THE STORY OF A SONG: Them - "Gloria" (1964)

Van Morrison was already making an impact in Belfast clubs for his passionate treatment of Ray Charles’ classics when he was hired by a group that had been formed in 1962 as the Gamblers. Recruited as a saxophonist, as he was given the opportunity to share vocal duties, Van’s stage charisma finally led to his taking over the frontman role. Newly renamed “Them” in April 1964 (the other members: brothers Jackie and Pat McAuley, Billy Harrison, Alan Henderson, and Pete Bardens), the group initially focused on covers, but soon began to include some originals. The very first was Gloria, a simple but compelling three-chord vamp that Morrison sometimes stretched out as long as 20 minutes, seductively describing each item of clothing that his lady was removing in his room, and what she was doing to make him feel “all right”. 

Signed by British Decca, their fevered version of the Big Joe Williams' blues classic Baby Please Don’t Go became an early 1965 Top Ten hit in England. Its B side, Gloria (in a tightly edited version) was initially overlooked despite its club reputation. When the single reached the United States, it was Gloria that - barely - charted (reached #93). 

As Them scored more substantial 1965 hits with Here Comes the Night and Morrison's Mystic Eyes, other acts began to adopt their repertoire, and in 1966 the Chicago garage-rock band Shadows of Knight reached the U.S. Top Ten with their grungy, exciting cover of Gloria. The original remains definitive. 

Dave Marsh writes that Morrison “sings Gloria in a lustful croak, like a demented, horny frog,” the erotic atmosphere heightened by some nasty guitar (Jimmy Page was the guest guitar soloist on Please Don't Go, and possibly here as well). Van's voice, raves Paul Williams, is "a fierce beacon in the darkness, the lighthouse at the end of the world", on "one of the most perfect rock anthems known to humankind".