here with a post-dodgeball game injury of some sort in the groin area, in muted screaming pain. Not that you needed to know that, but I'm also listening to this song, and just wanted to say it is absolutely lovely. This is one of the CotW's on which you seem to have really laid back on your vocals, and it really makes the song personal and intimate. The piano adds to that feeling. This becomes one of my favorite CotW tunes, and it's one with which I was never familiar before.
I repeat myself regularly, but thanks for continuing to do this. If one uses 12 songs per album as a benchmark, you're working on what would be your seventh album for us. This just blows me away. I know you wrote that you are doing this for yourself, basically, to record your favorite covers and stuff, but in doing so you just keep giving back your fans, so unselfishly. I hope you don't mind me regularly stating such things, because I don't think it is a trivial thing. Thanks, have a great week, Bill.
Bill, This is one of my favorites of all of the COTW tunes. I was unaware of it til just now, but will certainly be looking it up. Beautifully builds to a crescendo and your voice is really sounding great.