Van Morrison Album

(Van Morrison)

What's wrong with this picture?
There's something I'm not seeing here
What's wrong with this picture?
Something that's not exactly clear
What's wrong with this picture?
Does it look like it's just another sting?
'Cos it don't mean a thing
If it ain't got that swing and ring a ding ding

What's wrong with this picture?
Doesn't anybody see
That's who everyone thought
That I used to be
What's wrong with this picture?
It's only hanging on a wall
So you can go right back to sleep
And just forget about it all, because

I'm not that person anymore
I'm living in the present time
Baby, don't you understand
I've left all that jive behind

You can't believe what you read in the papers
Or half the news that's on TV
Or the gossip of the neighbours
Or anyone who doesn't want you to be free

I'm not that person anymore
I'm always living in the present time
Don't you understand
I left all that jive behind

What's wrong with this picture?
It's only hanging on the wall
Why don't we take it down and

(Van Morrison)

Drop that coin right into the slot
Get it whether you're ready or not
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself

Well they call him Mr. Jellyroll
It's just the way he rolls his dough
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself

Well let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself
'Cos he can do it better, better than anyone else
Whine, whine, whine, whine

All the winos down on Market Street
Roll on over to old North Beach
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself

Well he gonna sing and play for you
Exactly what he's s'pposed to do
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself

Whine, whine, whine
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself
Let the whinin boy moan
If you don't know how to do it yourself

(Van Morrison)

By the light of the moon
When the night holds the secrets
Of the sleepy lagoon
I'm contemplating moonlight
On the water
When I'm walking with you
On an evening in June

On an evening in June
It can get so sentimental
When I'm thinking of you
And I can't think of anything
Except being with you
When the summer is through
On an evening in June

On an evening in June
Well it lifts me up
When I'm talking to you
On an evening in June
When the flowers are in bloom
And the sky is so blue

Well there's so many things
Taking place
That it's hard to keep up with it all
Keep your eye on the ball
And to make the right call
When we're longing for fall
On this evening in June

Instrumental break

On an evening in June
Well it lifts me up
When I'm talking to you
On an evening in June
When the flowers are in bloom
And the sky is so blue

Well there's so many things taking place
That it's hard to keep up with it all
Keep your eye on the ball
And to make the right call
When we're longing for fall
On this evening in June
By the sleepy lagoon
On an evening in June
By the light of the moon
By the sleepy lagoon
On an evening in June
On an evening in June
By the sleepy lagoon
By the light of the moon
By the sleepy lagoon

(Van Morrison)

Too many myths
People just assuming things that aren't true
There's too many myths
Coming between me and you
You might have your name up in lights
But you still have to keep your game uptight

Too many myths
Tell me, tell me how you gonna cope with this
Too many myths
You act like you've never been kissed
You put your name up in lights
And now you gotta keep your game uptight

You got problems
I got problems too
Everybody's gonna think
There must be something wrong with you because
There's just too many myths
Can't you see I'm just trying to stay in the game
Just too many myths
I'm just trying to maintain
Sure I got my name in lights
But I've still gotta keep my game uptight

Instrumental break

You got problems
And I got problems too
But that doesn't necessarily mean that
There's something wrong with you
There's just too many myths,
Baby I'm just trying to stay in the game
There's far too many myths
I'm just trying to maintain
I got my name up in lights

Words by Van Morrison, music by David Collett & Acker Bilk

We met, deep down in Somerset
A time I can't forget
When we were sippin' cider in the shade
Oh the sun was setting in the West
You looked your very best that night
Stars were shining in your eyes

And we walked, walked all along the sand
And it felt, felt like a wonderland
And when the summer breeze was gone
The memory lingered on
You and me down in Somerset

Instrumental break

Oh we walked, walked and walked and walked all along the sand
And it felt just like our love just began
And when the summer breeze was gone
The memory lingered on, me and you
When the summer set
We met, we met, we met deep down in Somerset
A time I can't forget

