Moondance is a song by Northern Irish singer Van Morrison and the title track of his third studio album Moondance (1970). Written by Morrison and produced with Lewis Merenstein, it was recorded in August 1969 at Mastertone Studio in New York and blends soft rock with jazz rock. The arrangement features a walking bass, piano, guitar, saxophones and flute in a smooth jazz swing, and Morrison has said he wrote the melody first on a soprano sax and then added lyrics, with the song often described as a sophisticated autumnal nocturne about love. Although the album premiered in 1970, the single was released in September 1977, peaking at #92 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #91 on the Cash Box Top 100, with “Cold Wind in August” as the B-side. Moondance has become one of Morrison’s best known and most performed songs, praised for its direct jazz approach and listed among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll; it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
