The 30 Best Van Morrison Covers Ever

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10. Allman Brothers Band – Into the Mystic

Morrison comes across as pretty smooth and laid back, vocally speaking, but when Gregg Allman starts this cover of “Into the Mystic,” his vocals are downright silky and the band locks into a swaying groove behind him. It’s almost halfway through the track before Allman adds a little distortion and volume to his voice and three-quarters of the way before the slide guitar erupts from its previous support role into a blazing solo. The rhythm section never loses the groove, though, and the bass almost has an island-time feel to its meandering pulse. It’s a beautiful rendering of a classic Morrison tune that doesn’t go too far afield but still has a new feel. — Mike Misch

9. Cassandra Wilson – Tupelo Honey

Jazz singer Cassandra Wilson often sails away with her pop interpretations, sometimes losing sight of the land to enter uncharted waters. But on “Tupelo Honey” she hugs the shore. The main departure is that whereas Morrison keeps his ballad moving apace, Wilson and her band take their sweet time. (It’s a song inspired by Tupelo, Mississippi, after all, which is near to Wilson’s childhood home, and which is not known for its bustling energy.) Her languid vocal is high-viscosity; once you sink into its slow flow, Wilson makes it worth the wait. Shout-out to arranger/guitarist Brandon Ross, and cheers for the audacious Charlie Burnham, Wilson’s violinist on this track. — Tom McDonald

8. Solomon Burke – Fast Train

When recording his 2002 Anti Records comeback album, soul legend Solomon Burke and his producer Joe Henry solicited unreleased songs from some of the world’s greatest writers for Burke to put his inimitable stamp on. Tom Waits offered “Diamond In Your Mind.” Bob Dylan shared his gospel outtake “Stepchild.” And Van Morrison went above and beyond, sending two new songs, “Fast Train” and “Only a Dream.” Ordinarily that would push the definition of cover, but technically Van ended up releasing his own versions two months before Burke—on his 29th studio album Down the Road—so covers they are. Though, with no disrespect to Van, they became Solomon Burke songs the moment he sang them. Either could have appeared on this list, but “Fast Train” especially instantly entered the pantheon of Burke classics. — Ray Padgett

7. The Waterboys – Sweet Thing

In late 1987, Waterboys singer/songwriter Mike Scott had turned his back on the “Big Music” so perfectly demonstrated on “The Whole of the Moon,” in favor of immersing his evolving band in rootsy Irish music. The Scottish frontman and his inspired “brotherhood of musicians” had set up shop at Spiddal in Galway in the west of the Emerald Isle, much like Dylan and the Band in Woodstock in 1967, to play and record an endless fountain of new and traditional Irish songs that would eventually be whittled down to make 1988’s Fisherman’s Blues. Top of the list was Van’s Astral Weeks highlight “Sweet Thing.” Luckily, Scott had the pipes to more than do justice to the mystical masterpiece that Morrison termed a “romantic love ballad not about anybody in particular but about a feeling.” Scott seemed to completely understand that feeling (of newfound love and freedom) in view of his soulful effusions and vocal improvisations over seven minutes of fiddle-filled musical brilliance. Hell, he even burst into the opening lines of the Beatles’ “Blackbird” in his ecstatic state. — Adam Mason

6. Dexys Midnight Runners – Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile)

An Irishman from the north of the Island who studiously avoided any comment on the politics of the place for many years. An English-born musician who has made Irish politics a central part of his identity. You suspect that Morrison and Kevin Rowland would, at the very minimum, get involved in impassioned arguments about almost anything, given the spikiness of their respective personalities and the vehemence with which they hold opinions. What unites them is a love of the soul musicians whose music crossed the Atlantic, sometimes more readily than it crossed over the Mason-Dixon Line. Dexys Midnight Runners is Kevin Rowlands’ main musical vehicle, and has been for nearly fifty years. “Geno” from their first album is a gritty, magnificent celebration of the work of Geno Washington, a frequent UK visitor. Dexys made Morrison’s tribute song “Jackie Wilson Said” a hit in the UK, by retaining the Irish flavors but using Wilson’s neat, clipped phrasing and diction, and learning from Wilson’s legendary stagecraft. On British Music show Top of the Pops, Rowland demonstrates a mastery of showmanship as well as musical appreciation of two greats. — Mike Tobyn

