believing that he has “the spirit of Caledonia in his soul and his music reflects it.” According to Yorke, Morrison claimed to have discovered “a certain quality of soul” when he first visited Scotland (his Belfast ancestors were of Ulster Scots descent) and Morrison has said he believes there is some connection between soul music and Caledonia. Yorke relates that Morrison “discovered several years after he first began composing music that some of his songs lent themselves to a unique major modal scale (without sevenths) which of course is the same scale as that used by bagpipe players and old Irish and Scottish folk music.” Caledonia
The name “Caledonia” has played a prominent role in Morrison’s life and career. Biographer Ritchie Yorke had pointed out already by 1975 that Morrison has referred to Caledonia so many times in his career that he “seems to be obsessed with the word.” In his 2009 biography, Erik Hage found that “Morrison seemed deeply interested in his paternal Scottish roots during his early career, and later in the ancient countryside of England, hence his repeated use of the term Caledonia (an ancient Roman name for Scotland/northern Britain).” As well as being his daughter’s middle name, it’s the name of his first production company, his studio, his publishing company, two of his backing groups, and he also recorded a cover of the song, “Caldonia” (with the name spelled “Caledonia”) in 1974. Morrison used “Caledonia” in what has been called a quintessential Van Morrison moment in the song, “Listen to the Lion” with the lyrics, “And we sail, and we sail, way up to Caledonia”. As late as 2008, Morrison used “Caledonia” as a mantra in the live performance of the song, “Astral Weeks” recorded at the two Hollywood Bowl concerts.
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