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Van Morrison — Brown Eyed Girl
Album: Blowin' Your Mind
Avg rating:
7.9

Your rating:
Total ratings: 898









Released: 1967
Length: 3:00
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Hey, where did we go?
The days when the rains came
Down in the hollow
Playing a new game

Laughing and a-runnin', hey, hey
Skipping and a-jumpin'
In the misty morning fog with
Our hearts a-thumpin' and you

My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl

And whatever happened
To Tuesday and so slow?
Going down the old mine
With a transistor radio

Standing in the sunlight, laughing
Hiding behind a rainbow's wall
Slipping and sliding
All along the waterfall with you

My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing?
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
Just like that
Sha la la la la la la la la la la te da
La te da

So hard to find my way
Now that I'm all on my own
I saw you just the other day
My, you have grown

Cast my memory back there, Lord
Sometimes, I'm overcome thinking about
Making love in the green grass
Behind the stadium with you

My brown eyed girl
You, my brown eyed girl

Do you remember when we used to sing?
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
Sha la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la la la de da
Comments (102)add comment
Just like that!
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Long Live                                                                                                                Radio Paradise
My rating                                                 8 - Most Excellent                           but SADLY weak for me
 mrtuba9 wrote:
 
*bump*


I know it's shameless, but what do you expect from a Health Science grad from the early 90's 
 markybx wrote:
Once as a teenager I actually went down an old mine with a tansistor radio. Guess what? It didn't work, so that lyric has always amused me. Obviously Van never tried it himself. On the other hand I never made love in the green grass behind the stadium with a brown eyed girl unfortunately.

 

                   "Going down to the old mine with a transistor radio" 
                    'TO', the old mine, not 'IN'
                                                                          - Van 

 

 markybx wrote:
Once as a teenager I actually went down an old mine with a tansistor radio. Guess what? It didn't work, so that lyric has always amused me. Obviously Van never tried it himself. On the other hand I never made love in the green grass behind the stadium with a brown eyed girl unfortunately.

 
Just the opposite for me. I never went down an old mine with a transistor radio, but there was a warm summer evening near the KU stadium many moons ago...  ;-)

Once as a teenager I actually went down an old mine with a tansistor radio. Guess what? It didn't work, so that lyric has always amused me. Obviously Van never tried it himself. On the other hand I never made love in the green grass behind the stadium with a brown eyed girl unfortunately.

Donna Shalala
A staple at cash bar weddings 
 davesbuster wrote:
They were making love in the tall grass tonight, behind the stadium.  I guess Bill switched to the best version.  Only thing is, the artist is Van Morrison, not Them.  This is from his first solo album, after he left Them and before Astral Weeks.

 
Your point?
They were making love in the tall grass tonight, behind the stadium.  I guess Bill switched to the best version.  Only thing is, the artist is Van Morrison, not Them.  This is from his first solo album, after he left Them and before Astral Weeks.
 Pezz9 wrote:
A rare and vintage artist 


 

 pinem wrote:
Should be from 1966, and for some reason I can't stand this song, and subsequently anything else done by him.

 

I don't care how 'overplayed' that song is, it will always be a turn-it-up-and-sing-along-in-the-cubicle song for me.
 marty88210 wrote:
It is really so sad that the moth flew too close to the candle.....like so many other great artists and musicians of our genre'.

 
Uuuhhhh what?  The man is still alive.  
Should be from 1966, and for some reason I can't stand this song, and subsequently anything else done by him.
One of my favorite artists and I had the pleasure to see him at the AWH in Austin back in the 70's. Thank goodness I can remember that night!
It is really so sad that the moth flew too close to the candle.....like so many other great artists and musicians of our genre'.

Seems to me that I do remember when I grew bored, disenchanted and disillusioned with VM. Right around when this "Best of" was released.

Pity, but there we are.


cheap college bars have beaten this song into the ground for me. Sad, because it is sooo good.
 leafmold wrote:
OH! Censored! Can't you play the original!
 
Sorry about that. Fixed finally.
Bill, you're playing the Top 40 version! 
Instead of "making love in the green grass behind the stadium with you it's "laughing and a running, skipping and a jumping..."
Play the "adult" version.
I seem to recall emailing you with this suggestion before. 
 
 Dave_K wrote:


why would they censor 'making love in the green grass'?
 
It's a crime, I tell ya!  Fix it, Bill!!!
OH! Censored! Can't you play the original!
 SinisterDexter wrote:Crap, this is the Clear Channel-edited version. {#Headache}

Dave_Mack wrote:

Yah, that's sooooo wrong. I remember when I got T.B. Sheets on CD and it had that edited version. I was stunned, stunned I tell you!

