Happy Birthday, Van!

Van Morrison is 61 today. He's one of my favorite musicians of all time and it's not because of "Brown-eyed Girl," though that is a good tune. (Technically speaking my eyes are not brown, they are hazel, but you wouldn't notice unless you're looking closely.) No, I just dig his music for its soulfulness and its very mellowness. Those romantic Irishmen make me swoon. In honor of his birthday, I've got him playing on iTunes. Here are the lyrics to some of my favorites, beginning with one of my favorite tunes of all time:

Into the Mystic
We were born before the wind
Also younger than the sun
Ere the bonnie boat was won as we sailed into the mystic
Hark, now hear the sailor's cry
Smell the sea and feel the sky
Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic
When that foghorn blows I will be coming home
When that foghorn blows I got a hear it, I don't have to fear it
I wanna rock your gypsy soul just like way back in the days of old
-- and magnificently we would float into the mystic.

Tupelo Honey
You can take all the tea in China
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right round, all the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the big blue sea
She's as sweet as tupelo honey
She's an angel of the first degree
She's as sweet, she's as sweet as tupelo honey
Just like honey baby, from the bee

I'll Be Your Lover, Too
I'll be your man
I'll understand
And do my best
to take good care of you
Yes I will

You'll be my queen
I'll be your king
And I'll be your lover too
Yes I will

Derry down green
Color of my dream
A dream that's daily coming true
I'll tell you

When day is through
I will come to you
And tell you of your many charms

And you'll look at me
with eyes that see
And melt into each other's arms

And so I come to be the one
who's always standing next to you

Reach out for me
So I can be the one
who's always reaching out for you
Yes I will, yes I will

You'll be my queen
I'll be you king
And I'll be your lover too

Crazy Love
I can hear her heart beat for a thousand miles
And the heavens open every time she smiles
And when I come to her thats where I belong
Yet Im running to her like a rivers song
She give me love, love, love, love, crazy love