The only part of this medley that matters is "Vanlose Stairway", the remainder is just fill for the set. I put this song on once on a drive through eastern California with a dear friend I haven't seen in a long time en route to the east coast. We were terribly hung over and feeling like bloody hell, we'd been in the car for a few hours with just some background music while we caught up and bullshitted. During a lull in our conversation I put this song on and my companion started laughing the second he started singing.
The reason why is you can't understand a word he says throughout the entire song. I challenge you to listen to this song without looking at the lyrics and tell me what he is actually saying.
With Van what he is saying isn't even the point. What is you can derive from the emotions bleeding out through the speakers, rattling off of your eardrums and settling down in you gut, your heart; filling you with a warmth and soul that cracks a smile and sets your blood running through your veins in an autobahn of traffic engorging you and everyone around.
But if you want to go beyond that and dig into the words you'll find that it is about a Danish girl in Copenhagen who lived on the fourth floor of an old building. It is about Van's spiritual awakening and his eastern beliefs, about Gita and Krishna, about love and the pursuit of Brahman.
So throw it on and revel in the mysticism that is Van when he is live and cranking, when the words are flowing and the meaning is understood without comprehension. He is a force of nature whipping across the planes taking out trailers and trees, across oceans sending ships to the deep and taking my existence onto another plane beyond the comprehension of so many who simply do not get it in the end.
