June 12, 2026 —– Chart #354

Hello music friends,

Welcome back to another edition of Chart of the Week. This week we are going with one of those songs that seems to have lived several lives. It began as a Van Morrison song, became a big Rod Stewart hit, found its way into about ten thousand weddings, and still somehow manages to sound sincere when played by one person with a guitar.

That is no small trick.

Today’s feature is “Have I Told You Lately” by Van Morrison, with a proper tip of the hat to Rod Stewart, whose version helped make the song familiar to a whole new crowd in the 1990s.

Van Morrison’s original

Van Morrison wrote and recorded “Have I Told You Lately” for his 1989 album Avalon Sunset. By that point, Van had already spent decades building one of the most distinctive catalogs in popular music. From “Brown Eyed Girl” to “Moondance” to “Into the Mystic,” he had a way of blending soul, folk, jazz, R&B, gospel, Celtic music, and whatever else happened to be floating around in that mysterious Belfast fog.

Van’s original version is gentle, spiritual, and beautifully restrained. On the surface, it sounds like a romantic love song, which is why it has been played at so many weddings that banquet-hall sound systems probably know it by heart. But Morrison has said, and many listeners have understood, that the song also works as a prayer. It is not just a song about earthly love. It reaches for something higher.

That is part of what makes it so durable. You can hear it as a song to a spouse, a partner, a family member, or to God. The words are simple enough to be universal, but the feeling behind them is deep enough to keep the song from becoming syrupy. That is a fine line, and Van walks it well.

Rod Stewart’s version

Then along came Rod Stewart.

Rod first recorded the song for his 1991 album Vagabond Heart, but the version most people remember came from his 1993 live album Unplugged…and Seated. That performance became a major hit and helped introduce the song to a much broader pop audience.

Rod’s voice is, of course, completely different from Van Morrison’s. Van sings it like a mystic having a quiet conversation with heaven. Rod sings it like a raspy-voiced romantic standing under a streetlight at closing time, trying to make one last good point before the night is over.

And somehow both versions work.

That is usually the sign of a great song. It can survive different singers, different arrangements, and different emotional temperatures. Van’s version is more meditative. Rod’s version is more direct and sentimental. Van gives you the chapel. Rod gives you the reception afterward, with everybody holding a glass of champagne and pretending not to cry.

A song that became bigger than expected

The song was not a huge pop smash for Van Morrison when first released, but it kept growing in stature over time. Rod Stewart’s live version became a Top 5 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and the song eventually became one of those standards that people know even if they cannot quite remember who did it first.

Van also recorded a version with The Chieftains, and that collaboration won a Grammy Award in 1996. That makes sense, because the song has a natural Celtic quality to it. It feels old even though it was written in the late 1980s. It has the simplicity of a hymn and the warmth of a fireside ballad.

Some songs sound like they were written for radio. This one sounds like it was written for a quiet room.

Why it works

The structure is straightforward, but the emotional pull is strong. There is no clever trick here. No big lyrical twist. No strange bridge that makes musicians argue at rehearsal. It is just a beautifully shaped melody wrapped around a simple expression of gratitude and love.

That may be why the song has held up so well. It says something people often feel but do not say enough. And let’s be honest, most of us could probably stand to say it more often. Especially those of us who spend too much time tuning guitars, looking for capo charts, or explaining to our wives why one more guitar is technically different from the other several guitars already in the house.

Not that I know anyone like that.

A quick note for the guitar crowd

This one lays nicely on acoustic guitar. It is not hard to play, but it does require some restraint. The danger is overplaying it. The song wants room to breathe. Keep the strumming gentle, let the chord changes do their work, and do not rush it.

It is also a good reminder that not every song needs to be a campfire belter. Some songs are better when you lean in a little. This is one of them.

And if you sing it, mean it. A song like this can sniff out insincerity pretty quickly. It does not need vocal gymnastics. It needs honesty.

So this week, give both versions a listen. Start with Van Morrison for the spirit of the song, then listen to Rod Stewart for the big-hearted performance that carried it into the mainstream. Two very different singers, two very different approaches, and one great song.

Have you told somebody lately?

Not a bad idea.

Keep Rockin,

Stan