Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison

“Brown Eyed Girl” – Single by Van Morrison from the album Blowin’ Your Mind!
Released: June 1967
Songwriter: Van Morrison

Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967 for Bang Records owner and producer Bert Berns, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This was originally called “Brown Skinned Girl,” and was about an interracial relationship. Morrison changed it to “Brown Eyed Girl” to make it more palatable for radio stations. Some stations banned it anyway for the line, “Making love in the green grass.”

This was Morrison’s first release as a solo artist; he was previously with the group Them. The song appeared on his debut solo album Blowin’ Your Mind! and again on his 1973 compilation T.B. Sheets. It’s one of Morrison’s most enduring songs, but he thinks a lot less of it than most of the public. In 2009 he explained to Time magazine: “‘Brown Eyed Girl’ I didn’t perform for a long time because for me it was like a throwaway song. I’ve got about 300 other songs I think are better than that.”

This was a hit during the “Summer Of Love,” when hippie culture bloomed in the US and the song provided a fitting soundtrack. Morrison, however, wanted nothing to do with this scene and was horrified when the album was released with a psychedelic-looking cover.

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Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

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In a contemporaneous review, Billboard described the single as an “exciting debut” and a “groovy piece of original rock material that should fast establish [Morrison] as a top disk seller and writer”. Cash Box said that “scores of deejays and consumers should dig this hard, thumping lid.”Record World said that Morrison “socks across ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ with plenty of beat.”

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