Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl

From the saturation-level airplay this song got on oldies radio stations throughout the '80s and '90s (on par with "Respect"), you'd think this might have been one of the biggest chart hits of all time. But it peaked at #10 in 1967, showing that immediate popularity and endurance are two different things.

There are two versions: a stereo version, which I assume is the LP version, and a mono version with altered lyrics, which I assume is the 45 version. If that's not correct, please let me know and post correct info below. (Edit: Not quite right; see posts below.)

Stereo, original "making love in the green grass" lyric at 2:20

The oldest disc I have with this version is JCI's Mellow Sixties (1988), where it runs 3:06. I think it's from vinyl here; I hear a few ticks and pops on the fade, over what seems to be turntable rumble. The same analog transfer is used on:

• Time-Life's Classic Rock Vol. 10 1967 The Beat Goes On (1988) - the fade is hastened slightly to mask artifacts on the fade
• Time-Life's Superhits Vol. 14 The Late '60s (1992) - left/right channels swapped, and shortens fade by about 6 beats; avoid
• Time-Life's AM Gold Vol. 14 The Late '60s (1992) - is identical to Superhits, so also has left/right channels swapped, and shortens fade by about 6 beats; avoid

I have an infinitely cleaner version on my copy of Mercury's Van Morrison collection Best Of (1990). The database and Discogs both say that this disc has the "laughin' and runnin" lyric, and the database says that it's mono, but my copy has the "making love" lyric and is in stereo. Not sure what to make of that. I have my own CD rip, but I no longer have the actual CD and can't supply matrix number info. Here are the actual track lengths from my copy of Best Of:

01. Bright Side Of The Road    [0:03:45.67]
02. Gloria    [0:02:38.28]
03. Moondance    [0:04:32.47]
04. Baby Please Don't Go    [0:02:42.70]
05. Have I Told You Lately    [0:04:20.05]
06. Brown Eyed Girl    [0:03:05.03]
07. Sweet Thing    [0:04:23.07]
08. Warm Love    [0:03:23.20]
09. Wonderful Remark    [0:04:00.65]
10. Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)    [0:02:57.55]
11. Full Force Gale    [0:03:14.65]
12. And It Stoned Me    [0:04:31.58]
13. Here Comes The Night    [0:02:46.30]
14. Domino    [0:03:08.72]
15. Did Ye Get Healed    [0:04:07.30]
16. Wild Night    [0:03:32.50]
17. Cleaning Windows    [0:04:42.65]
18. Whenever God Shines His Light    [0:04:54.33]
19. Queen Of The Slipstream    [0:04:53.62]
20. Dweller On The Threshold    [0:04:47.73]

It sounds so clean here that I'd venture that this is a remix. Can't confirm, though. The only CDs in the database that say "remix" are Epic Associated/Legacy's CD rerelease of Blowin' Your Mind. (Edit: This seems to be the original mix; it just sounds so much better than the JCI mix that it's hard to tell that it's even the same mix.)

The following CDs are all differently-EQ'd digital clones of my copy of Best Of:

• Sony's 2-CD Thirty-Five Years Of Rock And Roll (1992)
• Realm's multi-disc Greatest Hits Of The '60s Vol. 1 (1995)
• Time-Life's Gold And Platinum Vol. 1 1964-1970 (1997)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 6 The 1960s (2000)
• Time-Life's Singers And Songwriters Vol. 31 Classics (2001)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Singers And Songwriters Vol. 22 The Folk Years Simple Song Of Freedom (2002)
• Realm's multi-CD Summertime Party Pack (2002)
• Legacy's 2-CD Essential (2015)

And one outlier: Legacy's promo Rock Artifacts 27 Cut Preview (1993), which is a different take that runs about 3:27.

Mono, altered "laughin' and runnin'" lyric at 2:20

The database shows this version as being on Best Of (Mercury 841970), where it runs 3:02, excluding outro silence. It's relatively uncommon on CD, compared to the stereo version. I don't have this version on CD, unfortunately, so I can't comment on it.

Edited by crapfromthepast

So the stereo version with original lyrics was on the original LP (a safe assumption), was on at least some of the commercial 45s (confirmed by Hykker), and was probably on at least some of the promo 45s?

Does anyone have a commercial 45 with the mono/altered lyrics version?

Likewise, does anyone have a promo 45 with the stereo/original lyrics version or the mono/altered lyrics version?

There's not much concrete documentation out there regarding where/when the mono/altered lyrics version showed up.

Good to know. My copy of Best Of was the original 1990 release, purchased around 1993.

Vic Anesini does great work. If the original mix sounds as good as it does, I can only imagine how good Vic's remix must sound!

Edited by crapfromthepast

My copy of B-545 also has the 'Makin' love in the green
grass' lyrics. I've always just assumed that some 45s
have the altered lyrics, but I must admit that I don't
have any concrete proof.

Paul C wrote: My copy of B-545 also has the 'Makin' love in the green grass' lyrics. I've always just assumed that some 45s have the altered lyrics, but I must admit that I don't have any concrete proof.

According to a couple people on YouTube who have posted
the commercial 45, both of which have the "making love"
lyric, the version with the censored lyrics was only
serviced to radio and was not commercially issued.

Edited by Brian W.