Van Morrison at 75: the story behind collaboration of jazz musician David Lyttle and film star Liam Neeson

Liam Neeson provides the gravitas on a new version of the Van’s spoken-word song ‘On Hyndford Street’, an arrangement which allowed acclaimed Co Down musician David Lyttle to tick two boxes off his to-do list.

David, 36, said: “The music of Van Morrison has been with me since my childhood. It’s inescapable. He’s the real deal when it comes to iconic musicians.

“I’ve wanted to work with Liam Neeson for a long time. He’s a big hero and inspiration for people all around the world. I had a good feeling about collaborating with him on this project.”

MOBO nominee David, who is a jazz drummer, producer and composer from Waringstown, was one of 75 artists asked by Hot Press magazine to record a new version of a Van song to mark the performer’s 75th birthday, which he celebrated last week.

At the start of August Hot Press launched ‘Rave On, Van Morrison’ – a YouTube extravaganza to celebrate Van Morrison’s 75th birthday.

Artists taking part include Andrea Corr, Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol, Una Healy of The Saturdays President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins and Hozier.

The tracks are available to watch and listen to on the Hot Press YouTube channel.

David said: “Hot Press have been a big supporter of mine since the start, not far off 15 years ago. The editor asked me to make a contribution. I immediately thought of doing an interpretation of one of Van’s spoken word pieces because I’m an instrumentalist rather than a singer.

“When I first heard Coney Island as an adult I recognised it because it featured in an advert as a child with that famous line, ‘wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?’

“Coney Island is so iconic I didn’t really want to reinterpret that one. On Hyndford Street is a beautiful piece where I felt there was a lot of room to recreate the music.

“I thought Liam would be perfect so I just asked him and he was very quick to get back to me and was excited to do it.”

The Ballymena actor had previously contributed a cover of Coney Island to a Van Morrison tribute album in 1994.

David said: “When Liam said he’d do it naturally I got very excited. We worked on this over a few weeks. We talked about different directions and ideas, Liam’s interpretation is very different from Van’s. It’s a very intense, emotional reading of it.

“It was very much a collaboration, not just Liam reading it and telling me to work away.

“It’s not like a typical music piece, Liam is an actor so he’s thinking of it in that way, maybe more cinematic. The common ground between music and acting is the emotion.

“I changed and adapted to suit the voice. It’s about getting that balance right – you don’t want to get in the way, you want to support but it shouldn’t feel like I’m just making background music.”

Although he is primarily a drummer David’s contribution to the track comes in the form of Fender Rhodes electric piano, organ, cello and bass guitar.

David said that Van’s music reminded him of simpler times: “Our age group might be probably one of the last to understand it – when life was simple, your childhood was made up of memories of things you did, adventures, making the most of what you had, exploring and all that.

“Some more creative young people still do that but the world is much more dominated by technology, it’s a lot more complicated.”

In the original version of On Hyndford Street released in 1991 Van is in his mid-40s looking back at what life was like in his childhood home.

David said: “It was a man looking back on the not too distant past, the memories are still fresh. Our version is more the Van of today looking back.

“It’s a sadder interpretation of it, memories of a time that’s long passed that is deeply missed.”

David said he was privileged to have spent some time in the studio with Van: “I have worked with him, not in his band but he did ask me to come and record some stuff he was working on.

“It was a great experience, just a small group of three or four of us, that was a few years ago. Really good stuff that he never released, he was experimenting with another direction.

“That’s the thing about Van, he might be 75 but he’s always trying stuff out. He’s been doing that since he was a teenager.”

Asked if he thinks Van will listen to all the songs recorded for his birthday, David said: “I believe he has been. That’s what I’ve been told. I think he’s deeply honoured, especially by the massive range in age of the contributors. That shows you the depth of his legacy.

“Van has the mystique and a reputation that precedes him, but ultimately he is a man who has given his life to writing songs and performing songs and is still doing it.”

Like the majority of musicians David’s work has been curtailed due to lockdown: “I’m more of a touring musician than a studio musician. I had easily 40 or 50 gigs all around the world cancelled over a period of a few weeks.”

In the past year alone his touring schedule has taken him to Russia, Finland, Spain, Vietnam, Thailand, Jamaica, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia and Singapore.

He said: “I was supposed to be in South America at the moment. I’m due to make my first performance since lockdown in Poland at the end of the month. All the regulations are changing so quickly so I just have to wait and see.

“Asides from that I’ve managed to keep practising everyday.”