Venturing in the slipstream : the places of Van Morrison's songwriting

Abstract

This thesis explores the use of place in Van Morrison's songwriting. The central argument is that he employs place in many of his songs at lyrical and musical levels, and that this use of place as a poetic and aural device both defines and distinguishes his work. This argument is widely supported by Van Morrison scholars and critics. The main research question is: What are the ways that Van Morrison employs the concept of place to explore the wider themes of his writing across his career from 1965 onwards? This question was reached from a critical analysis of Van Morrison's songs and recordings. A position was taken up in the study that the songwriter's lyrics might be closely read and appreciated as song texts, and this reading could offer important insights into the scope of his life and work as a songwriter. The analysis is best described as an analytical and interpretive approach, involving a simultaneous reading and listening to each song and examining them as speech acts. At the same time as the analysis was being undertaken, a divergent body of literature spanning popular music and literary traditions was opened up. As a result of this process, a group of songs was chosen to illustrate the use of place in Van Morrison's work, and these are then organised into the specific expressions of place across the thesis. Organised into chapters, this expression explores the way Van Morrison utilises place in his songwriting, and the emblematic and temporal perspectives that different places bring to this process. Some show how home places hold childhood and adolescent reminiscences, where simple pursuits jostle for importance within more serious deliberations about human meaning. Others reflect on what influences drive his moving away from home, what this means for his future symbolic exile, and how returning home becomes an imaginative and textual exercise. Elsewhere, chapters highlight ways that the songwriter looks to escape the trappings of the city and the pressures of the music industry through excursions into a natural world, where responses arise from encounters with landscape and weather.

Date of Award	2019
Original language	English