 

why would they censor 'making love in the green grass'?
Gotta say, I'm a bit tired of this one.  And it is a classic.....
Simply put, this is my ideal of song... 
simple, nice, good, catchy, nicely played...
{#Drummer} 
 kingart wrote:
Brown Eyed Girl couldn't t have been released in 1964, as it says here. It has no 1964 sound for one thing. Van the Man hadn't even yet cut Gloria with Them. No, Bill, 1974 is the year; it was on a collection of current early 1970s hits and classics I had on 8-track in my car in 1974. 
 
No Way it was released in 74!  I was in junior high when this song first came out and that was back in the 60's!  In fact, I think this was the first song that Van Morrison had success with.  It was recorded in '67 and I was 15 and in grade 11.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_Eyed_Girl

 SinisterDexter wrote:
Crap, this is the Clear Channel-edited version. {#Headache}
 
Yah, that's sooooo wrong. I remember when I got T.B. Sheets on CD and it had that edited version. I was stunned, stunned I tell you!

Brown Eyed Girl couldn't t have been released in 1964, as it says here. It has no 1964 sound for one thing. Van the Man hadn't even yet cut Gloria with Them. No, Bill, 1974 is the year; it was on a collection of current early 1970s hits and classics I had on 8-track in my car in 1974. 
Crap, this is the Clear Channel-edited version. {#Headache}
Happy daze!!
 peacockangel wrote:
wow ~ Jesus into Van ~ how could you not think of me lol
 
Bill did it again today—from "April Skies" to "Brown Eyed Girl"—not the smoothest segue to my ears. Both great songs though. 
 ColoBacon wrote:
Have used this song for years in youth ministry.  Many people seem surprised given the usual version play on the radio has to do with making love behind the stadium.

Bill, thank you for playing "laughing and a'running" version - Radio Paradise happens to be church this morning!!!

 
Gee when I was church youth group advisor, I wouldn't have hesitated to play the uncensored version.  I believe in giving teenagers a lot of credit for understanding what growing up means and I don't believe dumbing things down for them helps.  Besides, I take an expansive view of what "making love" means.  Then again on movie nights, we watched Dogma and la Cage aux Folles, among others.


Have used this song for years in youth ministry.  Many people seem surprised given the usual version play on the radio has to do with making love behind the stadium.

Bill, thank you for playing "laughing and a'running" version - Radio Paradise happens to be church this morning!!!

 tom-kenna wrote:
What male hasn't had a crush on a brown eyed girl. This song has universal appeal.
{#Heartkiss}
Also love the guitar riff.

 

It's a pretty high likelihood, considering that something like 65% of the human females on the planet have some shade of brown eyes.  So, yes, it can have universal appeal.
I remember there was more going on than just a-skippin' and a-jumpin' behind the stadium!
 peacockangel wrote:
wow ~ Jesus into Van ~ how could you not think of me lol
 
 

do you remember when ...

wow ~ Jesus into Van ~ how could you not think of me lol
Rated lower only because it's the censored version.  No need for such a "prudish" version in the 21st century.  Otherwise, the original uncensored version is a great song.
Did not know there was a censored version. I've never heard censored on terrestrial radio before either.

Lame.

Get the original. It ain't hard to find.
It seems like every country I visited in Europe was playing this song. I don't know why, but they were. lol Good memories!!!!
old time fav of mine
 Dillinquent wrote:
Not more Van bloody Moribund!
{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}
 
amen to that!
Van the man! {#Clap}
Could be this song gets played a lot because it's a GREAT song!  Hard for me to get too much Van!

Like other RP listeners, I tune in to hear songs I don't hear on broadcast stations; however, I don't mind the occasional playing of a rock standard like this one.
Used to like this, but it suffers from serious overplaying.   Way back in freshman year of high school, this was a great song, but by the time I was junior, I was sick of it.  That was 20 years ago, and since then the 1000's of times I've heard it over and over and over again haven't improved it.  These days, I pretty much just endure it   Continuously playing this is not doing the song any favors..... I'd like this a lot more if I heard it only once a year or so

Funny, I don't remember hearing a censored version before. Wow, how stupid!
Not more Van bloody Moribund!
{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}{#Puke}

Jimmy Buffett almost took the roof off the Air Canada Centre in Toronto last night with this tune.

Our tix were comps or we wouldn't have been there.  Gotta say, though —- great band, great show, and the audience reaction is all this jaded RP listener needs to know about the enduring popularity of both Jimmy Buffett and this tune.



