Listen to the Lion
| "Listen to the Lion" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Van Morrison | |
| from the album Saint Dominic's Preview | |
| Released | July 1972 |
| Recorded | Spring/Summer 1971, Columbia Studios, San Francisco |
| Genre | Folk rock, R&B |
| Length | 11:08 |
| Label | Warner Bros. Records |
| Songwriter(s) | Van Morrison |
| Producer(s) | Ted Templeman, Van Morrison |
| Saint Dominic's Preview track listing | |
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"Listen to the Lion" is a song featured on Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison's sixth album, Saint Dominic's Preview (1972). Its poetic musings and "bass-led shuffle" lead back to Astral Weeks territory.
"Listen to the Lion" was first recorded during the sessions for Morrison's third solo album Moondance in 1969 but not used. The longer eleven-minute version that is featured on Saint Dominic's Preview was recorded during the 1971 sessions at the Columbia Studios in San Francisco and intended for the album Tupelo Honey.
Morrison plays guitar along with Ronnie Montrose. Connie Kay (drums on Astral Weeks) and Gary Mallaber (percussion and vibraphone on Moondance) are also featured players on this song. Mallaber revealed that during this session "There were two different takes. I did one and Connie did the other. They used the one with the live vibes, which is what I played live." Morrison, Montrose and Boots Houston perform the back-up vocals. According to Ritchie Yorke, "Van used his voice so superbly in this track that it seemed to become part of the instrumentation... Van's schooling in the art of R&B repetition was never adapted so perfectly."
"Listen to the Lion" has been said to rank amongst Morrison's greatest work. "During the 11-minute voyage, he sings, shouts, improvises lines, delays and omits them, until he symbolically re-creates the sound of an unleashed lion within himself. It remains a considerable achievement." (Johnny Rogan)
"Listen to the Lion" was one of the 1001 Songs written about in the 2006 book by critic Toby Creswell who says in part: "Listen to the Lion has almost no words, just the phrase 'Listen to the Lion inside of me'...He sings the phrases like an incantation, sometimes desperate and longing for love and at other times boasting of the power of his passion; and then at other times he sings in despair that these emotions have brought him nothing but ruin. He doesn't need to speak, there's nothing more to be said..."
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Wikipedia