The Swell Season - Glen Hansard - Astral Weeks Van Morrison

[3vertonian]

He rapes the shit out of that guitar!

[bowedmyhead]

Sorry, to all Glen Hansard fans but this not good. It is a poor imitation of Vans most emotional and personal song. The original is much longer and in the end full of outbursting feelings. Glen Hansard puts to much pressure on it, that doesnt sound true.

[mcstudunne]

@bowedmyhead I don't agree, Glen has been singing this song since he was 14, he always honors Van by singing it, and he does it great justice. He conveys emotion with every note, and has perfected this tune perfectly.

[098sassyfrassy]

Great cover! He's the only one who can do Van the Man justice! ;)

[thefrugalfan]

Guess that's what happens when you have no pick guard! love it, good to know someone else strums the shit out of the their guitar with no regard to the wood.

[LayneGreeneMusic]

2:00-2:14 O_o machine gun?

[inlarob]

Beautiful.... One of the greatest songs from Van Morrison and what a stunning performance. Simply stunning!

[myzticaznfool]

The story behind that guitar is better than half the TV shows/Movies out there these days.

[redwomyn83]

This gets me everytime. Love it!

[ShaneTheBuskerDoonan]

I saw him play it live, he told a really long funny story on how he met Van Morrison and nearly shit his load. Amazing cover!

[blueballsredhair]

@ShaneTheBuskerDoonan That is a great story and is also available on Youtube. He does an interview on Kevin Pollack's show and explains the whole thing.

[jaysonmono]

this is my fifth time watching this through.

[GIRLxxOFxxMUSIC]

NO NO NO..I love glen hansard but not now. I don't see how people can say he sung this as good as Van morrison. NOBODY can sing a van morrison song like van morrison. Vans voice is so powerfull Glen is just screaming and sure it sounds kinda pretty but compared to Van its like nails on a chalk board!

[Pyrofreak321]

@GIRLxxOFxxMUSIC he's clearly just having fun with the song

[darrendog]

should put HQ in the title, so hard to find a decent version of this song on youtube, great vid!

[w1e2r3t4y5u0]

he makes this amazing skill look effortless

[brschhhh]

he has the powerfulest voice ever!

[savethehumans11]

No doubt, great cover, I love it. but to maybe help settle some arguments here, and hopefully prevent more of the same "better than the original" arguments, Van Morrison is one of the greatest songwriters ever. This guy nailing his chords super hard and screaming takes away from it. And, van morrison WROTE THE SONG, so when Glen rocks this song out, which he does to great effect, he's still just doing a cover. the original songwriter should always get the credit.

[theatlantisrise]

@savethehumans11 While I agree 100% here, I don't know if there aren't loopholes to that rule of thumb. Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower is the defining version of Dylan's song, and Peter Paul and Mary did Seeger's Hammer song more justice than he could have ever brought to it. Interesting dilemma...

[ClearCollector01]

:JawDROP: This is so fucking incredible. Glen is and always will be my hero in life!!!

[blueblackberry7]

Oh WOW:)

[connaught2008]

WHAT A FCKIN LEGEND

[bryanpdx]

@lisdoobean

No feeling? you're out of your mind. I saw him do this live last summer and it brought tears to my eyes -- I was laughing and crying at the same time.

[pixieslover]

Definitely very raw and uncontrolled, and a totally different take than the original.

[raincheck04]

i just agree with ianadx, i`m a great Van M. fan ... and he`s all above... but that Glen Hansard stuff is ... really unbelievable great!!! Love it!!!

[emttip]

And And! And

[kawunger]

@emttip And And! fuckin' And??

[uszonyos]

@lisdoobean

no feeling? no tension? youre deaf and/or blind. the problem is in your quality sense.

[Jimmy8806]

@lisdoobean You're full of shit.

[DanielGillismusic]

@lisdoobean

You have John Mayer as one of your favorites, and Glen Hansard is a fake?

[lisdoobean]

@DanielGillismusic aye sure he can't play the guitar.........GROW UP

[DanielGillismusic]

@lisdoobean The point is that John Mayer CAN play the guitar, but he often chooses not musicality, but popularity. Glen's got the music coursing through his veins

[darrendog]

@lisdoobean lisdoobean is a tone dead you know what!

[differencetom]

The most recent Fretboard Journal (the cover is a close up of Glen's guitar) Has a greta interview with Glen and he tells one of the most amazing stories of him at Van's house for Van's birthday....I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that party!

[danny7328]

ok good a nough

ok lol

[kristlkrost]

He's an angel walking amongst us.

<3 How I love his voice .Big fat sigh!

[lepsu0176]

I had forgotten where I first heard this song, but as soon as I heard it, I knew I had to track it down on youtube. Thanks for posting in.

[Goddaughter182]

man i so wish i was there!

[KTxtonguextied]

saw him sing this in Minneapolis December 5th. Thought I was going to die. Great video.

[ayeta78]

the guitar needs to retire!

