♫ Vincent ♫

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I last played this in 2019 … it’s one of those that you don’t think about until you see it mentioned or hear it played, and then you say, “Oh yeah … I remember that one!”

Van GoghVincent by Don McLean was released in 1972.  The words and imagery of this song represent the life, work, and death of Vincent Van Gogh. The Starry Night is one of the Dutch impressionist’s most famous paintings.The lyrics, “Paint your palette blue and gray” reflect the prominent colors of the painting, and are probably a reference to Vincent’s habit of sucking on or biting his paintbrushes while he worked. The “ragged men in ragged clothes” and “how you tried to set them free” refer to Van Gogh’s humanitarian activities and love of the socially outcast as also reflected in his paintings and drawings. “They would not listen/They did not know how” refers to Van Gogh’s family and some associates who were critical of his kindness to “the wretched.”

According to McLean …

“It was inspired by a book. And it said that it was written by Vincent’s brother, Theo. And Theo also had this illness, the same one Van Gogh had. So what caused the idea to percolate in my head was, first of all, what a beautiful idea for a piece of music. Secondly, I could set the record straight, basically, he wasn’t crazy. But then I thought, well, how do you do this? Again, I wanted to have each thing be different.

I’m looking through the book and fiddling around and I saw the painting. I said, Wow, just tell the story using the color, the imagery, the movement, everything that’s in the painting. Because that’s him more than he is him.

One thing I want to say is that music is like poetry in so many ways. You have wit and drama and humor and pathos and anger and all of these things create the subtle tools that an artist, a stage artist, a good one, uses. Sadly, this has really gone out of music completely. So it makes someone like me a relic, because I am doing things and people like me are doing things that utilize all the classic means of emotional expression.”

This hit #1 in the UK, #3 in Canada, and #12 in the U.S.

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)
Don McLean

Starry, starry night
Paint your palette blue and grey
Look out on a summer’s day
With eyes that know the darkness in my soul
Shadows on the hills
Sketch the trees and the daffodils
Catch the breeze and the winter chills
In colors on the snowy linen land

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

Starry, starry night
Flaming flowers that brightly blaze
Swirling clouds in violet haze
Reflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue
Colors changing hue
Morning fields of amber grain
Weathered faces lined in pain
Are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand

Now I understand
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they did not know how
Perhaps they’ll listen now

For they could not love you
But still your love was true
And when no hope was left in sight
On that starry, starry night
You took your life, as lovers often do
But I could have told you, Vincent
This world was never meant for one
As beautiful as you

Starry, starry night
Portraits hung in empty halls
Frameless heads on nameless walls
With eyes that watch the world and can’t forget
Like the strangers that you’ve met
The ragged men in the ragged clothes
The silver thorn, a bloody rose
Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow

Now I think I know
What you tried to say to me
And how you suffered for your sanity
And how you tried to set them free
They would not listen, they’re not listening still
Perhaps they never will

Songwriters: Don McLean
Vincent (Starry, Starry Night) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

25 thoughts on “♫ Vincent ♫”

  1. I’ve loved this song since a long, long time ago. Thank you for adding some history about Van Gogh’s humanitarian activities and love of the socially outcast. Sounds like he was an enlightened person. Maybe one day, I’ll read more about him.

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  3. Jill, well done. This is truly a favorite. My wife is swaying and touching her heart to the recording. He has a double CD set where he sings his hits and then sings others. He does an awesome version of Roy Orbison’s “Crying,” eg. Keith

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    • Then I’m extra glad I chose this one!!! So glad both you and your wife liked it! Oooohhhh … I’ll have to check out that one, for I always liked Orbison’s “Crying”!

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    • Sometimes when I can’t get the reblog button to work, I find it’s the browser. I have that problem most often with Opera or Firefox, but rarely with Chrome, so I use all three, and usually Chrome works best if there is a problem with the other two. Thanks for trying, anyway!

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      • Anyway, I adore Van Gogh. AND this song. Have you seen the movie “Loving Vincent”? It shows his life using his own artwork. It will make you love him too. Such a kind loving & talented soul. So sad that he was kept apart from the two people who loved & understood him.

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  9. Pingback: ♫ Vincent ♫ — Filosofa’s Word | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

  10. Can anyone out there help me. I remember 10 or 20 years ago a famous pzinting of a nighttime scene was discoverec to be covered in soot or something, and when the painting was cleaned it turned out to be a daytime scene. In the back of my mind I thought it was Starry Night, but that makes no sense.
    Meanwhile, great choice, Jill. Only, I don’t remember this ever being released as a single. I first heard it in the 80s when my roommate played the album. Where was I in 1972. I wasn’t getting high on acid by then!

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