Van Morrison

“I went back to Belfast and started a club, the Maritime. No one had thought about doing a blues club, so I was the first.”

“I never paid attention to what was contemporary or what was commercial, it didn't mean anything to me.”

“I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn't there before that.”

“Hearing the blues changed my life.”

“For a long time, I couldn't actually deal with playing concerts; it was a totally alien concept to me, 'cause I was used to playing in clubs and dance halls.”

“In order to win you must be prepared to lose sometime. And leave one or two cards showing.”

“My ambition when I started out was to play two or three gigs a week. And that's what I'm doing.”

“Large audiences did not suit my low-key approach.”

“My records do not require a lot of thought of 'What is this?' and 'What is that?' That would be too contrived for me.”

“You've got to separate the singer and the songs.”

“I deliberately try not to cater for the commercial market, so I can't see myself in competition, you know, with second or third generation rock stars.”

“I don't feel comfortable doing interviews. My profession is music, and writing songs. That's what I do. I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it.”

“If it's what you do and you can do it, then you do it.”

“I'm very lucky, I'm happy with life because my experiences led me to do what I had to do. I don't have any regrets whatsoever.”

“I'm not a rock singer and I don't want to be a rock singer. I'm not interested. It doesn't seem to get across.”

“The point of jazz is, you do something and then you go on.”

“What you see is what you get.”

“I'd love to live in Ireland but I'd like to live as me, not what someone thinks I am. People don't understand - I lived there before I was famous.”

“As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.”

“There's always got to be a struggle. What else is there? That's what life is made of. I don't know anything else. If there is, tell me about it.”