Morrison’s ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ Makes Love in the Grass Again

One widespread complaint about Mercury Records’ recent “The Best of Van Morrison” album was that the retrospective package didn’t include the classic, original version of “Brown Eyed Girl,” the Irish rock singer-songwriter’s brightly sensual 1967 hit.

Not only is that original version on Epic Records’ new “Van Morrison/Bang Masters,” but the 78-minute disc also offers an alternative rendition of the song.

The original “Brown Eyed Girl”--which is reprised in the film “Sleeping With the Enemy”--included the lines, “Making love in the green grass / Behind the stadium, with you.”

Bang Records released that version of the song in 1967 and it became a Top 10 hit, but the company also prepared a second version to avoid any problems with radio programmers who may have thought the cited lines were too racy. The substitute lines: “Laughing and running . . . behind the stadium.” It was that second version that was included in the Mercury album and in a recent Epic Records re-release of Morrison’s “T.B. Sheets,” one of three Morrison albums on Bang.

The new “Bang Masters”--whose songs were recorded for Bang Records between the time Morrison left the group Them and began his solo career on Warner Bros. Records--also contains early versions of “Madame George” and “Beside You.”

Both recordings contain some lyrics Morrison dropped a few months later when he re-recorded the songs for “Astral Weeks,” his first Warners album and one of the most acclaimed works of the modern pop era.

The new CD’s 18 tracks were recorded over a few days in New York and reflect, as Bill Flanagan writes in his excellent liner notes, the struggle of a 21-year-old artist to follow his own, emerging artistic vision and yet satisfy some of his and/or the record company’s commercial ambitions.

“Bang Masters” is one of nearly 100 early albums or retrospectives that are expected to be released this year by Sony under the “Legacy” banner.