Van Morrison earned his first record deal by covering Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light” with his band Them, and ever since Bland’s music has been important to him. He covered Bland’s “Ain’t Nothin’ You Can Do” on seminal live album It’s Too Late To Stop Now, and even dueted with Bland in 2007 on a new version of “Tupelo Honey.” “I can’t put into words the phrasing and the way he interprets a song,” Morrison said upon Bland’s death in 2013.
So instead, Morrison once again puts it into music. On his just-released album Keep Me Singing – his first since Bland’s passing – the only non-original song is a cover of Bland’s “Share Your Love With Me.” The song has also been covered by The Band, Charlie Rich, and, most famously, Aretha Franklin, but Morrison’s interpretation holds its own next to those titans (and is, needless to say, a whole lot better than Kenny Rogers’ hit cover). Listen below.
Pick up Morrison’s new album Keep Me Singing at Amazon.
He also covered Bobby “Blue” Bland on the live album “A Night In San Francisco”
“I’ll Take Care of You” is a song written by Brook Benton and originally recorded by Bobby Bland in 1959. It reached No. 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1960.
i actually like his version better than blands. its a very lovely cover. thanks for showing this.