As the old adage goes, it’s always darkest before the dawn, and Van Morrison found himself in a particularly shadowy hour after the unsteady release of his 1968 album, Astral Weeks. While critics didn’t entirely ignore the album—especially not later in his career—the musician’s Warner Bros Records debut wasn’t exactly a homerun. Morrison seemed to fare even worse on stage, frequently going head-to-head with drunken hecklers and request-makers.
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The Irish musician knew he would have to bounce back in a big way to stay on Warner Bros’ good side. Adding to this intense pressure was the fact that Morrison’s wife, Janet Planet, was with child. Eager to make his career work not only for himself but for a growing family, Morrison sought to write a commercially palatable album that drew on American folk-rock contemporaries he admired.
And what better way to glean that inspiration than moving to where they live? And maybe becoming their friend? At least, that’s what Planet posits Morrison was hoping to accomplish.
Van Morrison Wanted to Befriend This Musician in 1969
Van Morrison moved himself and his pregnant wife to Woodstock, New York, while he was working on his follow-up to Astral Weeks. The rural countryside of upstate New York was a peaceful environment in which to create, certainly. But there was more to the move than green grass and fresh air. According to Janet Planet (via a 2018 Pitchfork review), Morrison had his sights set on a fellow Woodstock resident.
“Van fully intended to become [Bob] Dylan’s best friend,” Planet said. “Every time we’d drive past Dylan’s house, Van would just stare wistfully out the window at the gravel road leading to Dylan’s place. He thought Dylan was the only contemporary worthy of his attention.”
Much to Morrison’s disappointment, Dylan was no longer living in Woodstock. (Though the two would later share the stage on The Last Waltz.) At this point in Dylan’s career, he would have been working on Nashville Skyline, already moving away from the stark transition to folk-rock compared to his earliest acoustic days.
Ultimately, Morrison got what he had hoped for: a commercially successful album to make up for Astral Weeks. Moondance dropped on January 27, 1970. The album, particularly its title track, propelled Morrison into the mainstream. On a broader scale, songs like “Moondance” also helped usher in a more jazz-centric “soft rock” that would permeate the following decade.
Morrison might not have become Dylan’s beer-drinking buddy in Woodstock, but he was able to share stages and radio airwaves with him, which we’d guess tasted even sweeter.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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