Beautiful Vision - Composition

Composition

According to the liner notes, some of the lyrics derive from the book Glamour: A World Problem by esoteric writer Alice Bailey. It is also said to have been strongly influenced by his new girlfriend, Ulla Munch, from Vanløse in Copenhagen, Denmark. The album also emphasized the distance Morrison had moved away from R&B and was inspired by Irish music. He commented at the time, "It's important for people to get into the music of their own culture... I think it can be dangerous to not validate the music of where you're from, for anybody, whether it's Bulgaria or whatever."

The opening song, "Celtic Ray", was one of the first songs to be written for the album. It is concerned with the singer's connection to the ancient Celtic culture. The song has the concept of messages coming through the ether from Mother Ireland. "Northern Muse (Solid Ground)" adds a young woman in County Down to a similar theme. Morrison commented in an interview with Hot Press in 1982 that "Some of the material, when it started, was more traditional. Some of the songs - like 'Solid Ground' and 'Celtic Ray' - they basically started out as folk-oriented stuff, and ... ended up being integrated as folk/R&B."

"Dweller on the Threshold" and "Aryan Mist" are credited to the religious writings of Alice Bailey. Her book discusses the New Age ideas of "glamours" or "mental illusions", which formed a fog that covers the "spiritual warrior" and the "Aryan race" from the world. When the "dweller on the threshold" was covered with the light of the soul or "Angel of Presence" illumination came. Some of these ideas were quoted in the two Morrison compositions, both co-written with Hugh Murphy. In 1982 Morrison revealed in an interview: "I've read Glamour four or five times, and I get different things out of it each time. 's saying a lot of things. It's depth reading. You might read it on Wednesday and on Thursday you pick it up again and get an entirely different thing. I don't feel qualified to speak about what it's about - you really have to read it yourself ... because there's so much i there."

"Beautiful Vision" can be interpreted as either a vision of heaven or of his girlfriend, who also influences "She Gives Me Religion" and "Vanlose Stairway" (which refers to the stairway in the apartment where she lived.) Biographer Clinton Heylin believes the songs "'Vanlose Stairway' and 'She Gives Me Religion' perhaps Morrison's most captivating love songs since the days of Veedon Fleece."

"Cleaning Windows" is about Morrison's first full-time job and the last carefree days of his adolescence in the years 1961 to 1962, and is a metaphor for the idea that his music alters people's perceptions of life. Biographer Steve Turner believes in this song Morrison "captured the balance between his contentment at work and his aspirations to learn more about music. It conveyed the impression that his happiness with the mundane routine of smoking Woodbine cigarettes, eating Paris buns and drinking lemonade was made possible by the promise that at the end of the day he could enter the world of books and records ... ". The melody is very upbeat and embellished with organ and guitar, reminiscent to the music of The Band. The song is written in a similar fassion to Morrison's 1970 song, "And It Stoned Me".

It is widely interpreted by Morrison's biographers that "Across the Bridge Where Angels Dwell" is literally about the bridge that separated Morrison's Mill Valley, California home from the San Mateo house where his daughter, Shana lived with Morrison's ex-wife Janet Rigsbee.

Beautiful Vision ends with the instrumental "Scandinavia", with Morrison on piano and prominently features Mark Isham's synthesizer. "Scandinavia" was nominated in the Best Rock Instrumental Performance category for the 25th Annual Grammy Awards.