''A Sense of Wonder'' is the fifteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

released in 1985. On first release, original pressings had to be recalled when the

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

estate refused to allow Morrison's musical version of the poem "Crazy Jane on God" to be included, as they believed his poems should only be set to classical music. Morrison substituted "If You Only Knew" for the Yeats' recording. (Later, perhaps due to Morrison's efforts, Yeats poems would be put to rock settings on a whole album). The 29 January 2008 reissued and remastered version of the album contains alternate takes of "Crazy Jane on God" and "A Sense of Wonder".

Track listing

All songs written by

unless stated otherwise.

Side one

# "

Tore Down a la Rimbaud "Tore Down a la Rimbaud" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1985 album, ''A Sense of Wonder''. Composition The title and theme of the song derives from French poet Arthur Rimbaud who became fam ...

" – 4:09 # "Ancient of Days" – 3:37 # "Evening Meditation" – 4:13 # "The Master's Eyes" – 4:01 # "What Would I Do" (

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

) – 5:10

Side two

# "A Sense of Wonder" – 7:09 # "Boffyflow and Spike" – 3:06 # "If You Only Knew" (

Mose Allison Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano. After moving to N ...

) – 2:56 # "Let the Slave (Incorporating the Price of Experience)" (

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

Adrian Mitchell Adrian Mitchell FRSL (24 October 1932 – 20 December 2008) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. A former journalist, he became a noted figure on the British Left. For almost half a century he was the foremost poet of the country's Cam ...

Mike Westbrook Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook. Early work Mike Westbrook was born in Hig ...

) – 5:26 # "A New Kind of Man" – 3:21

Bonus tracks (2008 CD reissue)

# "Crazy Jane on God" – 3:50 (Alternate take) ( William Mathieu, Morrison, William Butler Yeats) # "A Sense of Wonder" – 6:06 (Alternate take)

Personnel

Musicians

*Van Morrison – guitar, piano, vocals *John Allair –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

*Bob Doll – trumpet *Tom Donlinger – drums * Pee Wee Ellis –

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

* David Hayes – Bass guitar *Pauline Lazano – backing vocals *

Chris Michie Chris Michie (January 12, 1948 – March 27, 2003) was an American guitarist and composer and best known for his work with Van Morrison. Chris Michie was born in Ithaca, New York in 1948 and moved to Madison, Wisconsin, when he was a teenager. He ...

– guitar * Bianca Thornton – backing vocals *

Moving Hearts Moving Hearts is an Irish Celtic rock band formed in 1981. They followed in the footsteps of Horslips in combining Irish traditional music with rock and roll, and also added elements of jazz to their sound.Harris, Craig''Moving Hearts'' AllMusic ...

– group, performer on "A Sense of Wonder" and "Boffyflow and Spike"

Production

*Producer and director: Van Morrison *Mixing: Jim Stern and Mick Glossop *Project coordination: John Walter *Sleeve design and art direction: Andrew Plewett *Cover art: Torchlight, London *Photography: Paul Cox *Horn arrangements: Pee Wee Ellis

Charts

Notes

References

* Hinton, Brian (1997). ''Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison'', Sanctuary, {{DEFAULTSORT:Sense Of Wonder, A Van Morrison albums 1985 albums Albums produced by Van Morrison Mercury Records albums Polydor Records albums