Cleaning Windows Trivia Quiz

Answer:

"Cleaning Windows" first appeared on Van Morrison's 1982 "Beautiful Vision". It was released as a single but went nowhere on the charts; "Scandinavia", the other single from the album, also did not bother the charts. Over the years, it's gained in popularity, and some critics consider it one of his best songs. I do.

There is a strong autobiographical element to the song. In the very early 1960s, Morrison was just breaking into life as a professional musician, picking up gigs where he could, playing with various bands, taking saxophone lessons, and working as a window cleaner during the day. It has an optimistic tone of a young man living life to the full - living his working class life, while also exploring books and music and performance. He'd grown up in that sort of a household - his father was a Belfast shipyard electrician, while having what has been called "one of the largest record collections in Northern Ireland". A nice blend of the life of the arts with physical work, Paris buns, and tea breaks.

"Cleaning Windows" is full of references to musicians and writers who were influencing Morrison at that point in his life, so let's talk about some of them.

Jimmie Rodgers (1897 - 1933) was another working class kid who became a successful and influential musician. He grew up in a railroad family and scrabbled around in the music business from a young age until breaking through in the early days of radio - he was known as "The Singing Brakeman". if you've heard a song from the early days of country music about a hobo, it was probably written by Jimmie Rodgers.

Lead Belly was Huddie Ledbetter (1888 - 1949). Yet another labourer's kid who started in the music business young, taking whatever gigs he could get. He was in jail in the early '30s when the folk-song-collecting Lomaxes came across him, and that started hm on the path to getting radio play and recording contracts. Like so many Black musicians of his day, he was acclaimed, he had massive influence on later artists - and he never really made any money.

Lemon Henry "Blind Lemon" Jefferson (1893 - 1929) was born blind, the son of sharecroppers. Like so many of the artists named in these songs, he started playing early. He had a distinctive style, both with his guitar playing and his high-pitched voice, and was successful as a recording artist. He's been called the Father of Texas Blues.

Sonny Terry (Saunders Terrell) (1911 - 1986) and Walter "Brownie" McGhee (1915 - 1996) worked together in a musical partnership from the early 1940s into the 1980s - they were still touring at the time I started going to concerts in those years. They started getting widespread recognition for their style of Folk/Blues during the Folk revival in 1960s.

Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) (1913? - 1983), known as the Father of Chicago Blues, was another poor kid who started in the music business young. He was recorded by Alan Lomax in 1941 and 1942, and then headed to Chicago. If you want to say that we wouldn't have rock and roll without Muddy Waters, I won't disagree with you.

Christmas Humphreys (1901 - 1983) was an English lawyer and judge who was also instrumental in introducing Buddhism and other aspects of Eastern philosophy to the English-speaking world. He was the founder of the London Buddhist Society.

Jack Kerouac (Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac) (1922 - 1969) was an American writer, one of the founding artists of the Beat Generation. "On the Road" is probably his most famous book.

And the internet tells me that Paris buns are a Scottish scone-type pastry, with currents and pearl sugar, that were popular in Belfast at the time of this song.