Chris Higgins
3 Killer Songs About Vincent van Gogh
by Chris Higgins - September 14, 2009 - 8:01 AM

Did you know that Vincent van Gogh has inspired (at least) three great songs? The first I want to share with you is by Jonathan Richman with the Modern Lovers backing him up (iTunes link), and it’s really sweet — smart, funny, and even moderately educational. Here’s a music video a fan made on YouTube:

“Vincent van Gogh” – Jonathan Richman w/the Modern Lovers

Some sample lyrics:

Have you heard about the painter Vincent van Gogh,
Who loved color and who let it show.
Now in the museum…what have we here?
The baddest painter since God’s Jan Vermeer.
And he loved, he loved, he loved life so bad,
His paintings had twice the color other paintings had.
So bad so bad that the world had to know,
The man loved color and he let it show.

“Vincent” – Don McLean

But there’s more van Gogh action where that came from. Don McLean included a track entitled “Vincent” (iTunes link) on his famous American Pie album. It’s sometimes misreferenced as “Starry Starry Night” as those are the opening lyrics. And guess what, there are fan videos for that one too….

Here’s a truly powerful live performance from 1972, live on “Sounds for Saturday”:

Sample lyrics:

And now I understand what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.
They would not listen
they did not know how
perhaps they’ll listen now.

Read tons more about “Vincent” via Wikipedia, including a list of dozens of covers — everyone from NOFX to Chet Atkins covered it. (Okay, okay, here’s the NOFX cover and the Chet Atkins cover for the curious.)

“Vincent van Gogh” – Bob Dylan (Live w/Rolling Thunder Revue)

This one speaks for itself. Never officially released, it was written sometime in the ’60s and available on various live bootlegs, primarily from the ’70s. Here is one such performance:

But Wait, There’s Even More

If that’s not enough for you, check out Wikipedia’s list of Cultural Depictions of Vincent van Gogh (Musical – Popular). If you find any other Vincent van Gogh related gems, please post links in the comments!

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Comments (8)

  1. Also, gotta love Deb Talan’s Vincent.

    http://www.hipcast.com/export/Pa62b10d996781049f6f06b5ac1d8f4baZV54QlRAYmdy.mp3

    posted by Drew on 9-14-2009 at 8:34 am

  2. I have a Vincent van Gogh action figure. He has 2 interchangable heads (with and without ear). His joints move, and he can hold a pallet and brush. The figure also came with an easel and several mini-prints.

    posted by melissa on 9-14-2009 at 11:14 am

  3. A band called the Vigilantes of Love had a great song back in the 90s about van Gogh called “Skin”. The band is no more, but here’s a YouTube video of the songwriter Bill Mallonee telling the story behind the song and singing it in someone’s backyard.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaAUC2yaphg

    posted by Norm McDonald on 9-14-2009 at 11:41 am

  4. One day in an intro to art class in college, our professor projected the painting of “Starry Starry Night” on the auditorium screen, dimmed the lights, and played “Vincent” in its entirety. Good thing the lights were low, because half the class ended up in tears.

    posted by Shasta on 9-14-2009 at 12:43 pm

  5. I love “Vincent” and appreciate both McLean’s original, as well as Josh Grogan’s version. I tear up whenever it’s played, too, Shasta.

    ReCaptcha: precisely pronouns. It sounds like it belongs in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” when she’s talking to the caterpillar.

    posted by Tamsyn on 9-14-2009 at 3:43 pm

  6. i always think of van gogh when i hear the police song roxanne. i know it’s probably not about him but it reminds me of the relationship he had with that prostitute who he asked to stop being a prostitute and marry him and she refused. i picture the nude drawing of her he did.

    posted by kat on 9-14-2009 at 4:56 pm

  7. NoFX does a pretty rockin cover of Don McLean’s “Vincent”. It’s a song on their b-side compilation “45 or 46 songs that weren’t good enough to go on our other records”

    posted by @my!! on 9-14-2009 at 6:36 pm

  8. what about the Josh Groban’s rendition of Vincent? I think that one is the most beautifult of them all.

    posted by Hidden sunshine on 9-14-2009 at 7:00 pm

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