Written by: Van Morrison
Produced by: Tommy Scott
Released: March '65 on Parrot
Charts: 1 week
Top spot: No. 95
When Morrison wrote his first hit, "Gloria," he was just another hungry young rocker, with the Belfast garage band Them. "I was just being me, a street cat from Belfast," Morrison said. "Probably like thousands of kids from Belfast who were in bands." A Chicago group called Shadows of Knight hit with a more cautious version in 1966; Morrison later complained that "Gloria" was "capitalized on a lot."
Appears on: The Story of Them (Polydor)