When Van Morrison visits a recording studio, you can bet your worn-out vinyl copy of Hard Nose the Highway he will not leave until he has recorded some seriously astral Irish blues poetry ("Celtic New Year"), tributes to his pop-culture heroes ("Just Like Greta") and a lot of mellow, easy-rolling folk-jazz numbers about the evils of the modern world and the struggle of the poet. On Magic Time, Morrison vows to "Keep Mediocrity at Bay," even though "They Sold Me Out," because they couldn't kill the "Gypsy in My Soul." "The Lion This Time" is a lilting lullaby, hearkening back to the 1970s Morrison classic "Listen to the Lion," with gentle violins and vocals, and "Lonely and Blue" is a gorgeous R&B torch ballad worthy of Little Willie John.

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."