Moonshine Whiskey

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"Moonshine Whiskey"
Song by Van Morrison
from the album Tupelo Honey
ReleasedOctober 1971 (1971-10)
RecordedSpring 1971
Studio Wally Heider, San Francisco
Genre Country rock, soul
Length6:48
Label Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s) Van Morrison
Producer(s)

"Moonshine Whiskey" is a song written by singer-songwriter Van Morrison and is the concluding track of his 1971 album Tupelo Honey .

Contents

It was a popular tune with Morrison in the 1970s and he regularly performed it in concert. Brian Hinton writes that Morrison later admitted that he had written this song "for Janis Joplin or something" but goes on to say "though it is not autobiographical in the same way as Leonard Cohen's 'Chelsea Hotel Number Two'". [1]

In Tupelo Honey's Rolling Stone review Jon Landau says the song "is a joyful statement about the existence and continuation of love and the stability it offers." [2]

The song contains references to trains, railroads and the countryside, themes that Morrison has returned to throughout his career, as well as subjects country blues artists Jimmie Rodgers and Hank Williams often used. [3]

In 2017 "Moonshine Whiskey" came at number three in The Telegraph's "The 30 best songs about whiskey". [4]

Music

The song contains the two main genres Morrison used on Tupelo Honey: country rock and soul. The introduction features both electric and steel guitars, in what Allmusic reviewer Tom Maginnis calls "a halting country vamp". [5] The song changes tempo many times in its six and a half-minute duration, changing from a fast 4/4 time to a slow 6/8 sauteuse waltz and back to 4/4 time on various occasions. [6] Morrison uses this form of distinct movements within songs later in his career, most prominently on "Summertime in England" off the 1980 album Common One . [3] Tom Maginnis concludes that at the end of the song "the arrangement kicks into a full-scale gospel rave-up complete with call and response backing vocal, group handclaps, pumping piano, and blaring horns all at breakneck speeds before pulling up to a slamming halt." [5]

Filmed performances

Personnel

Notes

  1. ↑ Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p.137
  2. ↑ Landau, John (2 November 1971). "RS review: Tupelo Honey". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 7 February 2009.[ dead link ]
  3. 1 2 Mills, Hymns to the Silence, p.24
  4. ↑ Chilton, Martin (1 March 2017). "The 30 best songs about whiskey". The Telegraph . Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  5. 1 2 Maginnis, Tom. "Moonshine Whiskey at Allmusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
  6. ↑ Van Morrison Anthology, pp.54–59
  7. ↑ Collis. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart. p.234
  8. ↑ Collis. Inarticulate Speech of the Heart. p.236
  9. ↑ "Rick Shlosser – About". rickshlosser.com. Retrieved 7 June 2010.

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References

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