"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and 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 ...

. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967 for Bang Records owner and producer Bert Berns, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It featured

the Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, C ...

singing back-up vocals and is considered to be Van Morrison's

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

Recording and title

After finishing his contract with

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American Decca's president. ...

and the mid-1966 break-up of his band,

Them Them or THEM, a third-person plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fiction by Wels ...

, Morrison returned to Belfast seeking a new recording company. When he received a phone call from Bert Berns, owner of Bang Records, who had produced a number of recordings with Them, he flew to New York City and hastily signed a contract (which biographer Clinton Heylin says probably still gives him sleepless nights). During a two-day recording session starting 28 March 1967, he recorded eight songs intended to be used as four singles. The recording session took place at A & R Studios and "Brown Eyed Girl" was captured on the 22nd take on the first day. Of the musicians Berns had assembled, there were three guitarists –

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. ''Early life and career'' Born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Gale grew up in a diverse household. His paternal grandfather was from Yorks ...

, Hugh McCracken, and Al Gorgoni – plus bassist Russ Savakus, organist Garry Sherman and drummer Gary Chester.Heylin, ''Can You Feel the Silence?''. p. 150 It was released as a single in mid-June 1967. Originally titled "Brown-Skinned Girl", Morrison changed it to "Brown Eyed Girl" when he recorded it. Morrison remarked on the title change: "That was just a mistake. It was a kind of Jamaican song. Calypso. It just slipped my mind

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mech ...

I changed the title."Collis, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart. p81. "After we'd recorded it, I looked at the tape box and didn't even notice that I'd changed the title. I looked at the box where I'd lain it down with my guitar and it said 'Brown Eyed Girl' on the tape box. It's just one of those things that happen."

Composition

The song's nostalgic lyrics about a former love were considered too suggestive at the time to be played on many

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

. A radio-edit of the song was released which removed the lyrics "making love in the green grass", replacing them with "laughin' and a-runnin', hey hey" from a previous verse. This edited version appears on some copies of the compilation album '' The Best of Van Morrison''. However, the remastered album seems to have the bowdlerised lyrics in the packaging but the original "racy" lyrics on the disc. Lyrically, it "shows early hints of the idealized pastoral landscapes that would flow through his songs through the decades, a tendency that links him to the Romantic poets, whom Morrison has cited as an influence".

Aftermath

Because of a contract he signed with Bang Records without legal advice, Morrison states that he has never received any royalties for writing or recording this song. The contract made him liable for virtually all recording expenses incurred for all of his Bang Records recordings before royalties would be paid, and after those expenses were recouped, the revenue would become the "subject of some highly creative accounting". Morrison vented frustration about this unjust contract in his sarcastic nonsense song "The Big Royalty Check". Morrison has stated that "Brown Eyed Girl" is not among his favourite songs, remarking "it's not one of my best. I mean I've got about 300 songs that I think are better". To capitalise on the success of the single, producer Berns assembled the album ''

Blowin' Your Mind! ''Blowin' Your Mind!'' is the debut studio album by Northern Irish musician Van Morrison, released in 1967. It was recorded 28–29 March 1967 and contained his first solo pop hit " Brown Eyed Girl". It was included by '' Rolling Stone'' as on ...

'' without Morrison's input or knowledge. Released in September 1967, the album contained the single as its lead-off track as well as songs recorded by Morrison at the March recording sessions for Berns. The album peaked at No. 182 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Legacy

Morrison's original recording of "Brown Eyed Girl" has remained widely familiar, as the uncensored version of the song is regularly played by many "

oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as wel ...

" and "

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

" radio stations. In 2011, "Brown Eyed Girl" was honoured for having 10 million US radio air plays; it was one of only ten songs registered with BMI to have received that number of radio plays. As of 2015, "Brown Eyed Girl" remains the most downloaded and most played song of the entire 1960s decade. As of 2020, the song remains one of the longest-surviving songs from the 1960s in recurrent rotation in an era when the music of that decade has become increasingly rare as oldies stations have transitioned to 1970s and 1980s

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...

