From Chicago and Memphis to the state of Florida and even overseas in Ireland, both men and women seem to love the hardcore blues. Perhaps that is why so many Marco Island real estate owners appreciate Van Morrison’s “TB Sheets.” The modern blues classic is as raw as it gets.
For many people, the song was first discovered playing in Martin Scorsese’s 1999 film, Bringing Out the Dead. The phenomenal track sets the tone for Nicolas Cage as a hallucinating paramedic on the graveyard shift in a New York City ambulance. It’s an offbeat song written and performed by the renowned Van Morrison. Lasting over 9 and a half minutes, it stems from his solo album, 1967’s Blowin’ Your Mind. The T.B. stands for tuberculosis. You see, the singer’s girlfriend is so dirty that she brings diseases to his bed. Now that’s hardcore blues.
Van’s harmonica lingers in listeners’ ears as he describes a visit to a hospital room. Here he basically reprimands his unfaithful girlfriend, “Julie,” who is sick in bed. He lectures her that it’s simply not natural to be up all night, sleeping around and eventually catching her lethal illness.
Wanting to flee from the closed and infectious room, “I gotta go, I gotta go,” he declares. Pushing him out the door is the unfaithful Julie’s “Little star struck innuendos,” her “inadequacies, and foreign bodies” that repeatedly invaded his lover’s bed.
The heartbroken lover is stuck with overwhelming pain and guilt. He feels deeply for the patient, but the party girl deserves her unavoidable fate. Van explains “I gotta go” to the woman, but she pleads with him, “Please stay.” Accepting his foolishness, he gives in, stays put, and snaps an order to his cheating partner with no remorse; “I want a drink of water. Go in the kitchen and get me a drink of water.” Before long, the awful stench of death is in the air. “Open up the window. Let me breathe” he barks to Julie, and sadly admits “I can almost smell your T.B. Sheets.”
Folks with homes for sale in Marco Island may be concerned that an emotional Van often collapsed on the floor in the recording studio and burst into tears after working on “T.B. Sheets.” His mother, Violet Morrison claims the melody and its lyrics came to her boy in the form of a child’s nightmare. In fact, the story behind his dream was so frightening, the young musician spent much time describing his horrific visions by song.
No, no one can cover the classic better than the aging Irishman, but blues legend John Lee Hooker, who worked on several songs with Van Morrison in the 1980s, offers a mellow version. And a couple of British techno kids, Lydia Lunch & Terry Edwards recorded an upbeat techno take of the ditty on the latter artist’s 2004 CD, Queer Street.
See, it doesn’t matter where you live or even what side of the Atlantic you are on. Even folks living in Marco Island luxury homes can relate to the Irishman’s blues.
About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty:
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty serves 19 counties throughout Florida with over 40 locations and approximately 1,800 Sales Professionals. The full-service brokerage company, founded in 1999, is a subsidiary of Lennar Corporation, a Fortune 500 company and is a franchise member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices’ network, one of the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name. The company offers residential and commercial services as well as seasonal rentals, property management, REO & Foreclosures, corporate relocations, referral services, title, home service plans, and personal concierge services. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty ranks in the Top 10 in the network among 42,000 Sales Professionals, 1,200 offices throughout 47 states. The company is the overall No. 1 fundraiser for The Sunshine Kids Foundation, having generated more than $3.37 million since 2001. Visit www.BHHSFloridaRealty.com.
