Hynford Street

Van Morrison lived here as an only child from 1945 to 1961. His father George was an electrician in a shipyard, his mother Violet had been a tap dancer and singer in her younger years. The neighborhood runs like a common thread through his entire oeuvre. In his very first hit 'Brown eyed girl' he sings about The Hollow, the overgrown area behind the houses, the secret place of the first touches. Further away is Orange Field and, above all, Cyprus Avenue, the higher avenue with villas that the lonely working-class child looks up to with longing eyes. Where 'Madame George jumps up and says: "Hey love/yo forgot your gloves, and/ the love that love the love..."

Pascal Brackman