1970 · R&B · Behind the Songs
From His Band and the Street Choir — the 1970 single that climbed to No. 9 in America.
Released in November 1970 on His Band and the Street Choir, “Domino” was Van Morrison’s most successful American single, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. After the jazz-poetry of Astral Weeks and the swing of Moondance, it showed a third Morrison: the down-home R&B shouter, leading a loose, joyful band through a song built for dancing.
The album was recorded in New York with a large, informal ensemble — the “Street Choir” of the title — and the single captures that looseness. Horns, backing vocals and Morrison’s exuberant lead trade energy like a party that happened to be taped. It is one of the sunniest records he ever made, a long way from the brooding reputation that followed him.
“Domino” gave Morrison his only American Top 10 single as a solo artist, and it remains a staple of oldies radio and his own setlists. If Moondance proved he could be sophisticated, “Domino” proved he could be fun — and that the two were never really in conflict.
What to listen for: the call-and-response between Morrison and the backing singers, and the way the whole track seems to speed up with joy. Turn it up — this one was made for volume.