"These Are the Days" is a song written by Northern Irish

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

 singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-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 Morrison

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...

 and released on his 1989 album Avalon Sunset

Avalon Sunset

Avalon Sunset is the nineteenth album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 1989 The album has been described as "a powerful statement that the often turbulent muse had stabilized and was now a sublime force flowing through Van Morrison".The 29 January 2008 reissued and...

. It was released as the B-side of the single with "Orangefield

Orangefield (song)

"Orangefield" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and released on his 1989 album Avalon Sunset. The song takes place on "a golden Autumn day" and is named for the school for boys that Morrison attended during his youth in Belfast, Northern Ireland.The song was...

" as the A-side.

Composition

The opening verse of the song is a recurring factor in Morrison's music and lyrics, the belief that the predominant sense of enjoyment and appreciation of life is to be found in the present moment:

These are the days of the endless summer

These are the days, the time is now

There is no past, there's only future

There's only here, there's only now

Biographer John Collis writes that this final song pulls together all the concerns of the album:

In one moment ('there is no past...there's only now') Morrison combines earthly love with that inspired by a sun-warmed landscape, the yearning for simplicity with the love of 'the (one) Magician

Marriage at Cana

In Christianity, the transformation of water into wine at the Marriage at Cana or Wedding at Cana is the first miracle of Jesus in the Gospel of John....

 who turned water into wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

.

Other releases

"These Are the Days" replaces "Caravan

Caravan (Van Morrison song)

"Caravan" is a song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and included on his 1970 album, Moondance. It was a concert highlight for several years and was included as one of the songs on Morrison's 1974 acclaimed live album, It's Too Late to Stop Now.It was also performed by...

" as an ITunes

ITunes

iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....

 bonus track, on Morrison's 2007 compilation album Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits

Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits

Van Morrison at the Movies – Soundtrack Hits is a compilation album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, released in 2007 comprising 19 songs as featured in various movies. The album was released on 12 February 2007 in the United Kingdom and February 13, 2007 in the United States. ...

.

In the media

"These Are the Days" was featured in the 1995 movie, Nine Months

Nine Months

Nine Months is a 1995 romantic comedy film directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Hugh Grant, Julianne Moore, Tom Arnold, Joan Cusack, Jeff Goldblum, and Robin Williams. The movie is a US remake of the French movie Neuf mois and served as Grant's first US starring role. It was filmed on location in...

starring Hugh Grant

Hugh Grant

Hugh John Mungo Grant is an English actor and film producer. He has received a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA, and an Honorary César. His films have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide. Grant achieved international stardom after appearing in Richard Curtis's...

 and Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....

.

Personnel

• Van Morrison - vocal
  Singing
  Singing 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...
  
  s, guitar
  Guitar
  The 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...
  
  
• Arty McGlynn
  Arty McGlynn
  Arty McGlynn is an Irish guitarist born in Omagh, County Tyrone. In addition to his solo work, he has collaborated with different notable groups such as Patrick Street, Planxty, Four Men and a Dog, De Dannan and the Van Morrison Band. He played guitar on the critically acclaimed 1989 Van Morrison...
  
   - guitar
• Neil Drinkwater - accordion
  Accordion
  The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
  
  , piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  
• Clive Culbertson
  Clive Culbertson
  Clive Culbertson Clive Culbertson Clive Culbertson (born 28 August 1954, Ballymoney, County Antrim, Northern Ireland is the founder of The Order Of Druids In Ulster. He is a mystic, musician and healer. Culbertson trained with his friend and teacher, the late Ben McBrady, Aircinneac and Herenach of...
  
   - bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Roy Jones, Dave Early
  Dave Early
  Dave Early was an English drummer and percussionist. Early worked with Sade, Chris Rea, Van Morrison, The Chieftains, Mary Black, and others. Later he moved to Belfast, where he played with traditional Irish artists. He frequently worked with drummer-percussionist Martin Ditcham...
  
   - drums
  Drum kit
  A 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 ....
  
  , percussion
  Percussion instrument
  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...
  
  
• Katie Kissoon, Carol Kenyon - backing vocals
  Backing vocalist
  A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...