Song of the Day 3/14: Van Morrison, “In the Days Before Rock and Roll”

Filed in National by on March 14, 2019

Everybody is familiar with the Van Morrison canon from his classic period in the ’60s and ’70s, but he’s been turning out often-inspired music without a break ever since leaving Them, even if classic rock radio thinks his career peaked with “Brown Eyed Girl.”

“Enlightenment,” released in 1990, was Morrison’s 20th LP, and it contains one of his most fascinating tracks ever. “In the Days Before Rock and Roll” was written with Irish poet Paul Durcan — that’s his voice on some of the spoken parts (his voice is higher than Van’s). It recounts the feeling of being kids in the ’50s and having to keep up with American music by tuning in to stations scattered across Europe, or, later, by tuning to pirate station Radio Caroline, which thrived because the BBC wouldn’t air the raucous American music.

Nobody knows who “Justin” is. Durcan has been asked, but he gives evasive answers. The “come aboard” at the end hints at Radio Caroline, which broadcast from a series of ships offshore, but there apparently was nobody of that name who broadcast with that enterprise. For the rest of the references, there’s some great annotation at this web site, giving background on everything from Radio Luxembourg to jockey Lester Piggott to enhance the scene of a boy on the verge of adolescence on his knees before the radio set, turning those “wireless knobs” to connect with the magical names of American rhythm and blues.

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  1. nathan arizona says:

    Great song. Great artist. Great history. Lester Piggott! Another winner.