Taylor Hicks ~ "Rough God Goes Riding"

Why does a song play over and over in your head?

During a recent tour through New England, Taylor Hicks covered Van Morrison’s “Rough God Goes Riding,” by some accounts a metaphor for the wrong side of luck and fortune or the avenging angel of death.

It connects.

It is this year’s “Border Song,” a Taylor cover of Elton John in 2009, and “Bulletproof,” the very popular cover of LaRoux in 2010.

Perhaps it was the timing—just hours after devastating tornadoes had hit his home state of Alabama. Taylor had spoken earlier that day about his efforts to help tornado victims in Alabama. “Rough God Goes Riding” comes from Morrison’s album, The Healing Game.

Taylor’s debut of the Van Morrison song at The Broadway Theatre in Pitman, New Jersey on May 12, was a new and intense setlist keeper. With Brandon Peeples playing the classic upright bass and joining the vocals, the strong, pounding chorus drove home a connection that continues to play.

When the rough god goes riding
When the rough god goes gliding

Riding on in
Riding on in
Riding on in

Although it’s driven by somber lyrics, the song never loses its musicality. You can listen to it over and over. It plays in your head. The harshness and barbs of the words don’t matter. It is the release that unhappy times find through music—solace and healing.

This was not the first time Taylor had covered the Irish musical legend. Morrison was by far the most frequently covered artist on previous tours in 2007 and 2010. During the 2007 National Tour alone, 25 different Morrison songs made the set list as covers or tags including “Rough God Goes Riding” that was tagged 13 times. “Naked in the Jungle” was a frequent encore.

It isn’t surprising that the music of Van Morrison and Taylor Hicks connects. Morrison grew up in Northern Ireland listening to his father’s extensive record collection that included many of the same artists that Taylor Hicks credits for his musical core.

“…the young Morrison grew up listening to artists such as Jelly Roll Morton, Ray Charles, Lead Belly, and Solomon Burke; of whom Morrison later said, "If it weren't for guys like Ray and Solomon, I wouldn't be where I am today. Those guys were the inspiration that got me going. If it wasn't for that kind of music, I couldn't do what I'm doing now."

Ray Charles—often mentioned by Taylor as his inspiration.

“Rough God Goes Riding” (1997) is the opening song on the album, The Healing Game by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. According to biographer Clinton Heylin this song: “signaled a return to the religious and spiritual preoccupations that had driven Morrison's work throughout the eighties, the image of the Rough God being derived from Robin Williamson's 'Mr. Thomas' — recorded by Morrison for Inarticulate — in which 'the rough God goes riding with his shears', a reference to the avenging Messiah who shall return to wreak final judgement on Man."

Greil Marcus, rock critic and columnist for Rolling Stone, and author of “When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison” (2010) wrote that "The deep burr of Morrison's voice buries the words, which cease to matter; you might not hear them until the tenth time you play the album, or long after that. 'It's when that rough god goes riding,' he sings, drawing the words both from Yeats and down in his chest, and you might never know it's the Angel of Death that has you in its embrace."

When Taylor Hicks sings “Rough God Goes Riding,” you can understand the words and hear and see the emotion they evoke. The slow, deliberate tempo is powerful and intense. Jeff Lopez wields the sax like a weapon lashing out. You almost expect a call and response with the sax and harp, but it is pure sax solo.

The rough gods are riding. A friend told me about stumbling over debris in the dark calling out the name of her loved one in Tuscaloosa. More devastation has ripped through other cities, as that rough god goes gliding from more dark skies. I drove home tonight watching the rising plumes of ominous smoke from Western wildfires.

Rough God Goes Riding
By Van Morrison, 1997

Oh the mud splattered victims
Have to pay out all along the ancient highway
Torn between half truth and victimisation
Fighting back with counter attacks

It's when that rough god goes riding
When the rough god goes gliding
And then rough god goes riding
Riding on in

I was flabbergasted by the headlines
People in glasshouses throwing stones
Gaping wounds that will never heal
Now they're moaning like a dog in a manger

It's when that rough god goes riding
And then the rough god goes gliding
There'll be nobody hiding
When that rough god comes riding on in

And it's a matter of survival
When you're born with your back against the wall
Won't somebody hand me a bible
Won't you give me that number to call

When that rough god goes riding
And then that rough god goes gliding
They'll be nobody hiding
When that rough god goes riding on in
Riding on in

When that rough god goes riding
When that rough god goes gliding
There'll be nobody hiding
When that rough god goes riding on in
Riding on in

There'll be no more heroes
They'll be reduced to zero
When that rough god goes riding
Riding on in
Riding on in
Riding on in
Riding on in


From Ray Charles to Van Morrison to Taylor Hicks—connections decades and generations in the making are played out on new stages. Music is the great super highway across borders and generations.

And it gets us through some tough times.

~~~

After the performance of “Rough God Goes Riding” in Glenn Falls, NY, Taylor told the audience of an unforeseen meeting with Van Morrison. Taylor was scheduled to appear on Live with Regis and Kelly in New York City. He was on the set when he was told he wouldn’t be appearing because he had been “bumped” by none other than Van Morrison. Taylor said that if he had to be bumped he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather be bumped by than Van Morrison.

When Morrison recorded “Rough God Goes Riding” in 1997, Taylor Hicks at age 21 released his first album, In Your Time, with seven tracks and the humblest of beginnings. Now it is collectible and Taylor is on tour and covering one of the artists who inspired him most.

Good music lasts.

And, unexplainably, it plays over and over in your head.

Taylor Hicks ~ Rough God Goes Riding
SweetTFan Pitnam, NJ



The legend Van Morrison in Germany in 2010 Rough God Goes Riding: by vossmeister


Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Morrison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greil_Marcus
Cath at TTHC Connections Anthology statistics

Photo and edit by San.