"Irish Heartbeat" is a popular song that was first recorded on 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 ...
's 1983 album ''
Inarticulate Speech of the Heart
''Inarticulate Speech of the Heart'' is the fourteenth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1983. Morrison said he arrived at the title from a Shavian saying: "that idea of communicating with as little artic ...
''. A remake with
the Chieftains was also included on Morrison's 1988 album, ''
Irish Heartbeat'', and was released as a single with "
Star of the County Down
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"Star of the County Down" is an Irish ballad set near Banbridge in County Down, in Northern Ireland. The words are by Cathal MacGarvey (1866–1927) from Ramelton, County Donegal. MacGarvey's song was first collected in Herbert Hu ...
" as the B-side.
Recording
The first version of the song, "Irish Heartbeat" that appeared on the album ''Inarticulate Speech of the Heart'' was recorded in 1982 at Townhouse in London with Mick Glossop acting as engineer. The version that was recorded with the Chieftains that was included on the album ''Irish Heartbeat'' was recorded at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin in sessions from December 1987 to January 1988 with Brian Masterson as engineer.
Composition
The song evokes images of returning to Ireland and includes the words: "I'm going back / Going back / To my own ones / Back to talk / Talk awhile / With my own ones". Van Morrison was quoted by his biographer, Steven Turner as remarking: "But there's a big part of me that's just strictly involved with the island of Ireland.
Other releases
Irish Heartbeat as a remake with
The Chieftains was included on the 1988 album ''
Irish Heartbeat''. This recording with The Chieftains was included on the 2007 compilation album ''
Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits'' as it appeared on the soundtrack of the movie ''
The Matchmaker
''The Matchmaker'' is a 1954 play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play ''The Merchant of Yonkers''.
History
The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce ''A Day Well Spent'' had been extende ...
''. The original recording has been remastered in 2007 and included on the compilation album, ''
Still on Top - The Greatest Hits''.
Another version was recorded with
Mark Knopfler for the 2015 release ''
Duets: Re-working the Catalogue''.
Covers
*In 1988,
Billy Connolly recorded a live cover of the song "Irish Heartbeat" during a Scottish tour featuring the College of Piping pipe band. After several years this recording featured on his ''
World Tour of Scotland'' series. It is included on the accompanying soundtrack, ''
Musical Tour of Scotland
''Musical Tour of Scotland'' is a collection of traditional and original songs and tunes which accompanied Billy Connolly's 1994 television series ''World Tour of Scotland''. It was released in 1995.
Connolly provides vocals on "The Waltzing F ...
''. The performance was used as the closing theme to the
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Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
series.
*Morrison's daughter
Shana Morrison
Shana Caledonia Morrison (born April 7, 1970) is an Irish-American singer-songwriter and the daughter of Northern Irish singer-songwriter, Van Morrison, and his ex-wife, Janet Rigsbee Minto.
Early life
Morrison grew up in Marin County, Californ ...
performed a duet of "Irish Heartbeat" with
Brian Kennedy on the Van Morrison tribute album ''
No Prima Donna: The Songs of Van Morrison''.
*
The Burns Sisters on their 1995 album, ''Close to Home''
*
Johnny Logan covered the song on his album, ''
The Irish Connection 2
''The Irish Connection 2'' is the fifteenth studio 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 distrib ...
''
Notes
References
*
Turner, Steve (1993). ''
Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now'', Viking Penguin,
*
Heylin, Clinton (2003). ''Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography'', Chicago Review Press,
External links
*
allmusic.comReview Irish Heartbeat
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1983 songs
Irish songs
Van Morrison songs
Songs written by Van Morrison
Song recordings produced by Van Morrison