"Brown-Eyed Girl" poll

[PorkPieGuy]

I'm in a band that plays Americana music. We play songs by John Prine, Doc Watson, Alan Jackson, Don Williams, Chris Knight, etc. along with some originals.

Recently, we've thrown "Brown-Eyed Girl" into the mix; however, in my mind, I've always considered this song as more beach music as opposed to Americana, and to be honest, I really don't know why I think of it that way. I think I may have heard a beach music band play it a couple of times, but I don't know. Wikipedia classifies it as "Rock, British R&B," but since y'all actually play music as opposed to Wikiepedia (), I thought I'd ask what genre you consider "Brown-Eyed Girl." Thanks!

[Acousticado]

Before reading your post, the category that immediately popped into my head is British Pop Rock. I suppose it could also be British R&B. To my mind, definitely not Beach or Americana.

[ishtar]

I think it was the Irish interpretation of American music at the time, and Van's own take on everything..

[MikeBmusic]

60s pop-rock.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

60s pop-rock.

Ditto .....................

[RP]

Does it make a difference if it's done by Jimmy Buffet??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfuQID6euvM I think that it does in the same way Five o' Clock Somewhere has a different feel when done by JB vs Alan Jackson...

[Long Jon]

Something else: THE most overplayed Van song on Brit radio, if I never hear it again I'll be quite happy.
I like The Man, but D.J's and producers, c'mon,,, give it a rest, he recorded plenty others, (NO not Moondance either thank you.)

[01bluemiata]

If you go to Foxy's on host VanDyke in the British Virgin Islands, Foxy Claims that the song was written about a local girl 'Wen'. It's a big hit with the crowd.

BluesSailor

[Kerbie]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

60s pop-rock.

Agreed.

Put it where you want, audiences love it so I play it.

[frances50]

Originally Posted by MikeBmusic

60s pop-rock.

I'll vote for this as well.

[jpd]

It's called "R&B"!

[posternutbag]

It is pop from the 1960s.

[Mandobart]

I'm with the pop-rock crowd. I'm so sick of this and other similar songs. When I play any Morrison I play "And it Stoned Me," "Brand New Day," "Redwood Tree," "Purple Heather" and others. If I never hear BEG again it'll be fine with me.

[FrankHudson]

Labels are just sticky paper, but we all use them from time to time because we think they will be useful shortcuts.

Van's writing and singing on it is "British R&B" if you need a label. The musicians on the record are NYC pop/soul/R&B guys if I recall. In the mid 60s pop music and soul music are hard to separate, and for that matter it's what was thought of as rock'n'roll before we all went 33 1/3 RPM and had to consider "Rock" as the name for important music to listen to on our HiFi. "Beach Music" from what little I understand is just danceable pop/soul music played at waterfront occasions. In another context you could call Brown Eyed Girl "wedding dance music" but the music doesn't change, just the frame/occasion.

There are elements of Bob Dylan-style "Folk Rock" sneaking in there too. It was just in the zeitgeist then.

"Brown Eyed Girl" is an example of great song that "suffers" from being overplayed. As a songwriter I'd love to suffer from that terrible fate.

This Van Morrison period isn't to everyone's taste, but I happen to love it. I wish I could do justice to "Who Drove the Red Sports Car" or "The Back Room" or "He Ain't Give You None," much less "TB Sheets."