Paul Williams Paul Williams may refer to: Authors * Paul O. Williams (1935–2009), American science-fiction author and poet * Paul L. Williams (author) (born 1944), FBI consultant, journalist * Paul Williams (journalist) (1948–2013), American founder of mu ...

included "Brown Eyed Girl" in his book ''Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles'', writing that:

I was going to say this is a song about sex, and it is, and a song about youth and growing up, and memory, and it's also—very much and very wonderfully—a song about singing.

This song proved to be the impetus for Morrison's career. It was his first single after leaving his position as lead singer for the

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

-formed

and led to his relocation to the United States and an eventual

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to ...

with Warner Bros. Records, where he recorded his career-defining

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, '' Astral Weeks''.

Critical acclaim and influence

In a contemporaneous review, '' Billboard'' described the single as an "exciting debut" and a "groovy piece of original rock material that should fast establish orrisonas a top disk seller and writer". '' Cash Box'' said that "scores of deejays and consumers should dig this hard, thumping lid." In his 1989 book ''The Heart of Rock and Soul, The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever'', Dave Marsh rated "Brown Eyed Girl" No. 386. In 1999, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) listed it as one of the Top 100 Songs of the Century. In 2000, it was listed at No. 21 on the ''Rolling Stone''/MTV list of 100 Greatest Pop Songs and as No. 49 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Commun ...

's list of the 100 Greatest Rock Songs. In 2001, it was ranked No. 131 as one of the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

s Songs of the Century, a list of the top 365 songs of the 20th century chosen with historical significance in mind. In 2010, "Brown Eyed Girl" was ranked No. 110 on the ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' magazine list of

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

. It was listed as No. 79 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled by

WXPN WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format show ...

from listeners' votes. In January 2007, "Brown Eyed Girl" was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. It is ranked as the 205th greatest song of all time, as well as the 11th best song of 1967, by

Acclaimed Music Acclaimed Music is a website created by Henrik Franzon, a statistician from Stockholm, Sweden in September 2001. Franzon has statistically aggregated hundreds of published lists that rank songs and albums into aggregated rankings by year, dec ...

. It is also one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Charts & certifications

Charts

Certifications

Personnel

The musicians include: *

– lead vocals and backing vocals *

– lead guitar * Hugh McCracken – rhythm guitar * Al Gorgoni – acoustic guitar * Garry Sherman – organ * Russ Savakus – bass * Gary Chester – drums *

The Sweet Inspirations The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group mostly known for their work as backup singers on studio recordings for other R&B and rock artists. A founding member of the group was Dionne Warwick, who was later replaced by her aunt, C ...

– backing vocals

El Chicano version

El Chicano remade "Brown Eyed Girl" for their 1972 album ''Celebration''. Kapp Records had invited music journalist Don Buday to produce the album, being impressed by Buday's writings on El Chicano: Buday had the group remake "Brown Eyed Girl" and also the

Cream Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...

hit "

I Feel Free "I Feel Free" is a song first recorded by the British rock band Cream. The lyrics were written by Pete Brown, with the music by Jack Bruce. The song showcases the band's musical diversity, effectively combining blues rock with psychedelic p ...

" "

o try O, or o, is the fifteenth letter and the fourth vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''o'' (pronounced ), plu ...

to give l Chicanomore of a rock-and-roll identity". Journeyman recording engineer Val Garay, who had his first engineering assignment producing ''Celebration'', would recall that "Don got this brilliant idea of emaking'Brown Eyed Girl'...kind of like the 'Mexican Everly Brothers". Released as the album's lead single, "Brown Eyed Girl" peaked at No. 45 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Chicanismo Chicanismo is the ideology behind the Chicano Movement. It is an ideology based on a number of important factors that helped shape a social uprising in order to fight for the liberties of Mexican Americans. Chicanismo was shaped by a number of i ...

scholar Dionne Espinoza opined that the El Chicano version of "Brown Eyed Girl" turned the song into "an affirmation of the beauty of brown

skinned Skinning is the act of skin removal. The process is done by humans to animals, mainly as a means to prepare the meat beneath for cooking and consumption, or to harvest the skin for making fur clothing or tanning it to make leather. The ...

women".

