"I Will Be There" is a song featured on

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

singer/songwriter A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk- acoustic tradition with a guitar, although this role has ...

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...

's sixth album ''

Saint Dominic's Preview ''Saint Dominic's Preview'' is the sixth studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released in July 1972 by Warner Bros. Records. ''Rolling Stone'' declared it "the best-produced, most ambitious Van Morrison record y ...

'' (1972). The song is also the B-side to Morrison's single "

Warm Love "Warm Love" is a hit song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. The song was included on his 1973 album '' Hard Nose the Highway''. It was a Top Forty single hit when released in April 1973.Yorke, Into the Music, p. 102 Jac ...

", released in 1973.

Recording and composition

"I Will Be There" was recorded in April 1972 at the

Wally Heider Studios Wally Heider Studios was a recording studio founded in San Francisco in 1969 by recording engineer and studio owner Wally Heider. Between 1969 and 1980, numerous notable artists recorded at the studios, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, J ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, along with "

" and "

Redwood Tree Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...

".Wrench. ''Saint Dominic's Flashback'', p.1818/3575 It is one of few overtly jazz songs written by Morrison, and the first since the release of "

Moondance ''Moondance'' is the third studio album by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It was released on 27 January 1970 by Warner Bros. Records. After the commercial failure of his first Warner Bros. album '' Astral Weeks'' (1968), Morr ...

" in 1970. The song is led in by Tom Salisbury on piano, who also arranged the three songs from the session. Salisbury explained his contribution to the song:"I wrote the horn chart." "It was written with simple triads as the chords. We ran over that one ahead of the session and Doug Messenger expanded the progression by using four- and five-part jazz chords: G7(9), F(9,6,flat5), E7#9, etc." Also featured in the song is a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

solo from long serving Jack Schroer. The other members of the band used for the session were Doug Messenger on guitar, Bill Church on bass,

Gary Mallaber Gary Mallaber (born October 11, 1946, in Buffalo) is an American musician from Los Angeles, mostly known as a drummer, but plays percussion, vibraphone, and keyboards. In addition, he is a songwriter, arranger, composer, producer, engineer, a ...

on drums and Jules Broussard on saxophone.

Writing

The lyrics are the most lighthearted of the songs on ''Saint Dominic's Preview'', with the singer grabbing his razor, suitcase, toothbrush, overcoat and underwear, sung in quick succession in a

break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...

in the music. Peter Wrench notes that "The words tumble over themselves in a joyful jumble: they shouldn’t quite fit the beat but they do." Wrench believes that it is not a song that Morrison refined lyrically, citing the line "Try not to be through the mill" as an example.

Reception

John Collis says, "A hero (of Van), is evoked by the piano-led blues "I Will Be There" - the spirit of

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

looms large in the song." The ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' review of ''Saint Dominic's Preview'' remarks: "'I Will Be There' goes the furthest of any (of the songs in ''Saint Dominic's Preview'') into R&B-jazz roots, as Van pays expert musical tribute to

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

and Joe Williams."

Live performances

The first known performance of "I Will Be There", which is likely to be the first time the song was performed, was on April 27, 1972.Wrench. ''Saint Dominic's Flashback'', p.1994/3575 It was one of the live performances recorded and included on Morrison's 1996 live album, ''

How Long Has This Been Going On "How Long Has This Been Going On?" is a song composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin, for the musical theater, musical ''Funny Face (musical), Funny Face'' in 1927. History According to Ira Gershwin in his book ''Lyrics on Seve ...

''. A live performance of "I Will Be There", recorded in 1989, is featured on the video album, ''

Van Morrison The Concert ''Van Morrison: The Concert'' is the second video released by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, first released in 1990. Recorded in New York City the previous year, the concert featured two special guests and long-time friends Mose ...

'', released in 1990.

Personnel

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

s *Jules Broussard:

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

*Bill Church:

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Doug Messenger:

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

*Tom Salisbury:

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Jack Schroer:

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

Covers

Colin James Colin James (born Colin James Munn; August 17, 1964) is a Canadian blues rock singer and songwriter. James has been very successful in Canada, having attained seven Gold-certified albums in Canada during his career, including four Platinum alb ...

on '' Colin James & The Little Big Band 3'' *

Pee Wee Ellis Alfred James Rogers (April 21, 1941 – September 23, 2021), known as Pee Wee Ellis due to his diminutive stature, was an American saxophonist, composer, and arranger. With a background in jazz, he was a member of James Brown's band in the 19 ...

with Van Morrison

Notes

References

*Album notes for ''Saint Dominic's Preview'' by Van Morrison. Warner Bros. Records. *Collis, John (1996). ''Inarticulate Speech of the Heart'', Little Brown and Company, *Mills, Peter (2010), '' Hymns to the Silence: Inside the Words and Music of Van Morrison'', London: Continuum, *Wrench, Peter (2012). ''Saint Dominic's Flashback: Van Morrison's Classic Album, Forty Years On'', FeedARead. Kindle Edition. {{authority control 1972 songs Van Morrison songs Songs written by Van Morrison Song recordings produced by Ted Templeman Song recordings produced by Van Morrison