Hard graft the highway

Interview with Marty Whelan - RTE Van Morrison has said that, contrary to what he may have said in the past, his music does not come through him, but is the result of 'hard graft.'

Speaking in an interview with Marty Whelan on RTÉ lyric fm's Marty in the Morning, the Belfast singer said: "You can't wait on divine inspiration because it might never happen, it's just like any job, you have to make it happen." 

During the interview, Whelan suggested to Morrison that the music comes "through him." "I'm not sure about that," he replied. "I said that when I was much younger - that's the problem, I said things in interviews years ago that I would question now. That is what I was bang into then, but I wouldn't (say that) now."

He added that his inspiration nowadays comes from "all kinds of sources, it can come from conversations, things that you read, books, picking up concepts."

Song titles often come from books he reads, he told the RTÉ Lyric Fm presenter, mentioning in particular Haunts of Ancient Peace and Someone Like You.

He noted how he took the latter song title from the title of a book of short stories by Roald Dahl.  "It's my duty to keep singing, that's what I feel, " he said.

Van's 36th studio album, Keep Me Singing, which has just been released, features 12 new songs.