Iain Matthews version

British singer/songwriter Iain Matthews remade "Brown Eyed Girl" for his 1976 album ''Go for Broke'' from which it was issued as the lead single, becoming a hit in the Netherlands (No. 22) and in New Zealand (No. 25).

Other versions

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

hit (No. 13) for

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffe ...

as recorded for his '' One Particular Harbour'' album (1983), "Brown Eyed Girl" was a 1984 C&W hit for Joe Stampley (No. 29). "Brown Eyed Girl" has been performed by a wide variety of other artists, including

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...

, John Anderson, the Black Sorrows, Busted, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ellert Driessen ( nl), Everclear,

Caroline Jones Caroline Jones (born June 30, 1990) is an American country music singer, songwriter and radio host. Jones has released a number of albums, the most successful one being ''Bare Feet''. Her most recent album, ''Antipodes'', was released on Novemb ...

, Roberto Jordán (as "La Chica De Los Ojos Cafés" _Spanish),

Bertie Higgins Elbert Joseph "Bertie" Higgins (born December 8, 1944) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1982, Higgins had a top 40 album with ''Just Another Day in Paradise''. It spawned the hit song " Key Largo", which referenced the Humphrey Bogart and ...

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career s ...

, Brian Kennedy,

Lagwagon Lagwagon is an American punk rock band originally from Goleta, California, just outside Santa Barbara. They formed in 1989, went on hiatus in 2000, and reunited several times over the years. Their name comes from the band's tour van, which ca ...

, Glen Medeiros,

Reel Big Fish Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold-certified album '' Turn the Radio Off''. Soon ...

, Johnny Rivers, Shooting Gallery,

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

and U2.

In popular culture

* The song has been featured in several popular films, including the 1983 film '' The Big Chill'', the 1989 film '' Born on the Fourth of July'', and the 1991 film '' Sleeping with the Enemy'', starring

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and th ...

. *

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

when he was

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...

, listed the song as one of his eight ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (us ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

on 20 April 2003.

Fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashi ...

Betty Jackson Betty Jackson, (born 24 June 1949) is an English fashion designer based in London, England. She was born in Lancashire. In 2007, her success in British fashion was recognised with first an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1987 and later wi ...

also included the song on her list on 28 April 2002, as did British actor, comedian and singer Hugh Laurie on 23 June 2013. * In April 2005, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

announced that "Brown Eyed Girl" gets regular rotation on George W. Bush's

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

. Morrison announced before a university performance in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

: "Yeah, it's good to hear things like that, you know. But I would have preferred if it was a new song." * In March 2009, former US president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (Birth name, né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 ...

picked "Brown Eyed Girl" as top pick on his list of favourite ten tunes included on his signed iPod donated for a charity auction for musical victims of Hurricane Katrina. * The song was played at the end of the funeral for comedian Rik Mayall in June 2014. * The song is featured as a playable track in the 2015 video game '' Rock Band 4''. * In Graeme Simsion's 2017 novel '' The Best of Adam Sharp'', Adam is playing "Brown Eyed Girl" when he first meets Angelina, and it is the song he plays over the phone when they reconnect 22 years later.

References

Bibliography

* Collis, John (1996). ''Inarticulate Speech of the Heart'', Little Brown and Company, * * Hage, Erik (2009). ''The Words and Music of Van Morrison'', Praeger Publishers, * Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press * Rogan, Johnny (2006). '' Van Morrison: No Surrender'', London:Vintage Books * Turner, Steve (1993). '' Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now'', Viking Penguin, * Williams, Paul (1993). ''Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles'', Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., * Yorke, Ritchie (1975). ''Into The Music'', London:Charisma Books, {{authority control 1967 songs 1967 debut singles 1984 singles Van Morrison songs Iain Matthews songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Everclear (band) songs Jimmy Buffett songs Joe Stampley songs Songs written by Van Morrison Song recordings produced by Bert Berns Bang Records singles London Records singles Columbia Records singles Songs about nostalgia