Now That's What I Call Music

Boingboing links today to a collection of Van Morrison songs from 1967 that are the product of a single recording session during which Morrison dashed off and performed 31 tunes to satisfy a contractual obligation to his record company, which he appears to hate. They're all about a minute long, and Morrison seems drunk in most of them, notably "Want a Danish," "Blow in Your Nose" and "Nose in Your Blow."

The songs consist of him strumming a few out-of-tune chords over and over again and free associating. Although a masterful singer, Morrison was (then, at least) an indifferent guitarist, and really he just kind of talks most of the time. But it's still fantastic listening. Here's my favorite, "Dum dum George," in which his delivery reminds me a lot of recently deceased standup comic Mitch Hedberg's:

This here's a story about dumb dumb George
came up to Boston one sunny afternoon
he drove up from New York City
and he was freaky
and he wanted to record me
and I said "George, you're dumb."
And he said, "I know. Why do you think I make so much money?
I want to do a record that will make number 1."
Dumb, dumb

Genius. Check it out.