The Influence Of Sam Cooke On Van Morrison.

A couple of years ago I wrote a piece on here about the influence of Hank Williams on Van Morrison. Tonight, I thought I’d write about another great American singer who has been very influential on Van and his music, and that is Sam Cooke. What has prompted me to do this now is because last week in Nottingham I was unable to remember the name of the Sam Cooke song Laughin’ and Clownin’ when Van sang it. That is inexcusable because not only is it included on Van’s The Prophet Speaks album, but he also performed it at the previous Van concert I attended. It must be my age, anyway I hope this makes amends. Laughin’ and Clownin’ is a song Sam wrote for his 1963 album Night Beat. Sam was especially important in inspiring Van to become a singer in the first place. As Van told journalist Dylan Jones in 2023, “I never had any ambition to be a singer at all. It worked out for me because I practiced. I worked at it, stretching my voice, influenced by the vocal gymnastics of Sam Cooke”.

The first time I heard Van sing a Sam Cooke song was right back in the early seventies when Bring It On Home To Me was included on It’s Too Late To Stop Now which I rate as possibly the greatest live album ever recorded, and that version of Sam’s song is one of the standout tracks. (Listen to video below) Van revisited it on the Roll With The Punches album in 2017 featuring Jeff Beck on guitar, but I much prefer the earlier version.  Another great live album is 1994’s A Night In San Francisco which features two Sam Cooke compositions You Send Me and That’s Where Its At, both as part of medleys. 

You Send Me which features the splendid vocals of Brian Kennedy is teamed up with In The Garden and Real Real Gone. The lyrics of Real Real Gone state, ‘Sam Cooke is on the radio and the night is filled with space, And your fingertips touch my face, You're a friend of mine, And I'm real, real gone’. Not only that, But Van also says, ‘I got hit by a bow and arrow’. I like to think that this is a reference to Sam’s fabulous song Cupid which says, ‘Cupid, draw back your bow, And let your arrow go, Straight to my lover's heart for me’. That’s Where It’s At is featured in a medley with So Quiet In Here. Some Van fans might be unaware of another nice version of That’s Where It’s At which Van recorded in 1994 with The Holmes Brothers at Pete Gabriel’s Real World Studio and released on an album called A Week Or Two In The Real World.  You Send Me can also be heard along with Real Real Gone on Van’s quite recent Live At Orangefield album. It also gets a mention in the title track of 2016s excellent Keep Me Singing album, ‘Little things that count in life, Just to know my people got soul, Sam Cooke singing 'That's Where It's At', And 'Let The Good Times Roll'. I was surprised recently to find out that Van has performed the Sam Cooke classic Twisting The Night Away in concert. You can hear him performing it at Groningen, Netherlands in 1992 on youtube if you want. 

I can’t think of any other Sam songs that Van has recorded on official albums, but I’m sure that his lyric writing has been influenced by Sam. For instance, Sam recorded a song in 1961 called Exactly Like You on an album called My Kind Of Blues. Sam didn’t write it, but I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if it inspired Van to write Someone Like You. On that very same album Sam sang a song called Out In The Cold Again. Van recorded a song with exactly the same title in 2016. Coincidence? Sam also had a hit in 1963 with his version of Little Richard’s Send Me Some Loving. I am sure it was an influence on Van when he was writing Vanlose Stairway. I better stop now before I start scraping the barrel for more Sam and Van connections, but I bet there are lots more Cookeisms hidden away in Van's songs. Let me know what I have missed. 

I think it was an absolute tragedy when Sam Cooke was needlessly shot dead in 1964 at the age of only 33. A great loss not only to music, but to all of society. As Van might say, the best was yet to come. With powerful songs like A Change Is Gonna Come and covering songs like Dylan’s Blowing In The Wind he could have become one of the leading lights of the Civil Rights movement and a force for good in the world. In 2016 the Northern Ireland radio broadcaster Ralph McLean asked Van, “What is the magic of Sam Cooke?”, and Van replied, “Well, he’s still inspiring and he’s still an influence and have you found anything better? I haven’t, do you know what I mean. I haven’t found anything better yet, or with that kind of edge”.