I'll never be satisfied with a write-up about this song, so this is it.
Song: Sweet Thing
Album: Astral Weeks (1968)
Studio version:
Live in 73:
It's really hard for me to write about this song. Simply because I know it simply can't live up to what I really feel about it. Some of you may know that this song, since short, is basically my favorite song. And while that seems quite a conclusive statement, to have a favorite song in all of music, it's how I feel. I'm also kind of sad this song was named so quickly because no matter what comes next, there's nothing that will live up to this.
Basically any Van fan will tell you that Astral Weeks is one of his best records. Most of them will even tell you it's his magnum opus. I consider myself one of those people. Ever since I've heard the record it's been creeping up on me more and more. At first I thought it was just a great folk record, but about a year and a half later it's become way more than that to me.
Astral Weeks has shown me that no matter what type of instrumentation you use, as long as your heart is in the songs, they will come out shining. I loathe the sound of a flute most of the time for example, but in a song like Sweet Thing it only enhances it.
Basically everything about this song is perfect to me: The subtle, but unavoidable drums march on and give the song its lingering flow. The playful double bass swings along and drives the song and the rhythmic guitar has one of the most hypnotizing chord progressions I've ever heard. It starts off with a F# minor chord to misdirect you but then revolves around the actual E major scale to lift your spirits. Add the improvising nylon lead guitar line to that and you have a jazzy approach to a folk love song. The strings here, like on any song on Astral Weeks, are essential and out of this worl. They give the song the full harmonic feel it needs to hit you right in the stomach; their atmospheric Celtic sound give the song a whole new colour.
The most essential parts of the composition remain, like almost any Van Morrison song, the vocal performance and lyrics. They are spot on here. Van not only paints a picture of idealistic, yet at the same time unconditional love with lines like “And I shall drive my chariot down your streets and cry.. Hey, it's me, I'm dynamite and I don't know why”, he makes you feel it through his voice. What's beautiful about a song like Sweet Thing is the fact that everyone who is not a sociopath can relate to it: It doesn't even need to be the blind love for a girl or woman, it can be love for anything. It's simply a feeling we've all felt at least once in our lives. And while most of the time I relate to songs that are about either broken love or another negative feeling, Van manages to lift my spirit every time I hear this song. There's something very nostalgic and soothing about it. It clocks in at about four and a half minutes, but it seems much shorter and longer at the same time. I can't fully explain it, you have to hear it. Or relisten to it. Again, and again, and again.
10/10
Nothing can top this
Sweet Thing
Good song, nothing more, nothing less
Moondance
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