(Van Morrison)

Lost in a strange city
Nowhere to turn
Far cry from the streets that
I came from
It can get lonely
When you're travelling hard
But you can even be lonely
Standing in your own back yard

Nobody knows the existential dread
Of the things that go on inside
Someone else's head
Whether it be trivial
Or something that Dante said
But baby nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

No matter how well you know someone
You can only ever guess
How can you ever really know somebody else?
It takes more than a lifetime
Just to get to know yourself
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

Instrumental break

I have to say a word about solitude
For the soul it sometimes they say can be good
And I'm partial to it myself, well I must confess
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

Well there's Sartre and Camus, Nietzsche and Hesse
If you dig deep enough
You gonna end up in distress
And no one escapes having to live life under duress
And no one escapes the meaning of loneliness

Well they say keep it simple when it gets to be a mess
And fame and fortune
Never brought anyone happiness
I must be lucky
Some of my friends think that I'm really blessed
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

Scatting and instrumental break

No, no, no, no, nobody knows the meaning of loneliness
No, no, no, nobody knows the meaning of loneliness
Nobody knows the meaning of loneliness

The published lyrics include the following verses:

Bright lights, big city nowhere to turn
Far cry from the streets where I was born
I've been doing some travelling
Sometimes the road gets hard
But you can also be lonely
Standing in your own backyard

No, no, no, no, no, no, nobody knows
The meaning of loneliness
No, no, no, no, nobody knows
The meaning of loneliness

Written by Lightnin' Hopkins.
Additional lyrics by Van Morrison.

You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy
You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy
If you don't stop drinking that wine
It's gonna poison your mind
You gotta stop drinking that old wine sonny boy

You drink Champagne it's gonna be better for you
You drink Champagne it's gonna be better for you
Everybody's going out
Going out to enjoy
You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy

You drink whiskey just have a tiny wee drop
You drink whiskey just have a tiny wee drop
You drink whiskey have a tiny wee drop
'Cos you just don't know when to stop
You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy

You gotta stop, bop, bop, bop
Gotta stop, bop, bop, bop
You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy
Everybody else going out
Going out to enjoy
You gotta stop drinking that wine sonny boy

Gotta stop, bop, bop, bop, bop
You gotta stop
Stop drinking that old wine sonny boy
If you don't stop drinking that wine
It's gonna poison your mind

(Van Morrison)

What will it take for them to leave me alone
Don't they know I'm just a guy who sings songs
I'm not promoting no hit record
And I don't have no TV show
And I don't have no reason to live in a goldfish bowl

I'm just doing my gigs
And I'm on and off the road
Everything I say is not meant to be set in stone
Just because they call me a celebrity
That does not make it true
'Cos I don't believe in the myth people
So why should you?

Jazz Blues & Funk
That's not Rock & Roll
Folk with a beat
And a little bit of Soul
I don't have no hit record
I don't have no TV show
Tell me why should I have to live in this goldfish bowl?

Well there's parasites and psychic vampires
Feeding on the public at large
Projecting their shadow onto everyone else
Well the newspaper barons
Are the scum of the lowest degree
And they prey on everybody
They prey on you and me

I'm singing Jazz Blues & Funk
Baby that's not Rock & Roll
Folk with a beat
And a little bit of Soul
I don't have no hit record
I don't have no TV show

(Van Morrison)

Once in a blue moon
Something good comes along
Once in a blue moon
Everything's not going wrong
When you get weary
Beating on the same old gong
Once in a blue moon
Someone like you comes along

Once every once in a while
Something comes along that feels just right
Once every once in a while
Just like switching on an electric light
And sometimes you try till you're blue in the face
But when you get that feeling
Nothing's going to take its place

Once in a blue moon
There's a thing called happiness
It happens when you're in
A state of natural grace

When the wind is blowing
All around the fence
I get that happy feeling
Things start making sense
All just feels so lucky
That you just can't go wrong
Once in a blue moon
Someone like you comes along