[MagnoliaPhan]

I love and respect Van Morrison as a song-writer... as I do Bob Dylan... and like Bob Dylan has for years... Van is being commonly outplayed by better vocal talent... Acknowledging the truth in this does not cheapen Van Morrison at all... he obviously was a huge influence on a lot of people (Glen Hansard for one) its just honest... Glen is one of the greatest vocalist alive to day, and to say otherwise is flat out biased ignorance... I'd wager Van himself would tell you fanboys the same...

[thenoseymethod]

@MagnoliaPhan i'd wager Van would likely say "ah it's all been done" (in interview regarding music today)

[MagnoliaPhan]

@thenoseymethod

right.. its all been done... so all thats left to judge is execution... and it takes a fool hearted purist to pretend Van was a better vocalist than Glen...

[thenoseymethod]

@MagnoliaPhan I'm referring to an interview, when Van was asked what music he liked today, his response was "It's all been done" And for calling me a fool i'll quote a line Van used towards an audience "Go fuck yourself"

[kevinmof]

murdered, destoyed, raped and exploited,

i honestly believe anyone who thinks that is a good performance/ rendition of van morrison doesnt know music, i accept critism so if anyone disagrees , please drop me a line

[23rich23]

couldn't agree more sir.

[cmizzletrizzle]

There are so few people in this world who are truely talented, Glen Hansard is one of the few.

[FabianBajorat]

didn't think that this was still available on youtube.

the better it is still there.

I like Glen, but there's no one who can cover Van.

Never ever.

Van is Van and Glen should stay Glen. ;)

[ChicagoBeth1945]

He did it in Chicago on 12/3 - and dedicated it to me! There's a story......

[heyjud313]

heard this live. God this man is the next best thing. hands down

[bryanpdx]

Saw him do this last night in Portland...it was freakin awesome.!!

[Legaleze50]

Thanks for putting it up. And Glen Hansard with Swell Season begins his U.S./Canadian tour TODAY starting in Seattle. They will be in NYC on January 19 at Radio City, accompanied by Josh Ritter.

I think Glen is one of the most enthusiastic and talented performers I've seen. And he's transitional. He can accompany Liam O'Maonlai with a Bob Dylan tune (Hothouse Flowers), he can rock out as he does here, and he can write the music for a movie, play the lead, and then win an AA.

[chrisitneywenney83]

He can never be duplicated/ replicated or copied...He is an will be a legend...

Seattle's show was MIND BLOWING....i highly highly doubt a show like last night will ever come again in my life time...of course when i see them again perhaps...but there's nothing like your first swell season show...It changed me....

Glen is a musical genius. I love his work, his passion, his energy, his heart an soul that goes into every song. He is phenomenal.

[karenlovestosmile]

he's so...brilliant.

[garrethdavis]

legend!

[totter2]

when i saw this it explained why there is a hole in his guitar. i hope mine will be like that someday :D

[AnduIIa]

god, this is so amazing! listening to this makes me euphoric.

[Dylanquinn666]

fucking amazing as usual, the guy laughing ruins it though :(

[Sbdesigngirl]

I laughed too when I saw this live...because it is crazy the talent this guy has...the energy in the room is nearly euphoric!

[SarahEire08]

Went to see the swell season and friends last thursday in dublin!! They sang this! Unbelievable night....best gig i've ever been to!

[candocando]

bloody brilliant

[valeasecass]

hate it, he destroy the song

[ianadx]

There are only two men alive who can sing Van Morrison Songs the way they should be sung. Glen is one them, and the other is Van Morrison.

[kevinfaulkner00]

@ianadx have a look at my covers. id value an intelligent opinion

[arfer]

@ianadx i would add jeff buckley to that.

[cfotoole]

@arfer But he's dead...

[compress]

@arfer My thoughts exactly

[crawltoWALK]

@ianadx and --much to my surprise-- Robert Pattinson!! He does an aMAZing cover of "I'll be Your Lover Too".

He puts his own spin on it AND at times sounds like Van's twin!

I was blown away.

P.S. I wonder what Van thinks of Glen's performances :)

[Noellenc]

I love this song!!!

[kmccarra]

So that's where the hole came from. This was tremendous at the Bataclan. Fuck! I think it may have changed my life a wee bit.

[ryanschmidtmusic]

that strumming something else, i can only do the double strum

[tallie7487]

I LOVE this song. If you wanna know how to play it, search my videos that I've put up and one of them is an explanation of how Glen plays it.

[sheripavelich]

Are you kidding?? they've been touring the states for ages now

[pkinngrinnin]

you should play in the states bro. ppl would pay a lot of money to see that kind of passion!

[womanatwittsend]

They have and people do! I'll attest to that as I've seen them 3 times in the last 2 years. And this from someone who generally doesn't like the concert atmosphere. The Frames and Swell Season though are fantastic and leave you truly feeling euphoric.  They'll be back. Check out their website and you'll get the word when.

[pkinngrinnin]

awesome man!

[manjabe]

genialer cover song

[pureimagination4747]

I just smile all the way through their songs. They're just too amazing. I love them- and The Frames. Another amazing performance by Glen. Amazing.