Bill - can we stop playing this one... for like 1000 years.  I love the song but it doesn't need to be heard again to be heard...
Not gonna rate this one.  Great song, terribly overplayed.
 keller1 wrote:
I'm sure this used to be a great song ...

Speaking personally after having played this probably a thousand times in probably ten different bar bands, I get kind of Tourette like tics whenever I hear it now.  Same with Mustang Sally and Born To Be Wild.
 

I agree, I used to like this song for the first 25,000 times that I heard it. 
 jagdriver wrote:


Well, Born To Be Wild I fully understand.......
 
Thanks for the support ...

 jagdriver wrote:

  Ed Sullivan insists the Rolling Stones sing Let's Spend Some Time Together....

 
James Laid video: "She only sings when she's on top."

What male hasn't had a crush on a brown eyed girl. This song has universal appeal.
{#Heartkiss}
Also love the guitar riff.

 David_Murray wrote:
Interesting that RP would decide to play the PC version of this song, vs the original that contains the lyrics,"  Making love in the green grass, behind the stadium:"   Guess it is just part of living in a PC world.....
 

If Bill did indeed get this song from the Greatest Hits CD, he would have gotten the 'cleaned up version'. For some reason whomever put that package together didn't bother looking for the original. Sad really, since there are multiple takes of "Brown Eyed Girl" readily available on Bang records compilations, soundtracks and elsewhere.
 lmic wrote:

Great post. Censorship is so lame.

 
  Ed Sullivan insists the Rolling Stones sing Let's Spend Some Time Together....

 keller1 wrote:
I'm sure this used to be a great song ...

Speaking personally after having played this probably a thousand times in probably ten different bar bands, I get kind of Tourette like tics whenever I hear it now.  Same with Mustang Sally and Born To Be Wild.

 

Well, Born To Be Wild I fully understand.......
 bjrubble wrote:
Is there any way to substitute the real version of the song for this bowdlerized version?  Apart from being turned off by the very reminder of 50s-era "morality" (heaven forfend that our racist, sexist, jingoistic culture be threatened by a love song that mentions sex!) the substitution is really noticeable on a purely technical level — there's a very distinct shift in tone when the switchover happens.

Other than that, I like the song.

 
Great post. Censorship is so lame.

I'm sure this used to be a great song ...

Speaking personally after having played this probably a thousand times in probably ten different bar bands, I get kind of Tourette like tics whenever I hear it now.  Same with Mustang Sally and Born To Be Wild.


FLASHBACK ALERT!!!!!!    Reminds me of KTSA-AM radio out of San Antonio Texas....I think Hemisfare '68 was going on that summer and my family and I piled into our '67 Plymouth Fury II for an epic road trip to see what all the hoop-la was about in San Antone.  Van Morrison and "Brown Eyed Girl" musta played on that scratchy radio 100 times on the way up there and 100 times on the way back.  I still love that song...because it's THAT good and so are the memories that come flooding back whenever I hear it! 
Plus, I had a crush on a brown eyed girl at the time...Hi, Lisa {#Wave}how-ya-doin'?

8—>9
 bjrubble wrote:
Is there any way to substitute the real version of the song for this bowdlerized version?  Apart from being turned off by the very reminder of 50s-era "morality" (heaven forfend that our racist, sexist, jingoistic culture be threatened by a love song that mentions sex!) the substitution is really noticeable on a purely technical level — there's a very distinct shift in tone when the switchover happens.

Other than that, I like the song.

 
Like s/he said: by all means, lets have the real original - it's sooo much better!  Sweet bird of youth!  {#Good-vibes}

Is there any way to substitute the real version of the song for this bowdlerized version?  Apart from being turned off by the very reminder of 50s-era "morality" (heaven forfend that our racist, sexist, jingoistic culture be threatened by a love song that mentions sex!) the substitution is really noticeable on a purely technical level — there's a very distinct shift in tone when the switchover happens.

Other than that, I like the song.

 David_Murray wrote:
Interesting that RP would decide to play the PC version of this song, vs the original that contains the lyrics,"  Making love in the green grass, behind the stadium:"   Guess it is just part of living in a PC world.....
 

Yeah, sheesh. Like "making love" is too racy or something?
Interesting that RP would decide to play the PC version of this song, vs the original that contains the lyrics,"  Making love in the green grass, behind the stadium:"   Guess it is just part of living in a PC world.....
Would like it better if it weren't the default song for wooing every brown eyed girl.
                   {#Sunny}
{#Sunny}The pure joy of living!{#Sunny}

                   {#Sunny}
 jlind wrote:

It's played so often because its a modern classic. There are quite a few other Van Morrison songs in the rotation as well.
 
