Songfacts®:

• The opening track of Saint Dominic's Preview, this is a tribute to Jackie Wilson, one of Van Morrison's biggest influences. Released as the first single from the album, it charted at #66 on the Hot 100.
• Guitarist Doug Messenger recalled the recording of the song to Uncut: "'Jackie Wilson Said' was totally disorganized. He didn't know where anything went, and no one seemed to know what to do with it. Van went away and the band worked on the basic structure. When he came back we went through it a couple of times and he was real happy because all of a sudden it seemed to be making sense. He said, 'I think it's coming together,' which is what he always said when he felt it was working."
  
  "I remember he said to the drummer, Ricky Schlosser, 'When I sing "boom boom boom," hit the tom and the kick drum at the same time.' We ran through it once or twice, and the first recorded take is what's on the album. It was all over the place, but somehow it worked. Even when he ad-libbed at the end -'One more time'- somehow we all kept it together. At the end, Van was smiling like a Cheshire Cat. 'I think we got it!' We tried a second take and - of course - it all fell apart."
• The song was used as the opening theme for the 1991 comedy movie Queens Logic.
• This was covered by Dexys Midnight Runners on their 1982 album Too-Rye-Ay. Released as a single, it reached #5 on the UK singles chart.