Bulbs (song)

1974 single by Van Morrison

"Bulbs"

Single by Van Morrison
from the album  Veedon Fleece
B-side|

* "Cul de Sac" (US)
* "Who Was That Masked Man" (UK)

Released| November 1974
Recorded| March 1974, Mercury Studios, New York City, United States
Genre|

* Folk rock
* soul[1]

Length| 4:19
Label| Warner Bros.
Songwriter(s)| Van Morrison
Producer(s)| Van Morrison
Van Morrison singles chronology
| "Ain't Nothing You Can Do"
(1974)  | "Bulbs"
(1974)  | "Caldonia"
(1974)

|
|

Official audio
"Bulbs" on YouTube

"Bulbs" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the only single to be taken from his 1974 album Veedon Fleece, with a B-side of "Cul de Sac" for the US release and "Who Was That Masked Man" for the UK release.[2][3]

## Recording and composition

[edit]

"Bulbs" was first recorded, with different lyrics, at the recording session for the 1973 album, Hard Nose the Highway, released in 1973.[4] After the first recording session for Veedon Fleece', "Bulbs" was re-cut at Mercury Studios in New York City in March 1974, along with "Cul de Sac", to give it a more rock feeling. According to Jef Labes this was "cause he (Morrison) didn't feel they had the right feeling... It was me, Van and a bunch of other guys that he'd never played with."[5] Bass player Joe Macho had previously played on the 1966 Bobby Hebb hit song "Sunny".[6]

"Bulbs" has been described as "a pleasant, catchy country ditty, a Dire Straits song before its time" by biographer John Collis.[7] As with many of Morrison's songs, "Bulbs" does not have a clear story line, but in part focuses on immigration to the United States as in the lines:

She's leaving Pan American
Suitcase in her hand
I said her brothers and her sisters
Are all on Atlantic sand

## Critical reception

[edit]

Record World called it "Something like a performance from his Astral Weeks days with a graft of pedal steel" and said that "Van benefits from a renewed power surge."[8]

In an interview with Morrison, Tom Donahue said, after he had listened to "Bulbs": "You always make great noises. The other things you do in songs beside the words."[9]

In a Stylus Magazine review for the album Veedon Fleece, Derek Miller says of the song:[10]

> "Of course, the best and most immediately memorable song on Veedon Fleece is "Bulbs". Coming about as close to laying down a groove as he does on the album, the song quickly makes dust of its acoustic start, leaping headstrong into a Waylon Jennings' style bass-roll, rump heavy and plush, pianos shimmering and fingerdense."

Morrison performed the song on the German television show Musikladen on 13 November 1974.[11]

## Title

[edit]

"Bulbs" – Intro

26 seconds of "Bulbs"

* * *

Problems playing this file? See media help.

The title might come from the lines:

And her batteries are corroded
And her hundred watt bulb just blew
or the repeated chorus:
.. she's standing in the shadows
Where the street lights all turn blue

## Personnel

[edit]

* Van Morrison – vocals, acoustic guitar
* John Tropea – electric guitar
* Jef Labes – piano
* Joe Macho – bass
* Allan Schwartzberg – drums

## Other releases

[edit]

A live performance of this song is featured on the 1974 disc of Morrison's 2006 issued DVD, Live at Montreux 1980/1974. Morrison used a stripped-down band on this Montreaux Jazz Festival appearance consisting of:

* Van Morrison – vocals, guitar
* Pete Wingfield – piano, background vocals
* Jerome Rimson – bass, background vocals
* Dallas Taylor – drums

## Covers

[edit]

* Australian blues and root band The Revelators covered the song on their 2000 album, The Adventures of The Amazing Revelators.
* Ellis Hooks performed a cover version of "Bulbs" on the 2003 released tribute album, Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison.[12]
* "Bulbs" was covered by Jason Boland & the Stragglers on their 2018 album "Hard Times Are Relative."[13]

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Segretto, Mike (2022). "1974". 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Minute - A Critical Trip Through the Rock LP Era, 1955–1999. Backbeat. pp. 301–302\. ISBN 9781493064601.
2. ^ "Van Morrison – Bulbs" – via www.45cat.com.
3. ^ "Van Morrison – Bulbs" – via www.45cat.com.
4. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence? p. 521
5. ^ Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence? p. 284
6. ^ "Soul Hits from NYC". soul60scodified.wordpress.com.
7. ^ Collis, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, pp. 140–141
8. ^ "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. 28 September 1974. p. 12. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
9. ^ Hinton, Celtic Crossroads, p. 179
10. ^ "Van Morrison – Veedon Fleece". stylusmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 3 August 2008.
11. ^ Van Morrison - Bulbs on YouTube
12. ^ Hal Horowitz (5 August 2003). "Vanthology: A Tribute to Van Morrison – Van Morrison | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
13. ^ Stegall, Tim. "Jason Boland & the Stragglers: Hard Times Are Relative Album Review". The Austin Chronicle.

## References

[edit]

* Collis, John (1996). Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, Little Brown and Company, ISBN 0-306-80811-0
* Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
* Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074-169-X

* v
* t
* e

Van Morrison singles

Discography

1960s|

* "Brown Eyed Girl"
* "Ro Ro Rosey"
* "Spanish Rose"

1970s|

* "Come Running"
* "Crazy Love"
* "Domino"
* "Blue Money"
* "Call Me Up in Dreamland"
* "Wild Night"
* "Tupelo Honey"
* "(Straight to Your Heart) Like a Cannonball"
* "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)"
* "Redwood Tree"
* "Gypsy"
* "Warm Love"
* "Bein' Green"
* "Bulbs"
* "Caldonia"
* "Gloria"
* "The Eternal Kansas City"
* "Moondance"
* "Wavelength"
* "Bright Side of the Road"
* "Full Force Gale"

1980s|

* "You Make Me Feel So Free"
* "Cleaning Windows"
* "Scandinavia"
* "Summertime in England"
* "Dweller on the Threshold"
* "Tore Down a la Rimbaud"
* "Ivory Tower"
* "Did Ye Get Healed?"
* "Someone like You"
* "Queen of the Slipstream
* "I'll Tell Me Ma
* "Have I Told You Lately"
* "Whenever God Shines His Light"
* "Orangefield"

1990s|

* "Coney Island"
* "Gloria"
* "Real Real Gone"
* "Enlightenment"
* "I Can't Stop Loving You"
* "Why Must I Always Explain?"
* "Gloria"
* "Have I Told You Lately"
* "Days Like This"
* "Perfect Fit"
* "That's Life"
* "The Healing Game"
* "Rough God Goes Riding"
* "Precious Time"
* "Back on Top"

2000s|

* "Hey Mr. DJ"

Other songs|

* "Wonderful Remark"

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work

|

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