The Eternal Kansas City
"The Eternal Kansas City" is a song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the key song on the 1977 album A Period of Transition,[1] and was his first single released since "Gloria" in 1974.
Biographer Howard DeWitt believes that the song makes the listener feel as if in a church, because of the "mystical choir", featured at the beginning of the song: "Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?". "Then an almost jump arrangement makes 'The Eternal Kansas City' an excellent rhythm and blues influenced song."[2]
Johnny Rogan describes the song as "The only song on the album where there was evidence of Morrison's mysterious majesty, it blended the lily-white sound of Anita Kerr Singers with strong gospel overtones."[3]
Dr John on the song
Dr John, arranger and musician on A Period of Transition, describes the song as being:
The song that Van got the whole album hooked up around. It was a real deep thing for him to focus on. It goes from a real ethereal voice sound to a jazz introduction and then into a kind of chunky R&B.[1]
Personnel
Notes
- ^ a b Hinton. Celtic Crossroads. p. 198.
- ^ DeWitt. The Mystic's Music. p.103
- ^ Rogan. No Surrender. p.309
References
- Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
- DeWitt, Howard A. (1983). Van Morrison: The Mystic's Music, Horizon Books, ISBN 0-938840-02-9
- Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison: No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 9780099431831
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2000: "I Wanna Go Home" · "Let's Talk About Us" ·
2002: " Hey Mr. DJ" · "Meet Me in the Indian Summer"
2003: "Once in a Blue Moon"
2005: "Celtic New Year"
2006: "Playhouse" · "Cry For Home"
2007: "Blue and Green"
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