Once in a blue moon
There's a thing called happiness
It happens when you're in
A state of natural grace

When the grass is growing
All around the fence
And you get that happy feeling
Everything starts making sense
And you get so lucky
That you can't go wrong

Once in a blue moon
Something comes along
Once in a blue moon
Someone like you comes along
Once in a blue moon
Something good comes along
Once in a blue moon

Traditional arranged by Van Morrison

I went down to Saint James Infirmary
For to see, for to see my baby there
Man, she was laid out on a long white table
She was so cold, and so cool, and so fair

Let her go, let her go, God bless her
Wherever she might be
Lord, you can search this whole wide world over
But she ain't never going to find another lover man like me

When I die, I want you to dress me in straight lace shoes
I want a box back coat and a stetson hat
I want a 20 dollar gold piece on my watch chain

(Van Morrison)

Little village baby, ain't large enough to be a town
From a little village baby, ain't large enough to be a town
Gotta get away from the city
It's gonna bring you down

Heard the voice of the silence, in the evening
In the long cool summer nights
Heard the voice of the silence, in the evening
In the long cool summer nights
Telling me not to worry
Everything's gonna be all right

There's only two kinds of truth
Baby let's get it straight from the start
There's only two kinds of truth
Let's get it straight from the start
It's all what you believe
Baby in your head and your heart

Heard the bells ringing
Voices singing soft and low
Heard the bells ringing
Voices are singing soft and low
Way up in the mountain, little village in the snow

Raining in the forest
Just enough to magnetise the leaves
Raining in the forest
Just enough to magnetise the leaves
We'll go walking baby with the moonlight shining down through the trees

Little village, way up on the mountainside
Little village baby, way up on the mountainside

(Van Morrison)

Oh fame, they've taken everything and twisted it
Oh fame they say
You never could have resisted it
What's in a name
And everybody's jaded by fame

Oh fame again
The press has gone and made another mess of it
Oh just because they got
So much invested in it
But they say you're to blame it's your own fault
'Cos you got mixed up in fame

Oh no don't believe all that old Andy Warhol guff
It takes a lot more than 10 or 15 minutes
That's just not enough
To qualify you for

Fame, you went beyond the boundries of sanity
And every day you defy
All the laws of gravity
You ain't got no shame
'Cos you're just addicted to fame

Oh no don't you buy none of that old Andy Warhol stuff
It takes a lot more than 10 or 15 minutes
That's just not enough
To qualify you for

Fame, they're already setting up your own Watergate
Oh fame, that stalker out there is just filled with hate
You'll never be the same
'Cos everyone's corrupted by fame

Oh fame, they took away all my humanity
Oh fame got to fight
Every second of the day for my dignity
It's a spectator's game
And there ain't nothing fair about fame

Oh fame, oh fame
Oh fame say it again, fame
They say you're to blame

(Van Morrison)

I just can't seem to take much more of this
Got too much hassle baby and not enough bliss
Got to give these hangers on a miss
'Cos I need some help I just don't get

No one seems to understand what's up
What's up, what's up
So called friends come and go
And things just don't add up
Trying to make my way
Through all this illusion and myth
I don't even have no safety net

Nero fiddled while Rome burnt
Napoleon met his Waterloo
Sampson went spare when Delilah cut his hair
But little David slew Goliath too

I'm just trying to get some results
Listen baby I'm not trying to start my own cult
Please tell me something that I don't know
I just wanna get on with the show

Nero fiddled while Rome burnt
Napoleon met his Waterloo
Sampson went spare when Delilah cut his hair
But little David slew Goliath too

You'd think some program might do the trick
Let me tell you this wall of fog
Is just too thick
I thought of everything but the whip
But baby nobody on my ship is up to it

I'm just trying to get some results, some results
I'm not trying to start my own cult, no ..
Just tell me something that I don't know
I just wanna get on with the show

I just wanna get on with the show
Just tell me something that I don't know
I just wanna get on with the show