“Stranded” by Van Morrison

Van Morrison opened his 2005 album Magic Time with "Stranded", one of ten originals on a record critics received warmly, and it's a slow, late-night lament from the Northern Irish singer-songwriter. The song is his own, words and music, and he produced it, sings it and plays the alto saxophone himself, a smoky counterpoint to Brian Connor's piano. Foggy Lyttle is on guitar, David Hayes on bass and Liam Bradley on drums, with Bradley and Jerome Rimson singing backup.

The subject is a man cut adrift, confused and alone in a modern world he no longer feels part of, and the setting has a gentle doo-wop sway to it: AllMusic heard traces of the Platters' "Twilight Time" and the Penguins' "Earth Angel". He has played it often in concert ever since.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.