Irish Magic: The Chieftains with Van Morrison and "Have I Told You Lately"

The Chieftains are pretty fearless in their crossing over into the realm of other genres and doing it well - and in some cases, even giving old hits new life or making them seem better. It must be that Irish magic. Today's random song, Have I Told You Lately by The Chieftains with Van Morrison, is a good example. While The Chieftains were one of the first traditional Irish groups that I ever heard, I came late to the Van Morrison party, but growing up I never really was exposed to Morrison because I didn't really have any older brothers and sisters to introduce me to him. I think I might have, sadly, first heard a rendition of Moondance in a television commercial. But I really like Van Morrison, and over the years have enjoyed all that work I missed, even if I was a johnny-come-lately.

I could write pages on both The Chieftains and Van Morrison. Suffice it to say that The Chieftains are one of the greatest ambassadors of Irish music to the world, and since they've been highlighted on this page before, I've given some history about them already. Van Morrison, from Northern Ireland, is a singer-songwriter and musician who has been described as mystical and transcendental. Some of his albums have appeared near the top of many lists of the greatest albums of all time. He has released 39 albums. The collaboration between Van Morrison and The Chieftains goes back to at least 1979, when they met at the Edinburgh Rock Festival, and agreed to record an album together. The result, 1988's Irish Heartbeat, received positive critical acclaim, including 4 stars from Rolling Stone and one of the best albums of the year from The Village Voice. Have I Told You Lately is Van Morrison's hit song from his 1989 album Avalon Sunset. The song is often sung at weddings, though Van Morrison apparently first wrote it as a prayer, as the lyrics about a "love that's divine" might indicate. On The Chieftains collaborative album The Long Black Veil, where they perform songs with others such as Sinead O'Connor, The Rolling Stones and Tom Jones, they cut this version with Morrison. The result is...well, listen for yourself.