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"Gloria" is a rock song classic written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and originally recorded by Morrison's band Them in 1964 as the B-side of "Baby, Please Don't Go". The song quickly became a garage rock staple and a part of many rock bands' repertoires. It is particularly memorable for its "G–L–O–R–I–A" chorus. It is very easy to play (three-chord) and thus is popular with those learning to play guitar. The song continues to be played by thousands of bands from famous recording artists to unknown garage bands. Humourist Dave Barry joked that "If you drop a guitar down a flight of stairs, it'll play 'Gloria' on its way to the bottom."[1]
The timeless popularity of the song may be best explained in the Allmusic's review written by Bill Janovitz:[2]
The beauty of the original is that Van Morrison needs only to speak-sing, in his Howlin' Wolf growl, "I watch her come up to my house/She knocks upon my door/And then she comes up to my room/I want to say she makes me feel all right/G-L-O-R-I-A!" to convey his teenage lust. The original Latin meaning of the name is not lost on Morrison. Them never varies from the three chords, utilizing only dynamic changes to heighten the tension.
"Gloria" was rated number 69 on Dave Marsh's list in the 1989 book, The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. He described the song as "one of the few rock songs that's actually as raunchy as its reputation."[3] In his book, Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles Paul Williams said about the two sides of the "Baby Please Don't Go/Gloria" recording: "Into the heart of the beast... here is something so good, so pure, that if no other hint of it but this record existed, there would still be such a thing as rock and roll.... Van Morrison's voice a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world. Resulting in one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind."[4]
[edit] History
Van Morrison has remarked that he wrote the song, "Gloria" while he performed with the Monarchs in Germany in the summer of 1963, at just about the time he turned eighteen years old.[5] He started to perform it for audiences at the Maritime Hotel when he had returned to Belfast and joined up with the Gamblers to form the band Them. He would ad-lib lyrics as he performed, sometimes stretching the song to fifteen or twenty minutes in duration. After signing a contract with Dick Rowe and Decca, Them went to London where they had a recording session at Decca Three Studios in West Hampstead on July 05, 1964, including "Gloria" as one of the seven songs recorded that day. The members of Them were Van Morrison, vocals, Billy Harrison on guitar, Alan Henderson on bass, Ronnie Millings on drums and Patrick John McCauley on keyboards. Rowe brought in session musicians Arthur Greenslade on organ, Jimmy Page on guitar, and Bobby Graham on drums as Rowe considered the Them members as too inexperienced. There remains some dispute about whether Millings and McCauley were miked up but Alan Henderson contends that Them constituted the first rock group to use two drummers on a recording.[6] Gloria was the B-side, when "Baby Please Don't Go" was released in the U.K. on November 06, 1964.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] Original studio recording by Them
[edit] Studio version with John Lee Hooker
[edit] Live versions by Van Morrison
[edit] Cover versions
- The Gants (from the album Roadrunner) – earliest known cover version released in November 1965.
- Shadows of Knight single released in December 1965 (later included in the album Gloria). Reached number 10 in 1966, topping the original in the U.S. only in areas where Them's version could not be played, because it contained the words, "She comes to my room". Some radio stations objected to this, most notably Chicago's station WLS. The Chicago based band Shadows of Knight's version replaced this line with "She calls out my name."[7][8]
- Status Quo (under name The Spectres) at Saturday Club, BBC on 10/09/66; and as Status Quo at David Symonds Show on 8/4/68 and 12/4/68.
- AC/DC covered the song regularly in their early formation and used it as the basis for their song "Jailbreak". Lead singer Bon Scott had previously performed "Gloria" with his first group, The Spektors.
- Patti Smith, from her 1975 album Horses. This is based on the Morrison tune, but its lyrics are reinvented for the nascent punk rock movement, retaining only the chorus, and adding possibly ironic allusions to the sacred versions. It memorably begins, "Jesus died for somebody's sins / But not mine".
- Eddie and the Hot Rods, on their 7" titled "96 Tears/Get Out of Denver/Gloria/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" that was released in the United Kingdom in 1976.
- Santa Esmeralda (from the album Don't let me be misunderstood) in a disco-gyspsy way in 1977.
- Joe Strummer's band The 101ers recorded the song on their album Elgin Avenue Breakdown in 1981.
- The Doors (from Alive, She Cried), a concert performance. Number 18 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and number 71 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1983.
- The New Zealand Band The Pleazers performed a version of the song, which is on the Mutiple Artist album Kiwi Classics, Vol 2.
- U2 snippeted this song at the ending of "Exit" during practically all its live performances, including the one on their album/movie Rattle and Hum released in 1988. (They also recorded an unrelated song called "Gloria").
- A portion of the intro, guitar solo, and outtro of "Play Guitar" by John Cougar Mellencamp, was very similar to a portion of Gloria's guitar riff.
- Energy Orchard, a live version on their 1993 album, Shinola.
- Shane MacGowan performed the song with Van Morrison at the 1994 BRIT Awards ceremony and changed the R–I–A to I–R–A when he was singing the chorus.
- Tom Petty played the song several times on his Highway Companion Tour in 2006, and he closed most of the shows during his twenty-night run at The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco in 1997.
- Jimi Hendrix's version of "Gloria" is included on the 2000 released box set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. His version was not a traditional cover - he included entire verses of his own creation, and appeared to be ad-libbing as he went along. The lyrics included lines about drummer Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.
- The Tragically Hip performed a memorable live version of the song, which included a monologue by Gordon Downie about tying his friend, Roch, to the railroad tracks.
- Bill Murray played the song to open 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival, stating that it is the only song he knows how to play.
- Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams covered the song in a medley with the Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" on their live Christmas album A Very Slambovian Christmas, released in 2008.
- Other covers of the Morrison song include those by notable artists like The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead, Rick Springfield, R.E.M., Rickie Lee Jones and 13th Floor Elevators. It was also covered by Polish band Pidzama Porno, with Polish language lyrics.
[edit] Acclaim
[edit] In the media
Them's recording of the song appeared in an episode of TV series The Sopranos, "Pine Barrens", accompanying the appearance of Annabella Sciorra's character Gloria Trillo. "Gloria" by Them was played a number of times in the 1983 film The Outsiders and also sung whilst fending off the monster in the jukebox musical, Return to the Forbidden Planet.
[edit] Charts
Them1
Shadows of Knight
Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker
- 1 As a B-side on 1964 single "Baby, Please Don't Go", the original recording charted at number 10 in the UK mostly due to the popularity of "Gloria".
[edit] References
- Williams, Paul; Berryhill, Cindy Lee (December 1993). "Baby Please Don't Go / Gloria – Them (1964)". Rock and Roll: The 100 Best Singles (Hardcover ed.). United States: Entwhistle Books. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9780934558419.
- Rogan, Johnny (June 2005). Van Morrison: No Surrender (Hardcover ed.). United Kingdom: Secker and Warburg. ISBN 9780436205668.
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
- Turner, Steve (1993). Too Late to Stop Now, Viking Penguin, ISBN 0-670-85147-7
[edit] External links
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Van Morrison • Billy Harrison • Eric Wrixon • Alan Henderson • Raymond Sweetman
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Singles
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