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Creativity Quote by Van Morrison

"I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out"

About this Quote

Van Morrison’s blunt little admission isn’t studio trivia so much as a worldview: abundance first, selection later. In an era that sells genius as lightning-in-a-bottle, he quietly reframes it as hoarding weather. The line lands because it demystifies craft without demoting it. “Far more than I can use” signals both obsession and restraint; he’s not chasing perfection by getting everything right, but by generating enough raw material that the right moments can be recognized after the fact.

The subtext is control. Morrison’s career has always carried a streak of guardedness about access to his process and, by extension, to him. Recording twice what’s released keeps the public-facing catalog curated, not exhaustive. It also implies a private archive - songs as lived experience that don’t automatically become content. That matters now, when the streaming economy nudges artists toward constant output and “deluxe” editions that monetize the cutting-room floor. Morrison’s comment reads like a refusal to confuse productivity with publication.

Contextually, it fits the way his music often feels: improvised, searching, devotional, as if the performance is one possible channeling among many. Recording excess gives him room to chase takes where the band locks in, the phrasing catches fire, or the mood turns transcendent - the stuff you can’t schedule. The real flex isn’t that he records a lot. It’s that he can leave most of it unheard, trusting that what survives isn’t everything, just the essential.

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TopicMusic
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APA Style (7th ed.)
Morrison, Van. (2026, January 16). I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-record-far-more-than-i-can-use-theres-95611/

Chicago Style
Morrison, Van. "I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-record-far-more-than-i-can-use-theres-95611/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I always record far more than I can use. There's probably twice as much recorded as comes out." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-always-record-far-more-than-i-can-use-theres-95611/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.

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Van Morrison on Recording More Than Needed in Music Creation
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Van Morrison (born August 31, 1945) is a Musician from United Kingdom.

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