And It Stoned Me

"And It Stoned Me" was recorded in summer 1969 at Warner Publishing Studio in New York City.Heylin. Can You Feel the Silence?, p. 519

As Morrison biographer Ritchie Yorke described it, the song remembered "how it was when you were a kid and just got stoned from nature and you didn't need anything else".Hinton. Celtic Crossroads, p.106 Morrison, in 1985, related the song to a quasi-mystical experience he had as a child:

I suppose I was about 12 years old. We used to go to a place called Ballystockart to fish. We stopped in the village on the way up to this place and I went to this little stone house, and there was an old man there with dark weather-beaten skin, and we asked him if he had any water. He gave us some water which he said he'd got from the stream. We drank some and everything seemed to stop for me. Time stood still. For five minutes everything was really quiet and I was in this 'other dimension'. That's what the song is about.Turner, Too Late To Stop Now, p. 102

Music critic Johnny Rogan describes "And It Stoned Me" as "a wonderfully understated remembrance" of that experience, with "no pat moralizing or sentimentality."{{cite book |title=Van Morrison: No Surrender |author=Rogan, Johnny |year=2006 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=9780099431831 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BGaqpDx31s4C&dq=Van+Morrison:+No+Surrender+stoned&pg=PA250}}

During this song Morrison sings: "...Stoned me just like Jelly Roll. And it stoned me."

That lyric is thought to be a reference to jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton, whose recordings Morrison listened to with his father as he was growing up.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=song|id=t2741271|pure_url=yes}}|title=Song review: And It Stoned Me|publisher=allmusic.com|accessdate=2009-04-08}}

The song has been covered by Jackie DeShannon,{{cite web|url=http://www.deaddisc.com/songs/And_It_Stoned_Me.htm|publisher=deaddisc.com|title=Grateful Dead Family discography:And It Stoned Me|accessdate=2009-09-11}} Bob Dylan (with Van Morrison),{{cite web|url=http://www.discollective.com/music/Reviews:Track_id_2757516 |title=Bob Dylan-And It Stoned Me-Song Reviews |publisher=discollective.com |accessdate=2009-10-23 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090520071229/http://discollective.com/music/Reviews%3ATrack_id_2757516 |archivedate=2009-05-20 }} Zero, Jerry Garcia, James Morrison,{{cite web|url=http://www.countrystandardtime.com/d/concertreview.asp?xid=182|title=Concert Review-James Morrison|publisher=countrystandardtime.com|accessdate=2009-10-07}} Widespread Panic,{{cite news|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299340,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006101805/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,299340,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 6, 2008|title=Cypress Hill III|publisher=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=2009-10-07|date=1995-11-03}} Gov't Mule,{{cite web|url=http://www.glidemagazine.com/hiddentrack/cover-wars-and-it-stoned-me-edition/|title=HIdden Tracks-Cover Wars:And It Stoned Me Edition|date=28 October 2008 |publisher=glidemagazine.com|accessdate=2009-11-03}} David Gray, The Allman Brothers Band,{{cite web|url=http://www.hittinthenote.com/cart2/p-639-allman-brothers-bandbrwanee-festivalbrfriday-4-13-07.aspx |publisher=hittinthenote.com |title=Allman Brothers Band Live Concert CDs |accessdate=2009-10-07 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017095112/http://www.hittinthenote.com/cart2/p-639-allman-brothers-bandbrwanee-festivalbrfriday-4-13-07.aspx |archivedate=17 October 2009 |url-status=usurped }} John Mayer, Passenger, and Joe Higgs.

The original recording of the song was re-released on The Best of Van Morrison and Still on Top - The Greatest Hits.

"And It Stoned Me" is performed by Morrison on the 1980 segment of his 2006 2-disc DVD, Live at Montreux 1980/1974.

{{div col}}

• Van Morrison – vocals, guitar
• John Klingberg – bass guitar
• Jef Labes – piano
• Gary Mallaber – drums
• John Platania – guitar
• Jack Schroer – alto saxophone
• Collin Tilton – tenor saxophone

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist}}

• Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence?, Chicago Review Press {{ISBN|1-55652-542-7}}
• Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, {{ISBN|1-86074-169-X}}
• Turner, Steve (1993) Van Morrison: Too Late to Stop Now, Viking Penguin {{ISBN|0-670-85147-7}}

• [{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t101722|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic Review: And It Stoned Me]

{{Van Morrison singles}}

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Category:1969 songs

Category:Van Morrison songs

Category:Songs written by Van Morrison

Category:Song recordings produced by Lewis Merenstein

Category:Song recordings produced by Van Morrison