“Cyprus Avenue is a pretty real place. If you’re ever over in Belfast, I’ll take you to see it. It’s not a jive place, it’s a real place, with definite people and it’s true. It’s not a famous street, not a commercial street, far from it. It’s near where I grew up.”Van Morrison (517)

“It’s got several meanings. When I was growing up in Belfast I used to listen to Radio Luxembourg and the Voice of America, which broadcast from Germany. “I heard the voice of America/Callin’ on my wavelength/Singin’, Come back baby,/Come back, come back.” Those line are about returning to Europe and getting back to my roots, because being brought up in Europe is completely different to being brought up in America – so that’s what that’s about.”Van Morrison (518)

“And that song ‘Wavelength’ is not about America, actually. It’s about the Voice of America, which I listened to as a kid. So it’s actually about Europe, because that’s where the station was. It came out of Frankfurt, and the first time I ever heard Ray Charles was on the Voice of America. [So the song wasn’t about FM radio? – Ed] No, it’s not about America, it’s about Europe, and we tried to get a tape recording of the Voice of America to put on the front of that track, but it didn’t work out. I didn’t get it by the time the album was due to be mixed. But I think it would have made it a lot clearer if the signature thing was on the front of it. It doesn’t click for a lot of people.”Van Morrison (716)

“[I can’t recall that you’ve ever written a song about being a musician. There are a lot of musicians who write about their career, and I always think they must have a really dull life if that’s the only thing they can write about – Ed]. ‘Hard Nose The Highway’ is about that.”Van Morrison (717)

“[Isn’t ‘St Dominic’s Preview’ about that, with ‘the record company paying for the wine’? – Ed] It kind of touches on it, but just slightly. That’s more about all the Party People who hang out and make the scene, doing their number on you.”Van Morrison (717)

“That was about ME, man. It was about what I was going through. Change, change…”Van Morrison (716)

“[What is the meaning of the title of your latest record, ‘No Guru, No Method, No Teacher’? – Ed] Well – it’s actually in one of the songs. Where there’s a song on the album called ‘In the Garden’ where I actually take you through the meditation program. From about half way through the song until the end. But I take you through a DEFINITE meditation process. Which is a form of transcendental meditation. Its not TM. So forget about that. That takes you right from the middle to the end. What you should have, if you listen to the thing carefully, you should have gotten yourself some sort of tranquillity by the time you get to the end. So when this happens in the song, I say, “And I turn to you and I said, ‘No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. Just you and I and nature, and the Father and the Son, and the Holy Ghost'”. So really – you have to do the whole line to know what it means. And we were going put the rest [the whole line] on the album. But we realized that would be too long. But that’s the whole thing. “No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. Just you and I and nature, and the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost”. Its the whole thing in a nutshell. Its much longer than THAT. So that’s what it is saying. And on another level what its says is that, due to what popular opinion says and all this sort of stuff, its been implied that I – you know, this guy and that guy and the other organization was my guru, when I don’t have, you know when this is saying, well I mean, you know, that’s all speculative, and its not real. So you know this is a statement. You know you could call this a press statement. Also a press release. You – its making it quite clear that I’m not affiliated with anyone or organization. I don’t have a guru. I don’t have any teacher. And there’s no method that I subscribe to. And that’s really what its saying as well. So that’s what it’s saying in the song.”Van Morrison (718)

“Well, it’s all about healing, isn’t it? Art, literature… that goes way back. It comes back to this question: what’s your original face? Know what I mean? Who are you really? There’s so many different kinds of healing but, if you are in alignment with yourself, then that in itself is going to be healing. If you’re trying to be something other, like something superficial, trying to be someone you’re not, then that would take you away from your true centre. Really, if you’re asking about those songs and those albums, then it’s about getting back to the true centre within yourself. That healing thing. It was nothing new. Music has always been about healing, hasn’t it? I was just doing my own thing on that.”Van Morrison (719)

“Those Carry On movies, they’re making something of a comeback. They’ve been on TV a lot lately. So I thought of tipping the hat to those films in a song. I grew up with all that stuff. Sid James? He was a genius if you consider not just his Carry On work but also everything he did with Hancock. The song is also a diatribe about some of my experience of dealing with people in the tabloid media and the music business. It’s talking about the incredible amount of stuff I have to wade through just to get a record out. So that song is mostly tongue in cheek, having a bit of fun. But it’s also an excuse to get a bit of venom out.”Van Morrison (719)

“That’s not about me. That’s about a certain era – the Beat poets, North Beach. I met Lawrence Ferlinghetti way back. I met Chet Baker much later in London. But it started with an idea. I was in this house in Tiburon, and this guy was showing me around. He was talking about this woman: “She likes to listen to your music and look out the window, and nobody can touch her.” I go, “This is a fucking song.” I didn’t start writing it until last year. But that had to be a song: She sits up here in the Bay and no one can touch her. It couldn’t be anything else.”Van Morrison (858)

“‘Too many myths/People just assuming things that aren’t true/There’s too many myths/Coming between me and you.’ Somebody said to me, “Why are you saying that? You’ve got everything. You’re at the top. I’m like, “You’re not listening to the song” – ‘There’s too many myths/Can’t you see I’m just trying to stay in the game?’ That’s the reality of it. You get tired of the myths, so you don’t want to stay in the game. People don’t see that. They see you’re successful. You’re “sir” this and “sir” that, and everything’s great. That’s the lie. When you’re famous, you see the lies.”Van Morrison (858)