The Unfortunate Rake

Van Morrison doesn’t have much of a voice anymore. Never really did. There’s a strong possibility that he’s the greatest songwriter of the last fifty years. Yes, I know all about Bob Dylan and Lieber and Stoller and King and Goffin and Bacharach and David and Holland-Dozier-Holland and the Liverpool fellows. Not one of Van’s songs suffered because he was singing them –just the opposite– because he knows how to sing.

You have to be a scholar first. Then you have to set the library you’ve built in your head on fire. Van’s poking the embers right here, doing the best version of St. James Infirmary Blues I’ve ever heard. And yes, I’ve heard of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway and Billie Holiday and Bobby Blue Bland, and King Oliver…