    Forever driving around in the convertible Mustang in the mid-'60s.....
 GChevy410 wrote:


I think your mom just wanted to make you feel good.
 
Didn't know mothers did that.

Didn't used to mind this song so much back in the very distant past when I'd only heard it several hundred times.

while i like it, it gets played too much - going down for that reason - 7
jbtidwell wrote:
Some stations banned it anyway for the line, "Making love in the green grass."
Just today, listening to a rip of the RP stream, I noticed the substitution! I dunno, none of the stations I listened to when this song was on the charts ever censored it, 'cos that's what I remembered. I must say, I am irked to find this "Wal-Mart" version on RP!
andy_pomus wrote:
Yeah! That's how it makes me feel too! My mama used to sing this to me when I was a little girl.
I don't care if there are at least 30 recorded covers of the tune, it's still worth playing: A New Found Glory Barenaked Ladies Blind Willie Bruce Springsteen - Live with Van Busted Del Amitri El Chicano Everclear Howie Day Indigo Girls Jimmy Buffett John Valby Kapena Karaoke Lagwagon - Live Vans Warp Tour 97 Lagwagon MIDI brown eyed girl.mid Moxy Fruvous Pennywise Reel Big Fish Rockapella2 Rockapella Steel Pulse-or-Shaggy Steinar Albrigtsen Stobiemas Them Tonic SolFa Ultimix Remix UNC Clef Hangers Van Morrison acoustic Voice Male Weezer
Let it rest.
Ugh!
Marc_Farre wrote:
RP: what happened to: "making love in the grass behind the stadium"? this is the safe-for-the-fifties: "singin' and a dancin' hey hey behind the stadium" version!
This was originally called "Brown Skinned Girl," and was about an interracial relationship. Morrison changed it to "Brown Eyed Girl" to make it more palatable for radio stations. Some stations banned it anyway for the line, "Making love in the green grass." from: https://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2359
The best song ever by Van
This reminds me of underage drinking, and a certain public house in Cambridge...oh happy days
RP: what happened to: "making love in the grass behind the stadium"? this is the safe-for-the-fifties: "singin' and a dancin' hey hey behind the stadium" version!
leahnichole wrote:
I love this song, my mom said I was born while it was playing. I have brown eyes!
I think your mom just wanted to make you feel good.
biologenius wrote:
Love this song, but c'mon, why this overplayed-til-death song, when there are plenty of great underplayed VM songs. Doesn't belong on RP. In replacement, I vote for "glad tidings" from moondance album.
It's played so often because its a modern classic. There are quite a few other Van Morrison songs in the rotation as well.
biologenius wrote:
Love this song, but c'mon, why this overplayed-til-death song, when there are plenty of great underplayed VM songs. Doesn't belong on RP. In replacement, I vote for "glad tidings" from moondance album.
I think there is room for both, and Bill if there isn't then I will buy you another hard drive to plug into your system. I love this song, and it was great timing.
Zep wrote:
Is there anything below mono?
Yes - there's "nono".
Guilty pleasure! I'm a brown eyed girl, can't help myself :)
Love this song, but c'mon, why this overplayed-til-death song, when there are plenty of great underplayed VM songs. Doesn't belong on RP. In replacement, I vote for "glad tidings" from moondance album.
Brown eyed girl, ha ha, get it.
This is one of those songs that just make you want to get up, dance and be happy. Perfect in almost every way.
liser wrote:
Like it, but it's played to death still. Rather hear "Tupelo Honey"...
Agreed...How about "Madam George"
KenShow wrote:
RP is paying a mono (not stereo) audio stream on this song FWIW.
Is there anything below mono?
RP is paying a mono (not stereo) audio stream on this song FWIW.
leahnichole wrote:
I love this song, my mom said I was born while it was playing. I have brown eyes!
Heh, my dad claims he sang "Baby's Got Blue Eyes" to me while I was in utero. I have blue (okay, slightly blue-grey) eyes!
FeydBaron wrote:
Ooh, the pundits are going to have a field day with this one...
You mean the pundits who are going to say, '"Bill, oh Bill, why are you playing the expurgated version??" I know the correct version wasn't originally available on CD, but it is now, right, right, right??'
FeydBaron wrote:
Ooh, the pundits are going to have a field day with this one...
I'll just chime in and say, just because a song gets airplay on standard "classic rock" formula radio stations, that doesn't invalidate the song for play on Radio Paradise.
Ooh, the pundits are going to have a field day with this one...
hell yeah! everytime i see my niece she makes me play this for her!
Like it, but it's played to death still. Rather hear "Tupelo Honey"...
I love this song, my mom said I was born while it was playing. I have brown eyes!