The Healing Game (song)
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| “The Healing Game” | |||||
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| Single by Van Morrison from the album The Healing Game |
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| A-side | "The Healing Game" | ||||
| B-side | "Full Force Gale 96"/"Look What the Good People Done" or "Have I Told You Lately"/"Whenever God Shines His Light"/"Gloria" | ||||
| Released | February 1997 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Recorded | August 13, 1996 | ||||
| Genre | Folk Rock, Rock | ||||
| Length | 5:16 | ||||
| Label | Polydor for Exile Productions Ltd. | ||||
| Writer(s) | Van Morrison | ||||
| Producer | Van Morrison | ||||
| Van Morrison singles chronology | |||||
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| The Healing Game track listing | |||||
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"The Healing Game" is the title song on Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison's 1997 album. It was released twice as a single in 1997 as an A-side with different B-sides - including "Have I Told You Lately" and "Gloria".
Morrison explains the song in Q Magazine as: "The song is about when people used to sing on the streets: It came from America, where they had all the doo-wop groups. That's the general idea of the song: you've never really moved from this position. You took a lot of detours but you're still back on the corner."[1]
Brian Hinton remarks on the song: "Van is like the protagonists in Yeats play, Purgatorial, condemned to eternal recurrence, 'here I am again', back with the 'backstreet jelly roll'....only music can assuage."[2]
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[edit] Covers
[edit] Appearance on other albums
- "The Healing Game" is one of the songs on disc one of the 2007 compilation album, The Best of Van Morrison Volume 3.
- It is one of the hits on Morrison's third compilation album issued in 2007 — Still on Top - The Greatest Hits. It is listed as an alternate take and appears on both the 2CD album issued in the U.K. and also the single disc - 21 hit album released in the U.S. on November 06, 2007.
[edit] Personnel on original release
- Van Morrison - vocals
- Georgie Fame - Hammond organ
- Ronnie Johnson- electric guitar
- Nicky Scott - electric bass
- Alec Dankworth - double bass
- Leo Green- tenor saxophone
- Ralph Salmins - percussion
- Geoff Dunn - drums
- Pee Wee Ellis - baritone saxophone
- Matt Holland - trumpet
- Haji Ahkba - flugelhorn
- Robin Aspland - piano
- Georgie Fame, Brian Kennedy, Pee Wee Ellis, Leo Green, Matt Holland - backing vocals
- Horns arranged by - Leo Green and Matt Holland
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Hinton, Brian (1997). Celtic Crossroads: The Art of Van Morrison, Sanctuary, ISBN 1-86074169X
[edit] External links
- Greil Marcus review The Healing Game
- Lyrics and Audio sample 1990s, The Healing Game
