The Eternal Kansas City

"The Eternal Kansas City"
Single by Van Morrison
from the album A Period of Transition
A-side"The Eternal Kansas City"
B-side"Joyous Sound"
Released1977
RecordedAutumn 1976/early winter 1977
GenreFolk rock, R&B, gospel
Length5:26
LabelWarner Brothers
Songwriter(s)Van Morrison
Producer(s)Van Morrison
Van Morrison singles chronology
"Gloria"
(1974) 		"The Eternal Kansas City"
(1977) 		"Joyous Sound"
(1977)

"The Eternal Kansas City" is a song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was the key song on the 1977 album, A Period of Transition,[1] and was his first single released since "Gloria", in 1974.

Biographer Howard DeWitt believes that the song makes the listener feel as if in a church, because of the "mystical choir", featured at the beginning of the song: "Excuse me do you know the way to Kansas City?". "Then an almost jump arrangement makes 'The Eternal Kansas City' an excellent rhythm and blues influenced song."[2]

Johnny Rogan describes the song as "The only song on the album where there was evidence of Morrison's mysterious majesty, it blended the lily-white sound of Anita Kerr Singers with strong gospel overtones."[3]

Dr John on the song

Dr John, arranger and musician on A Period of Transition, describes the song as being:

The song that Van got the whole album hooked up around. It was a real deep thing for him to focus on. It goes from a real ethereal voice sound to a jazz introduction and then into a kind of chunky R&B.[1]

Personnel

Notes

  1. ^ a b Hinton. Celtic Crossroads. p. 198.
  2. ^ DeWitt. The Mystic's Music. p.103
  3. ^ Rogan. No Surrender. p.309

References