Van Morrison - In The Garden

"In the Garden" is a spiritually inspired song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1986 album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.

Lyrics:
The streets are always wet with rain
After a summer shower when I saw you standin'
In the garden in the garden wet with rain

You wiped the teardrops from your eye in sorrow
As we watched the petals fall down to the ground
And as I sat beside you I felt the
Great sadness that day in the garden

And then one day you came back home
You were a creature all in rapture
You had the key to your soul
And you did open that day you came back to the garden

The olden summer breeze was blowin' on your face
The light of God was shinin' on your countenance divine
And you were a violet color as you
Sat beside your father and your mother in the garden

The summer breeze was blowin' on your face
Within your violet you treasure your summery words
And as the shiver from my neck down to my spine
Ignited me in daylight and nature in the garden

And you went into a trance
Your childlike vision became so fine
And we heard the bells inside the church
We loved so much
And felt the presence of the youth of
Eternal summers in the garden

And as it touched your cheeks so lightly
Born again you were and blushed
And we touched each other lightly
And we felt the presence of the Christ
Within in our hearts
In the garden

And I turned to you and I said
No guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature
And the father in the garden

Listen no guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature
And the Father and the
Son and the Holy Ghost
In the garden, wet with rain
No guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature and the Father
And the Son and the Holy Ghost
In the garden, in the garden, wet with rain

No guru, no method, no teacher
Just you and I and nature
And the Father in the garden

The album version of the song was recorded in 1985 at Studio D at the Sausalito & Record Plant in Sausalito, California.

The lyrics of "In the Garden" contain a line which gives the album its name: "No Guru, no method, no teacher/ Just you and I and nature/And the Father in the garden." Some of the words also fall back to Astral Weeks territory with mentions of "childlike visions", "into a trance" from the song, "Madame George" and "in the garden wet with rain" from "Sweet Thing". According to Morrison, the song is based upon a form of transcendental meditation, which takes about ten minutes before a person arrives at a degree of tranquility.

Biographer Johnny Rogan has highlighted the song as one of the defining tracks of Morrison's career, comparing it with works such as "Into the Mystic", "Listen to the Lion", and "You Don't Pull No Punches, But You Don't Push the River". He also believes that "Morrison himself recognises 'In the Garden' as perhaps the key recording in the Eighties career."

Picture @Shorpy