Astral Weeks
I remember exactly where I was when I first heard the song Astral Weeks by Van Morrison. I was around the age of 14 years old and I had been thumbing through the CD collection at my local public library. As a 14 year old without a job and a limited monthly allowance, I didn't have enough to buy a fraction of the amount of music I was interested in. So, I had to become resourceful. One of the ways to get a good value on deep discount CD’s at the time was a subscription to Columbia House. You paid the price of one CD but got to select five. The catch was that you were required to buy a handful of CD’s at full price throughout the year. All in all it was a great deal for a teenager who may not have had all of the necessary funds right away. However, right off the bat I was able to snag four or five albums at a great price and figure out a way to get the money for the other CD’s later.
In the meantime, the more resourceful life hack was to go to Sam Goody at the mall and scan music for hours. If you’re not familiar with the practice, Sam Goody was a record store that mostly sold CD’s, t-shirts and posters. The CDs were laid out the same way record stores are and every few sections there would be a pair of headphones sitting on top of a device that scanned the bar codes of any CD you wanted. You could then listen to the first 90-120 seconds of each song on the album. For instance when the album "Cracked Rear View” by Hootie and Blowfish came out, I would make a beeline to Sam Goody and the “H” section so I could listen to the first portion of each song. I would spend hours exploring music. I consumed it all. Sometimes I’d just blindly pick a CD to listen to and see if it hit. At some point I became more and more drawn to classic rock and folk genres. The Beatles, CSNY, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd- basically any band that made music from the 1960’s and 1970’s. I was a little hippy at heart. I thought tie dye shirts were cool and drew peace signs on my notebooks.
One day I found a CD titled Blowin Your Mind. It was by an artist named Van Morrison. I played through the songs and came across “Brown Eyed Girl”. “I love this song”. I thought to myself. So I listened to the album and then went to the next one in line - Moondance. Then Tupelo Honey. The next thing I knew my time at the mall was over and my mom was telling me it was time to leave. On this visit I had been captivated entirely by one musician. (His music clearly has had a strong impact on me as this is not the first time I’ve written about the influence of his songs. See my article on “Days Like This” here).
A day, week, or month later- I was at the public library and made my way to the music section. I started picking through albums and remembered how enchanted I had been by Van Morrison. So I found the “V” section or maybe it was the “M”? Either way I eventually found what I was looking for and felt a slight hit of dopamine and intrigue as I found an album cover with a grainy looking photo of a guy and the title Astral Weeks. I grabbed the jacket and took it to the librarian who brought out the actual disc like a banker presenting me with a gold brick from the back of the vault.
I found my way to a booth and put the small foam headphones over my ears. The flimsy wire bent itself over the top of my head and I hit play. The CD spun to life and the soft sound of a shaker and acoustic beat slowly emerged. The syncopated rhythm of the guitar was different and the staccato notes of the flute were so unique. As the grainy voice of Van Morrison emerged I was enchanted. For seven minutes and six seconds I was gone. I entered another world.
I wanted to know more about the song and so I grabbed the CD sleeve for the lyrics. What was great about the era of Compact Discs was the only real way to know the lyrics of a song was to read along in the sleeve. You felt a deeper connection to the artist and it helped me understand their music more. Why were they singing about love and death or what are they actually singing about?
The lyrics to “Astral Weeks” are as mystical as the rhythm and melody. Mysticism being something of a trend with Morrison, he wrote the song after seeing paintings of astral projections by artist Cecil McCartney. Unfortunately context and history were not provided in the CD sleeve and so at 14 I had no idea what the song was about. I had to guess and over the years the mystery of the tune sort became the allure. All I knew is that it became a staple in the musical canon of my all time favorite songs. It provided a sense of hope and comfort through its beauty. Fast forward. I am in Galway, Ireland and I’ve consumed vast amounts of Irish music from classic pub songs, Celtic folk and of course the most iconic Irish stars U2 and Mr. Morrison.
It is the first day of Spring. A season of change and personally, there are great changes for me that are happening and as I rode into the city “Astral Weeks” was my song of choice.
In the book Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison the singer described the song,
"like transforming energy, or going from one source to another with it being born again like a rebirth. I remember reading about you having to die to be born”.
Turns out it was the perfect song for the first day of spring in Ireland.
As I sit and reflect, my mind goes towards the thing I care about most in the world. Being a father. We all know change is constant and when you're a parent it is fun to see change in your children over time. It's more difficult to see change in yourself regardless of how much we evolve. The difference is typically found in hindsight. With my kids I get to watch them grow into new individuals regularly. The things they say, the questions they ask, the actions they take are surprising and regularly make me proud.
Thinking about these kinds of realizations, reaffirms the importance of doing my best to guide them and teach them about the world. Sometimes that means going out to see the world on my own and then bringing back those lessons and wisdom I gain to share with them.
One thing I want to share with them is that life is about going through different forms of death and rebirth. Whether it's our relationships, careers, habits or our health, we can’t continually be the same person. It’s not sustainable.
The philosopher Heracletus wrote,
“no man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man”
Heracletus was also considered a cosmologist and believed (1) that everything is constantly changing and (2) opposite things are identical, so that (3) everything is and is not at the same time (Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Sounds mystical and I’d be curious if the song Astral Weeks would speak to him the way it does me?
As the song winds down from its lengthy journey, its decrescendo falls into a whisper. Kind of like the voice of winter making its exit and the sentiments of Van Morrison's last refrain welcome in a new season.
“To be born again. In another world, in another time, in another place”...
Who’d have thought I’d be thanking my 14 year old self for introducing a lesson in change that I wouldn’t learn for decades later. I wonder what I’ll learn next and what changes will happen in this new season?
