| "Vanlose Stairway" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Van Morrison from the album Beautiful Vision | |
| Released | January 1982 |
| Genre | Celtic |
| Length | 4:10 |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records |
| Writer | Van Morrison |
| Composer | Van Morrison |
| Producer | Van Morrison |
| Beautiful Vision track listing | |
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"Vanlose Stairway" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1982 album, Beautiful Vision. It has remained a popular concert performance throughout Morrison's career and has become one of his most played songs.[1]
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It was recorded in the summer of 1981 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California.[2]
Morrison wrote the song about his Danish girlfriend, Ulla Munch, from Vanløse district in Copenhagen who lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building with no lift.[1][3] 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'.[4] Peter Mills, author of the Morrison biography Hymns to the Silence, refers to "Vanlose Stairway" as this "dark horse of a song".[1]
The singer also includes the lines "Send me your Pillow" which referenced bluesman John Lee Hooker's influence on his music.[5]
The song has been performed by Morrison over seven hundred times, making it the fourth most played song at his concerts.[6] He performed a baroque rendition of this song with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra at the 1989 Montreux Jazz Festival.[7]
A live performance version of "Vanlose Stairway" is included on the Morrison's 1984 album, Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast. Another live version but as a medley appears on the 1994 album, A Night in San Francisco. It was remastered and released again on the 2007 compilation album, Still on Top - The Greatest Hits.