Vanlose Stairway

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“Vanlose Stairway”
Song by Van Morrison
Album Beautiful Vision
Released February 1982
Genre Celtic
Length 4:10
Label Warner Bros. Records
Writer Van Morrison
Composer Van Morrison
Producer Van Morrison
Beautiful Vision track listing
  1. "Celtic Ray" - 4:11
  2. "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" - 4:05
  3. "Dweller on the Threshold" - 4:49
  4. "Beautiful Vision" - 4:08
  5. "She Gives Me Religion" - 4:33
  6. "Cleaning Windows" - 4:43
  7. "Vanlose Stairway" - 4:10
  8. "Aryan Mist" - 4:00
  9. "Across the Bridge Where Angels Dwell" - 4:31
  10. "Scandinavia" - 6:41

"Vanlose Stairway" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1982 album, Beautiful Vision. It remained a favorite with fans and a popular concert performance for several years during the 1980s. He performed a baroque rendition of this song with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra at the 1989 Montreux Jazz Festival.[1]

Morrison wrote the song about his Danish girlfriend, Ulla Munch, from Vanlose Street in Copenhagen who lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building with no lift.[2]Clinton Heylin remarks..."he turned this mundane set of stairs in an uninspiring block of flats into a 'Stairway that reaches up to the moon/And it comes right back....to you'.[3] Alternately, a feature story in the Copenhagen Post in 1999[4] cites nearby Vanlose station as the location of the suspect stairway. This seems reasonable, since Morrison was occasionally seen strolling the streets of the city, despite being partially-disguised from passers-by in one of his trademark wide-brimmed hats. (On the other hand, the stairway to the S-train platform is reportedly only 30-odd steps, whereas a regular four-story climb to his girlfriend's flat would likely have been more memorable to the songwriter.)

The singer also includes the lines "Send me your Pillow/" which referenced bluesman John Lee Hooker's influence on his music.

Contents

[edit] Appearance on other albums

[edit] Personnel on original recording

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence, p.465
  2. ^ Rogan, No Surrender, p.342
  3. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p.371
  4. ^ Copenhagen Post, October 29, 1999 http://www.cphpost.dk/get/58527.html

[edit] References

  • Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
  • Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831

[edit] External links