Ancient Of Days: Van Morrison And William Blake

My  job before I gave up on work was working in a book warehouse. The money was no good but one of the benefits was that I got to read lots of nice books, also I could buy the damaged ones. A few years ago for only £1.00 I got a copy of 'Songs Of Innocence and Of Experience' by William Blake. Its a beautiful little book. The pages are an exact facsimile of Blake's original engravings of 1794. It inspired me to write a little piece on Blake's influence on Van Morrison because as you know Van's albums are strewn with references to Blake.
Let's look at some similarities between the two. Firstly, they were both visionaries. At the age of eight Blake saw a tree filled with angels on Peckham Rye,their bright wings bespangling every bough like stars. Van experienced similar visions as a child in Belfast. Ordinary streets would become diamond studded highways. As Van's music developed into a spiritual journey, he was trying to find out the reason for the childlike visions that he experienced. He wasn't the only musician to have these visions.Bob Dylan and Patti Smith both reported similar things during their early life. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg claimed that Blake used to speak to him as a child. It was maybe reading the Beat writers like Jack Kerouac and Ginsberg that led Van to Blake. When Van discovered the work of Blake he had found a kindred spirit. Both knew there was only a thin veil between the 'real' world to across the bridge to where angels dwell. Both Blake and Van were voracious readers and both were influenced by the Christian mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg although Van may have discovered Swedenborg via Blake. The pair of them are also nature lovers with their lyrics celebrating the pastoral English scene with shepherds and sheep on the hillsides in abundance. Both Van and Blake were obsessed with mysticism and were both mavericks in their field. As hard as it is to fit Blake into any school of art history it is equally hard to fit Van into any genre of music. Van first mentions Blake on the Veedon Fleece album on the track You Don't Pull No Punches But You Don't Push The River.

'Blake and the Eternals, oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah
William Blake and the Eternals oh standin' with the Sisters of Mercy
Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah'.
During this period Van was embarking on a period of heavy reading and self education which is another similarity with Blake in that they were both largely self taught although Blake had been apprenticed to an engraver. Both displayed amazing maturity at a young age as well. Blake first exhibited his paintings at the Royal Acadamy at the age of 23, a similar age to Morrison when he released Astral Weeks in 1968. So who were the Eternals who Van refers to in the lyrics? They can be found in Blakes work Urizen

'Of the primeval priests assum'd power,
When Eternals spurn'd back his religion;
And gave him a place in the north,
Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary.
Eternals I hear your call gladly,
Dictate swift winged words, & fear not
To unfold your dark visions of torment.

The Eternals, also called the Immortals, are the four-fold men who inhabit Eternity and make up the body of Christ, the Eternal Great Humanity. After Veedon Fleece Van disappeared off the scene for about 3 years but he wasn't idle, he was studying all sorts of subjects and in subsequent albums there are dozens of name dropping literary references. Blake makes his return on 1980's Common One album in the epic song Summertime In England.
Did you ever hear about . . .
William Blake,TS Eliot
In the summer
In the countryside
They were smokin'
Summertime in England.
In the same song Van mentions Jesus walking down by Avalon and again this is very Blakean and is probably inspired by Blake's 'Jerusalem', and did those feet in ancient times etc. If any album could be described as Van's Blake album I suppose it might be Sense Of Wonder. One of the tracks takes its title from a Blake painting Ancient Of Days. The song Let The Slave incorporates The Price Of Experience by Blake and where Van sings, 'Everything that lives is holy' is a direct quote of Blake. The song A New Kind Of Man also I believe is the title of a book about Blake but I haven't read it. Blake is name checked again on the Avalon Sunset album on the track When Will I Ever Learn To Live In God.

The sun was setting over Avalon
The last time we stood in the west
Suffering long time angels enraptured by Blake
Burn out the dross innocence captured again
This is a wonderful song and a particular favourite of mine as it reminds me of my own experiences of Glastonbury and the surrounding area. The whole album is very Blakean with its romantic pastoral setting. Blake reappears on Golden Autumn Day on Van's Back On Top album.
Who would think this could happen in a city like this
Among Blakes green and pleasant hills,
And we must remember as we go through September
Among these dark satanic mills.

This time though its a much darker scene as Van relates being the victim of an attempted mugging probably in the city of Bath. You don't need name-checks though to see the influence of William on Van. On the track Checkin' It Out on Wavelength Van tells us that there are spirits and guides along the way who will help us. A lot of people would raise an eyebrow to this but William Blake wouldn't that's for sure. The sad thing for me is that around the mid 90's Van seemed to lose the angel of imagination that was his muse and his interest in mysticism and spirituality generally and his work had suffered as a result. Recently though he has started referring to guardian angels again in his live performances so maybe his interest in spiritual matters has returned. I hope so.