What is the meaning behind “Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox And then we start to dance, and now I’m singing like”? Shape of You by Ed Sheeran
- by imrk
- March 04, 2023
“Van the Man” is Irish singer, Van Morrison . Morrison is best known for the 1967 hit, “Brown Eyed Girl.” He’s also one of Ed’s greatest musical inspirations. According to Sheeran, Morrison’s 1988 album Irish Heartbeat first introduced him to music. In a BBC Radio 1 interview, Ed revealed that this song was originally intended for Rihanna, but he decided against it since he couldn’t imagine her singing this line about Van Morrison: I went in to write songs for other people […] And I was like, “This would really work for Rihanna.” And then I started singing lyrics like, “Putting Van the Man on the jukebox,” and I was like, “Well, she’s not really gonna sing that, is she?” And then we sort of decided halfway through that we were just gonna make it for me.