Vanlose Stairway

"Vanlose Stairway" is a song written by the Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, and included on his 1982 album Beautiful Vision. It has remained a popular concert performance throughout Morrison's career and has become one of his most played songs.[2]

"Vanlose Stairway"
Song by Van Morrison
from the album Beautiful Vision
ReleasedJanuary 1982 (1982-01)
GenreCeltic, blue-eyed soul[1]
Length4:10
LabelWarner Bros.
Songwriter(s)Van Morrison
Producer(s)Van Morrison

Recording and composition

It was recorded in the summer of 1981 at the Record Plant in Sausalito, California.[3]

Morrison wrote the song about his Danish girlfriend, Ulla Munch, from Vanløse district in Copenhagen who lived on the fourth floor of an apartment building with no lift.[2][4][5] Clinton Heylin remarks..."he turned this mundane set of stairs in an uninspiring block of flats into a 'Stairway that reaches up to the moon/And it comes right back....to you'.[6] Peter Mills, author of the Morrison biography Hymns to the Silence, refers to "Vanlose Stairway" as this "dark horse of a song".[2]

The singer also includes the lines "Send me your Pillow" which referenced bluesman John Lee Hooker's influence on his music.[7]

Live performances

The song has been performed by Morrison over seven hundred times, making it the seventh most played song at his concerts.[8] He performed a baroque rendition of this song with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra at the 1989 Montreux Jazz Festival.[9]

Other releases

A live performance of "Vanlose Stairway" was included on the Morrison's 1984 album, Live at the Grand Opera House Belfast. Morrison often performed the song as a medley with "Trans-Euro Train" and Ray Charles' "A Fool for You". Live versions of the song in this format appeared on the 1994 album, A Night in San Francisco, and the 2019 deluxe edition of The Healing Game, from Morrison's 1997 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. It was remastered and released on the 2007 compilation album, Still on Top - The Greatest Hits.

Personnel on original release

Notes
  1. "Vanlose Stairway - Van Morrison | Song Info | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. Barton, Laura (2011-03-31). "Hail, Hail, Rock'n'Roll". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-04-01.
  3. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, pp. 523-524
  4. Rogan, No Surrender, p.342
  5. E/F Markskellet
  6. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p.371
  7. Janovitz, Bill. "allmusic review: Vanlose Stairway". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  8. "Top played songs". ivan.vanomatic.de. Retrieved 2009-01-10.
  9. Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence, p.465

References
  • Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
  • Rogan, Johnny (2006). Van Morrison:No Surrender, London:Vintage Books ISBN 978-0-09-943183-1
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