Rough God Goes Riding
Rough God Goes Riding is the opening track on Van Morrison’s 1997 album The Healing Game. The song runs 6 minutes and 19 seconds and blends folk rock with rock. It reached number 168 on the UK charts.
Two B-sides came with the single. An alternative version of The Healing Game appears on all editions of Morrison’s 2007 compilation Still on Top - The Greatest Hits. The other B-side, At the End of the Day, was included as a bonus track on the 2008 reissue of The Healing Game.
Scholars link the song to Morrison’s renewed religious and spiritual concerns from the 1980s. Biographer Clinton Heylin says the track signals that return, with the Rough God image drawn from Robin Williamson’s Mr. Thomas. Music critic Greil Marcus notes Morrison’s deep voice can bury the words, so you might not hear them until several listens.
Rough God Goes Riding has appeared on Morrison collections several times. It is on the last disc of the limited three-disc edition of Still on Top - The Greatest Hits (2007) and is the only song from The Healing Game on the 2015 compilation The Essential Van Morrison. In 2015’s Duets: Re-working the Catalogue, Morrison performs it as a duet with his daughter Shana Morrison. A 1998 Rockpalast Christmas TV performance of the song featured Candy Dulfer and Fred Wesley.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:42 (CET).