"Have I Told You Lately"
Single by Van Morrison
from the album Avalon Sunset
A-side	"Have I Told You Lately"
B-side	"Contacting My Angel"
Released	June 5, 1989
Format	CD single
Recorded	1989
Genre	Celtic, Folk-rock
Length	4:20
Label	Mercury
Writer(s)	Van Morrison
Producer	Van Morrison
Van Morrison singles chronology
"I'll Tell Me Ma" (1988) "Have I Told You Lately" (1989) "Whenever God Shines His Light" (1989)
Avalon Sunset track listing "I'd Love to Write Another Song" (3) "Have I Told You Lately" (4) "Coney Island" (5)

"Have I Told You Lately"
Single by The Chieftains, Van Morrison
from the album The Long Black Veil
Released	1995
Genre	Folk
Length	4:40
Label	RCA Records
Writer(s)	Van Morrison
Producer	Paddy Moloney (with Chris Kimsey and Ry Cooder)
The Chieftains, Van Morrison singles chronology
"Gloria" (1993) "Have I Told You Lately" (1995) "Days Like This" (1995)
The Long Black Veil track listing "The Foggy Dew" (3) "Have I Told You Lately" (4) "Changing Your Demeanour" (5)

"Have I Told You Lately"
Single by Rod Stewart
from the album Vagabond Heart
B-side	"Gasoline alley"
Released	June 1993
Recorded	4:08
Genre	Pop
Label	Warner Bros. Records
Writer(s)	Van Morrison
Producer	Michael Ostin

"Have I Told You Lately" is a hit song written by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison and recorded for his 1989 album Avalon Sunset. It is a romantic ballad often played at weddings although it was originally written also as a prayer.

It is preceded on Avalon Sunset by the song, "I'd Love to Write Another Song" proclaiming "In poetry I'd carve it well/ I'd even make it rhyme." Then, in the words of Brian Hinton what follows is:

one of the finest love songs of the century, which I remember devastated me when I first heard it, as it seemed both something never quite said before, and yet a song I felt I had known forever. Earthly love transmutes into that for God, just like in Dante, "there's a love that's divine and it's yours and it's mine". The morning sun has set by the end of the song, suggesting love shading into death, but subtly.^[1]

[edit] Critical acclaim and influence

• When released as a single in 1989, it charted at #12 on US Adult Comtemporary Charts and has been covered by numerous artists.
• In 1993 Rod Stewart's cover of the song was released that was his last Top Five solo hit to date, becoming a #5 hit in the US and the UK. This version also spent five weeks at #1 on the US adult contemporary chart.
• In 1996 "Have I Told You Lately" by the The Chieftains and Van Morrison was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
• "Have I Told You Lately" by Van Morrison was listed as No. 261 on the All Time 885 Greatest Songs compiled in 2004 by WXPN from listener's votes.^[2]
• In August 2006, Van Morrison's original recording was voted #6 on a list of the Top 10 First Dance Wedding Songs, based on a poll of 1,300 DJs in the UK.^[3]
• Van Morrison's original version of this song was #98 on the New York Daily News, The 100 Greatest Love Songs, from the list published on February 12, 2007.
• In October 2007, Van Morrison received a Million-Air certificate for over 4 million air plays of "Have I Told You Lately" from the prestigious BMI awards held in London, England.

[edit] Appearance on other albums

• It was included on the The Best of Van Morrison Morrison's first ever "Best Of" albums, that was released in 1990 .
• A live version was included on his 1994 album, A Night in San Francisco.
• Van Morrison has included this song on his 2007 compilation album, Van Morrison at the Movies - Soundtrack Hits.
• Still on Top - The Greatest Hits, another Van Morrison 2007 compilation album, contains a remastered version of this song.
• "Have I told You Lately" is also one of the songs performed in 1989, on Morrison's second video Van Morrison The Concert, released in 1990.
• It was included on the "Live on Letterman" (music from the late show) (1997). That live version was Van Morrison in a duet with Sinéad O'Connor.

[edit] In the media

"Have I Told You Lately" was featured in the movie and soundtrack from the 1996 film, One Fine Day, starring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer and also on the 2003 film, What a Girl Wants.^[4]

Impressionist and Comedian Rory Bremner included the song as one of his eight Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 on April 20 2003.^[5] Television and radio presenter Gloria Hunniford also included the song on her list on December 24 2006.^[6]

[edit] Covers

"Have I Told You Lately" has become a classic over the years and has been performed by many unknown as well as many famous artists. Some of the best known cover versions of the song are by Rod Stewart, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell,^[7] Michael Ball,^[8] Della Reese, Engelbert Humperdinck^[9] and an instrumental cover by Floyd Cramer. Andy Williams covered it on his 2006 album, I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up and performed a live version in 2007 at Royal Albert Hall in London, England.^[10] In 2006, Thomas Anders covered the song for his swing album Songs Forever. Barry Manilow included this song on his album, The Greatest Songs of the Eighties released in November 2008.^[11] "Have I Told You Lately" has also been a popular cover song internationally. Tejano group Mazz also recorded the song on their 1993 album Que Esperabas. In 1999, the Belgian band Clouseau released a Dutch translation ("Heb ik ooit gezegd", literally : "Have I ever told you"), that charted 16 weeks in the Flemish Ultratop 50 (peaking at #7). Emilio released a single of it from his album, Life is Good, which also included a version in Spanish.

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison. London: Sanctuary. ISBN 1-86074-169-X.