Jimmy Webb on Van Morrison: "A genius"

Widely considered one of the greatest American songwriters of living memory, Jimmy Webb has penned classics like 'Wichita Lineman', 'Highwayman', 'MacArthur park', 'By The Time I Get To Phoenix', 'Up, Up And Away' and 'Galveston'. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1986 and received the National Academy of Songwriters Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993; the Songwriters Hall Of Fame Johnny Mercer Award in 2003; the ASCAP 'Voice of Music' Award in 2006; and the Ivor Novello Special International Award in 2012.

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My favourite Van Morrison song is 'Into the Mystic' and my favourite album by far is Irish Heartbeat, which he did with Paddy Moloney and the Chieftains.

Irish Heartbeat is a monumental labor of love that reminds me in scope of Ray Charles' Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music, in the sense that it takes material that is loaded with cliché potential and delivers it with a completely new and ingenious approach.

To say that he is a pal of mine, and 'I will never forget the night we got rolling down drunk on St. Stephen's Green' would be to lie in the extreme. I think we met a couple of times in the flesh, but this would be the casual contact that one remembers, and sometimes one forgets.

I know him, however, through his songs and in his delivery of his music. He is like no other – which is a difficult thing to say about someone in this day and age. So I will say it again: he is like no other, in the same way that Randy Newman is like no other.

When I "meet" someone like Van or Warren Zevon, for the most part it's musically – I don't necessarily crave to hang out with them. But I am immersed in the music of every legitimate musical genius I have ever heard.

Dear Van, ye hardly knew me but I know you. And you are a genius.

• An Evening with Jimmy Webb comes to Vicar Street, Dublin on Saturday, June 12, 2021 (8pm).

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The Hot Press 'Rave On, Van Morrison' Special Issue is out now. Pick up your copy in shops now – or order online below:

Our celebrations for Van Morrison's 75th birthday also include a special YouTube event, 'Rave On Van Morrison', with renditions of Van's songs from some of the most iconic names in the country – with upcoming performances from President Michael D. Higgins with Bill Whelan, Hozier, Sinéad O'Connor, Bob Geldof, and Glen Hansard, to name just a few.

You can find all the 'Rave On, Van Morrison' performances on the Hot Press YouTube channel.