Music According to Benedict – “Sweet Thing” by Van Morrison

We’ve already covered quite a few songs on Benedict’s Top Tunes list from 2012 on Two Paddocks, from The Rolling Stones and David Bowie to Elbow and Claude Debussy (as performed by his friend, pianist James Rhodes). Today, it’s all about  Van Morrison‘s “Sweet Thing” – written in 1968 by the native of Belfast, Northern Ireland, as part of his sophomore album, Astral Weeks. When choosing this classic, Benedict wrote:

“the landscape of sound and lyrics of Sweet Thing and the bitter sweet story of a man unable to give up his love of a woman…

It’s perfection. As a teenager discovering it I yearned for the life experiences that could inspire such music and as a thirty-something I have to hold back the tears as old wounds are made raw again. But what a self indulgent and heavily perfumed way to grieve. Beautiful. For all who have loved and lost.”

While discussing the song with music journalist Ritchie York, Morrison described it as “a romantic love ballad not about anybody in particular, but about a feeling.” With lyrics like this, he sets a wistful and hopeful mood:

“And you shall take me strongly

In your arms again

And I will not remember

That I even felt the pain.”

Here’s a studio-recorded version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wew9xhazl98

It is a beautiful ballad, although perhaps not as well-known as his later works, “Moondance” or “Into the Mystic.” Featured in the 2012 romantic comedy, The Five-Year Engagement,  the song is well worth a listen, no matter if you are yet to experience that intense love that falters, but never quite fades from your heart, or if you look back and recall someone whose one-time love comforts you still.