5. Glen Hansard – And the Healing Has Begun

Glen Hansard (The Frames, The Swell Season) is famously devoted to Van Morrison. His ten-minute story of the night they met (beginning “Well, to make a long story short…”) serves as both a cautionary “never meet your idols” tale and an inspirational parable. It’s not a surprise that Once, the 2007 film that saw Hansard opening his curtain to the world, features him busking away at a Van Morrison song. It’s “And the Healing Has Begun,” from 1979’s Into the Music. You can’t miss how much Morrison means to Hansard, just as much as you can’t miss the feeling of the music and lyrics being fully and absolutely conveyed by someone a quarter century younger. — Patrick Robbins

4. Esther Phillips – Brand New Day

Morrison’s father George reportedly had one of the largest record collections in Ulster, much of which was amassed while George worked in Detroit in the early 1950s. This collection provided the young Van with access to a wide variety of music, from big band jazz to country, to gospel, folk and blues. It is certainly possible that he heard Esther Phillips (or “Little Esther Phillips,” as she was billed as a young singer). A blues and R&B singer (before she inevitably tried disco in the 1970s), she had a few hits early and late in her career (and actually appeared as the musical guest on the fourth-ever episode of what was then called NBC’s Saturday Night.) “Brand New Day” is, as the title indicates, a positive, hopeful song, which Morrison wrote after hearing either “The Weight” or “I Shall Be Released” by The Band on the radio (he doesn’t remember). Morrison layers on the sound in the original, as does Phillips’ in her cover, who gives it a full-on gospel soul treatment, with the singer belting away in her somewhat nasal, but powerful voice. — Jordan Becker

3. Merry Clayton – Glad Tidings

It doesn’t seem right that Merry Clayton’s most streamed song (25 million and counting) is her sugary electro-pop contribution to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack “Yes.” Or that her most famous vocal performance is on someone else’s (damn) song, a.k.a. the Rolling Stones’s seminal “Gimme Shelter.” Because Merry’s finest recorded moments are absolutely, unquestionably located on her first two solo albums, 1970’s Gimme Shelter and 1971’s Merry Clayton. There are a ton of superfine covers living on both of those LP’s, including this fabulous, funky and fireballin’ take on Van the Man’s “Glad Tidings.” As is her (magnificent) tendency, she blows the freakin’ roof off the house with her thunderous vibrato (Na-na-na-na!) and straight-up kills it. — Hope Silverman

2. Raul Malo – Bright Side of the Road

A song so darn catchy you’d think it couldn’t be be ruined–but oh, dear reader, it can, oh yes, it can, as we here have discovered in the making of this piece. No such risk, though, with the impeccable tonsils of Raul Malo, the honey-voiced singer of the Mavericks. His deceptively smooth tenor tone disguises a capability with range that would defy most, and here he is teamed up with three bluegrass enthusiasts (Dave Pomeroy, Pat Flynn and Rob Ickes) for a back porch delivery of some down-home beauty. Dobro twangs joyously in the background, as a harmonica parps contentedly. There are handclaps, and even whistling, sufficient that it would surely make the famously truculent composer himself hoot with glee. It comes from an album named after the four participants, with a host of equivalently accomplished feel good songs, even when they aren’t supposed to. — Seuras Og

1. Jeff Buckley – The Way Young Lovers Do

It’s well known that Leonard Cohen dug Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah,” but what, you’ve got to wonder, did Van make of the eternally young Californian’s version of “The Way Young Lovers Do”? And how on earth did such a sublime thing happen?

We at least know the answer to the latter. Buckley was a huge fan of Astral Weeks and covered several of its songs around the time of his celebrated early-career residency at the Sin-é café in the bohemian East Village in Lower Manhattan. His choice of “Lovers” was not an easy one, considering how defined it was by Van’s blissfully soulful vocal as well as the double-bass phrasing of veteran jazzman Richard Davis, and the horns of additional jazz session players. No problem, though, when you’re blessed with an indescribably powerful and emotive voice combined with genius guitar skills. Buckley perfected a solo ten-minute version of the song for his first recording session, at the Sin-é, in April 1992, which found release on the Live at Sin-é EP in 1993. There’s that haunting opening, the raw and often frenetic playing, the multi-octave vocal escalations and improvisations, the scatting… Buckley basically showcased the full range of his considerable talents on this track, in the most intimate of settings. — Adam Mason

Check out more installments in our monthly ‘Best Covers Ever’ series, including John Lennon, Paul McCartney, girl groups, one-hit wonders, and more.

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