"
Cleaning Windows" is a song written by Northern Irish
singer-songwriterSinger-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Van MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
and recorded on his 1982 album,
Beautiful VisionBeautiful Vision is an album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released February 1982 by Warner Bros. Records in the US and Mercury Records in the UK. As with many of Morrison's recordings, spirituality is a major theme and some of the songs are based on the teachings of...
.
Recording and Composition
The version of "Cleaning Windows" that was released as a single and was included on the 1982 album was recorded at the
Record Plant StudiosThe Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
in
Sausalito, CaliforniaSausalito is a San Francisco Bay Area city, in Marin County, California, United States. Sausalito is south-southeast of San Rafael, at an elevation of 13 feet . The population was 7,061 as of the 2010 census. The community is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, and prior to...
on July 27, 1981.
The biographically-based song chronicles a cheerful and nostalgic look back at a carefree time in Morrison's life when he was still a part-time musician and playing
saxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
on the weekend. He names his favorite musical artists of the time such as
Muddy WatersMcKinley Morganfield , known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the "father of modern Chicago blues"...
,
Jimmie RodgersJames Charles Rodgers , known as Jimmie Rodgers, was an American country singer in the early 20th century known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling...
, Lead Belly, along with author
Jack KerouacJean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...
and his books,
The Dharma BumsThe Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The semi-fictional accounts in the novel are based upon events that occurred years after the events of On the Road...
and
On the RoadOn the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...
,, and even Buddhist
Christmas HumphreysTravers Christmas Humphreys, QC was a British barrister who prosecuted several controversial cases in the 1940s and 1950s, and later became a judge at the Old Bailey. He was an enthusiastic Shakespeare scholar and proponent of the Oxfordian theory...
and his ".. book on Zen." He was soon to leave his boyhood behind and after joining the Monarchs, spend several months in
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
touring with them as the International Monarchs.
According to
Steve TurnerSteve Turner is an English music journalist, biographer and poet, who grew up in Northamptonshire, England. His first published article was in the Beatles Monthly in 1969. His career as a journalist began as features editor of Beat Instrumental where he interviewed many of the prominent rock...
in "Cleaning Windows" "Van sketched the details of his life during 1961 and 1962, and captured the balance between his contentment at work and his aspirations to learn more about music. It conveyed the impression that his happiness with the mundane routine of smoking
WoodbineWoodbine is a brand of cigarette made in England by W. D. & H. O. Wills since 1888.In the early 1970s Woodbine Cigarettes were released in Australia as "Wild Woodbine"....
cigarettes, eating
Paris bunsParis buns are a sweetened breadlike cake similar to currant buns. Paris buns are popular in poorer areas of Scotland and Ireland for being cheap and filling.-In popular culture:...
and drinking lemonade was made possible by the promise that at the end of the day he could enter the world of books and records..."
John Milward wrote in a 1982
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
review: "Hung on a metaphor as clear as glass, 'Cleaning Windows' applies one night's notions to a lifetime. It's the LP's musical highlight as well, with a guitar-organ combination reminiscent of the Band, and a jumping sax solo to boot. Shaking himself awake each morning, the dedicated romantic looks to see how he's grown. Peppered with fraternal details that recall 'And It Stoned Me,' 'Cleaning Windows' boldly restates the self-help maxim that you are your own best friend."
Paul Macinnis with
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote: "The message of the song is simple – the window cleaner's happy in his work – and the lyrical vignettes combined with delicate, upbeat R&B (with Mark "That ain't working" Knopfler on guitar) convey that feeling wonderfully."
In his descriptions of the songs on
Beautiful Vision,
Erik HageErik Hage is an American writer, cultural reporter, and critic raised in Boston and New York State. His books include the critical biography The Words and Music of Van Morrison and the work of literary criticism Cormac McCarthy: A Literary Companion , which was deemed "indispensable," "engaging,"...
wrote that this song is an exception as the song's lyrics are "stuffed with images and remembrances ... and is therefore somewhat anomalous to the rest of the record, which took up more esoteric and spiritual matters."
Release
"Cleaning Windows" was released as a single in March 1982 but was not promoted as a 45
singleIn music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by
Mercury recordsMercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
and therefore did not chart. Writer Howard A. DeWitt felt that it would have charted "because it generated a response similar to "
Domino"Domino" is a hit song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It is the opening track of his fourth studio album, His Band and the Street Choir. This song is Morrison's personal musical tribute to New Orleans R&B singer and pianist Fats Domino.It was released by Warner Bros...
" in Van's 1982 concerts". ("Domino" charted at #9 in America in 1970).
Other releases
Morrison chose "Cleaning Windows" to be one of the songs included on
The Best of Van MorrisonThe Best of Van Morrison is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1990 ....
, his first "Best of" albums that was released in 1990. A live version was performed on the 1984 album,
Live at the Grand Opera House BelfastLive at the Grand Opera House Belfast is the second live album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1984...
. As performed at the Austin City Limits Festival on September 15, 2006 it is included on the limited edition album,
Live at Austin City Limits FestivalLive at Austin City Limits Festival by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison is a limited edition live album recorded from the Austin City Limits Festival concert at which he was the first night headliner on September 15, 2006...
. It has been re-mastered in 2007 and included on the compilation album,
Still on Top - The Greatest HitsStill on Top – The Greatest Hits is the third compilation album to be issued by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison in 2007 . It was released...
.
"Cleaning Windows" is also one of the songs performed in 1989, on Morrison's second video
Van Morrison: The Concert, released in 1990. A previously unreleased version of this song features on the 2008 reissue of the 1994 live double album
A Night in San FranciscoA Night in San Francisco is a live album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1994. Guest artists were John Lee Hooker, Junior Wells and Jimmy Witherspoon as well as Morrison's daughter, Shana Morrison...
.
Personnel
- Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
- vocalsSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- John Allair - organ
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
- Pee Wee Ellis
Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s and appeared on many of Brown's most notable recordings...
- tenorThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
and baritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
s
- Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
- trumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
- guitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Gary Mallaber
Gary Mallaber is a Los Angeles session drummer, percussionist and singer. He got his start playing drums in a band from Buffalo, New York, known as Raven....
- drumsA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Chris Michie - lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
- Michele Segan - percussion
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
- Rob Wasserman
Rob Wasserman is an American bass player, who has played with a wide variety of musicians including David Grisman, Lou Reed, Bob Weir, Jerry Garcia, Bruce Cockburn, Van Morrison, Rickie Lee Jones, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Mark Morris, Aaron Neville, Chris Whitley, Studs Terkel, Pete Seeger,...
- bassThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Covers
Mark ArnesonMark Arneson is a former American Football linebacker who played nine seasons in the National Football League....
covered it on the 2005 tribute album,
Smooth Sax Tribute to Van Morrison Pee Wee EllisAlfred "Pee Wee" Ellis is an American saxophonist, composer and arranger. He was an important member of James Brown's band in the 1960s and appeared on many of Brown's most notable recordings...
included a cover on his 1994 album,
Sepia Tonality.
Barrence WhitfieldBarrence Whitfield is an American soul and R&B vocalist and best known as the singer of Barrence Whitfield and the Savages in the 1980s.-Life and career:...
and
Tom RussellThomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...
covered "Cleaning Windows" on
Hillbilly Voodoo.