Ivory Tower (Van Morrison song)
"Ivory Tower" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1986 album, No Guru, No Method, No Teacher. The song was also released as a single with the B-side "A New Kind of Man", from his previous album A Sense of Wonder. It charted at No. 21 on the US Mainstream Rock Tracks in 1986.
| "Ivory Tower" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Van Morrison | ||||
| from the album No Guru, No Method, No Teacher | ||||
| A-side | "Ivory Tower" | |||
| B-side | "A New Kind of Man" | |||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Recorded | 1985 | |||
| Genre | Celtic, Folk rock | |||
| Length | 3:34 | |||
| Label | Mercury Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Van Morrison | |||
| Producer(s) | Van Morrison | |||
| Van Morrison singles chronology | ||||
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Clinton Heylin writes this about the song "A chorus about how tough 'It really must be/ To be me, to see like me, to feel like me' threatens the spirituality self-effacing mood he had previously maintained."[1] Biographer John Collis takes the same viewpoint by saying "Ivory Tower, totally breaks the mold – it's an r'n'b shaker just like those produced by the Van Morrison of old, though now he suffers from self pity: "Don't you know the price I have to pay/Just to do everything I have to do..."[2]
Personnel on original release
- Van Morrison – vocal
- June Boyce – backing vocals
- Richie Buckley – tenor saxophone
- Martin Drover – trumpet
- David Hayes – bass
- Rosie Hunter – backing vocals
- Jeff Labes – piano
- Chris Michie – guitar
- John Platania – guitar
- Bianca Thornton – backing vocals
- Jeanie Tracy – backing vocals
- Baba Trunde – drums
Notes
- Heylin, Can You Feel the Silence?, p.395
- Collis, Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, p166
References
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
- Collis, John (1996). Inarticulate Speech of the Heart, Little Brown and Company, ISBN 0-306-80811-0