{"id":702562,"date":"2026-06-13T23:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/702562\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T23:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T23:36:09","slug":"the-1967-hit-song-that-the-world-still-loves-but-van-morrison-cant-stand-singing-anymore-and-we-dont-blame-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/702562\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1967 Hit Song That the World Still Loves, but Van Morrison Can\u2019t Stand Singing Anymore (And We Don\u2019t Blame Him)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since Van Morrison released \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d in March 1967<\/a>, the song has appeared in countless sing-alongs, cover sets, and weddings. From the uplifting romance of the lyrics to the earworm \u201csha-la-la\u201d hook, \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d was an instant classic, bolstered by American audiences\u2019 desire for upbeat, whimsical, and love-oriented music during the iconic Summer of Love.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, an artist\u2019s favorite song from their catalog isn\u2019t always the public\u2019s favorite, and this is especially true of the song that would help define Morrison\u2019s career. And with each passing year, the Irish singer-songwriter felt farther and farther removed from the song.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Sun in 2024<\/a>, Morrison lamented, \u201cHow can a 79-year-old guy sing about something he wrote when he was 20? It\u2019s basically a teenage song. I can\u2019t relate to it much now, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

There Might Be Another Reason Van Morrison Doesn\u2019t Like Singing \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d<\/p>\n

The benefits \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d offered to Van Morrison\u2019s career<\/a> are undeniable. Some people who would have never known him otherwise do so simply because of that track. Still, that doesn\u2019t mean Morrison had particularly fond feelings toward the song. In fact, he likely thought of \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d as a reminder of shoddy business deals he made when he was young, not the notoriety it granted him.<\/p>\n

A young Morrison signed a contract with Bang Records ahead of his session for \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d. The stipulations were anything but accommodating to an artist, but Morrison was hungry for some kind of deal. So, he took what he could get, even if it wasn\u2019t a great deal.<\/p>\n

Per Can You Feel The Silence?: Van Morrison, A New Biography<\/a>, the singer-songwriter\u2019s contract stated that Morrison was responsible for covering all recording costs, from musicians\u2019 salaries to studio time to the tape he recorded on. Morrison also didn\u2019t get ownership of the masters, which meant he was effectively paying for everything, and Bang Records would reap virtually all the rewards.<\/p>\n

All of them, of course, except for the household notoriety Morrison earned from \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d. The shows he performs as a senior musician\u2014again, a byproduct of the fame this song and others earned him\u2014still include \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d in the set list. But he makes sure to point out to his listeners that he\u2019s never been paid royalties for what became one of his biggest all-time hits.<\/p>\n

Photo by PoPsie Randolph\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since Van Morrison released \u201cBrown-Eyed Girl\u201d in March 1967, the song has appeared in countless sing-alongs, cover…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,17172,190353],"class_list":["post-702562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-pop-music","tag-van-morrison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}