"Goin' Down Geneva" is a song written 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 ...

and is the opening track on his 1999 album, '' Back on Top''.

Recording and composition

The song was recorded in 1998 at the Wool Hall Studios,

Beckington Beckington is a village and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, across the River Frome from Lullington about three miles north of Frome. According to the 2011 census the parish, which includes the hamlet of Rudge, which ...

. The song is

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

influenced and is set in European cities (

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, Salzburg and

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approximat ...

) instead of the American South as typical for

songs. The line "Last night I played a gig in Salzburg outside in the pouring rain/Flew from there to Montreux and my heart was filled with pain" refers to Morrison's European tour in 1998. He had recently played at

Wiesen, Austria Wiesen (; hr, Bizmet, Bizma, hu, Rétfalu) is a town in the district of Mattersburg in the Austrian state of Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the east ...

, near Salzburg on 4 July, and two days later he performed "Goin' Down Geneva" live for the first time at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. The performances, 1998 The lyrics of the song allude to British singer

Vince Taylor Vince Taylor (14 July 1939 – 28 August 1991), born Brian Maurice Holden, was an English rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in ...

, prominent in the 1960s, who lived and died in Geneva: "Vince Taylor used to live here/No one's even heard of him/Just who he was/Just where he fits in." Contrary to the lyrics biographer

Brian Hinton Brian Hinton, MBE (born 21 September 1950) is an English poet and musicologist. In June 2006 he was honoured in H. M. the Queen's Birthday Honours List with an MBE for services to the Arts. Education Born in Southampton, Hinton studied Englis ...

argues that Taylor was, in fact, widely known. He comments that "David Bowie's ' Ziggy Stardust' was based on him,

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

covered his near-hit 'Brand New Cadillac', and he recently appeared (2000) as one of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

s 100 essential cult heroes."Hinton. ''Celtic Crossroads'', p.356 Morrison's concert performances of the song usually include a section of Taylor's "

Brand New Cadillac "Brand New Cadillac" (also recorded as "Cadillac") is a 1959 song by Vince Taylor, and was originally released as a B-side. Featured musicians on the released recording were: Joe Moretti (guitars), Lou Brian (piano), Brian Locking (bass) and Br ...

", starting off as a slow

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

for the "Goin' Down Geneva" section and the pace immediately quickens for "Brand New Cadillac". In late 1999 and 2000 the medley also included

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

's " Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35".

Critical response

James Chrispell's

allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review of ''Back on Top'' praises the song, calling it "a great blues cut". Sean Elder believes Morrison sings the song "as a straight blues in the style of one of Morrison's heroes,

Bobby 'Blue' Bland Robert Calvin Bland (born Robert Calvin Brooks; January 27, 1930 – June 23, 2013), known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed Gospel music, gospel with the blues and Rhyt ...

Personnel

– vocals,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

Mick Green Michael Robert Green (22 February 1944 – 11 January 2010) was an English rock and roll guitarist who played with The Pirates (with and without Johnny Kidd), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers. Biograp ...

– acoustic and electric guitars *

Geraint Watkins Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins (born 5 February 1951) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Ro ...

– piano *Ian Jennings – double bass *Bobby Irwin – drums

Notes

References

* Hinton, Brian (2000). ''Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison'', Sanctuary, * Heylin, Clinton (2003), ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', London: Viking, {{authority control 1999 songs Van Morrison songs Songs written by Van Morrison Song recordings produced by Van Morrison