Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison (1967) Or where we learn that things aren't always what you expect

New Orleans, LA

I thought I knew so much about New Orleans. From Music, from films, from books. I thought it was a brooding, mysterious city alive with jazz and blues music. And it is, there are places where the traditional music of Louisiana fills the air, unfortunately on the streets of the French Quarter the air appears to be filled with covers bands and the sound of people hoiking up the $6 44oz beers. I sat in a bar having a beer, and what was the first song I heard... "Brown Eyed Fucking Girl". I love Van, but it's not even a particularly good Van song. "Listen to the Lion", "Gypsy" or "And it Stoned me" are all great songs but why in the City of Louis Armstrong and Louis Jourdan is it that the first song I heard was a 45 year old pop song by a bloke from Belfast?? The city itself is a beautiful place, colonial buildings sweep down to the Mississippi and each corner brings a new gem. But like any big city, shops offering tat fill the streets and the iconic Bourbon street is more like Magaluf or Hastings on a weekend. Shifting slightly away from here and you do find the real city and a streetcar ride to the cemetaries to the North of the city really gave us a feel for a City. A city built on a rich past, a city that has overcome numerous disasters (Both natural and manmade) but thrives still.