Mar 252013
Real simple, like the poll asks: What’s the best Jesus song in rock?
Loading ...Are there rock ‘n roll Passover songs? It’s one of those Judeo-Christian crossover periods. Peace on earth and good times with family to all!
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Oh, come on. You couldn’t see fit to list “Jesus Just Left Chicago” by ZZ Effing Top?!
Are you blind, man? It’s there!
(Actually, I forgot about that one. Just added.)
As much as I like “Jesus & Tequila” it has to be “Jesus, etc” from Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot .
I have to vote “other”
After the 80s banter we need Depeche Mode and “Personal Jesus”
Hayes Carll did “She Left Me for Jesus” a couple of years ago,
http://youtu.be/hhkHG-oKCEU
How about that Judee Sill number “Jesus Was A Crossmaker” I had never heard it until the Judee Sill hipster revival a few years ago, but it’s not a bad song.
First of all, have we concluded that the Doobs version is better than the Byrds version or even this version ….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSzjbYomSWA
Secondly, is there no love for “Jesus Built My Hotrod” by Ministry.
Whatevah, I voted for Big Star anyways.
I enjoy “Jesus Christ” by Woody Guthrie, mostly because he also used the exact same music and melody for one of his two songs called “Jesse James”.
I’ll second Jesus, etc
Yeah, my Wilco fandom has dimmed in the last few years, but that song is still sublime.
Other: They ain’t making Jews like Jesus any more. Seriously I think its good to be reminded Jesus was Jewish. His Hebrew name is controversial. Is it Yeshua, Yshua, Yehooshuah or whatever. Besides I like Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. Not getting into religion.
I like the Vaselines take on this song.
What??? No love for “Jesus Christ Superstar?”
I’ll go with The The’s “Armageddon Days” especially because the opening is a direct nod to Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz”, replacing Sweet’s bandmembers with conflicting deities.
http://youtu.be/InjQQnUEs3g
http://youtu.be/VzpWJx3I2DY
Bobby Charles – Save Me Jesus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zf_E4dip1M
Runner Up: “Drop Kick Me Jesus” by Bobby Bare.
Strangely, I know a bunch of great Jesus songs. But Jim White’s is my absolute favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-cP7Fc_wf0
“Jesus…eating eggs with y’all.”
Love that song!
Hrrrrmmmm…do I go with Spacemen 3’s “Walking With Jesus”? or Tom Waits’ “Chocolate Jesus”… I choose the chocolate.
Speaking of which, you know why Jesus can’t eat M&M’s? They keep falling through the holes in his hands.
“Jesus The Missing Years” John Prine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9BRia7J9P4
“The years went by like sweet little days
With babies crying pork chops and beaujolais
When he woke up he was seventeen
The world was angry. the world was mean.
Why the man down the street and the kid on the stoop
All agreed that life stank. all the world smelled like poop
Baby poop that is ..the worst kind
So he grew his hair long and thew away his comb
And headed back to jerusalem to find mom, dad and home
But when he got there the cupboard was bare
Except for an old black man with a fishing rod
He said “whatcha gonna be when you grow up? ”
Jesus said “god”
Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?
I’m a human corkscrew and all my wine is blood
They’re gonna kill me mama. they don’t like me bud.
So jesus went to heaven and he went there awful quick
All them people killed him and he wasn’t even sick
So come and gather around me my contemporary peers
And I’ll tell you all the story of
Jesus…the missing years”
I still cringe at the redundancy of “my contemporary peers”…SO WHAT? “Coulda been worse.” – LD
aloha
LD
Heaven On Their Minds would lead the field if eligible.
Tull’s “Hymn 43” all the way, for the famous riff.
I hate to get all serious, but I think Dylan’s “In the Garden” from the mostly poorly done Saved album is a great song, though that opinion (like my high opinion of other songs from that record) is based mostly on live performances. I can’t seem to find a good example on youtube, though. Likewise, “What Can I Do for You”, which really weak on Saved, was magnificent live, and it is either about Jesus or a really special woman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czdpnwmnOtU
Alexmagic: we REACH!
Ditto! 🙂
Hands down Big Star. The sleigh bells, the reverb, the whole sloppy mess.
(yes I even like the sax!)
Did you ever hear the acoustic version? Love his voice man…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-rsOLVB9Hs
OMG, as the kids say, I’ve never heard of or heard Jim White before. I love this song and the video. Gotta get me some. His first release (1997 at the age of 40! kewl) “Wrong Eyed Jesus!…” is the AMG pic but I’ve been steered wrong by AMG before.
This song is on “Drill a Hole…”
Is there one release that you recommend? Or a hodge-podge or?
I have “Wrong Eyed Jesus” which is a little less electronic sounding than this one, but similarly rough around the edges. There is also a “Wrong Eyed Jesus” documentary film where he gives a tour of his South. If I’m not mistaken, some of the True Blood opening segments were copped from there.
I gotta plead “Dumbass” here and own up to Tull being my #1 DeafSpot. That’s where someone mentions a specific Tull song and I stare blankly. Then they say, “Yeah, you effin’ know that one,” and I say, “Well, probably. How the hell’s it go?” Then they quote/sing/rockitout/simply cue it up and I say within three seconds, “OH! Hell…THAT’S what it’s called? Sheee-ee-eit. Okay.”
Which is what happened in my head between us after YouTubing “43.” Gotcha, good one.
And I got “Aqualung.” Everything else you literally gotta spell out for me. Does that yodeling song have a real name?
aloha
LD
If there was an easy way to convey it in print, ideally all Tull songs would just be guitar riff in them. Also, even more ideally, the songs would just be that guitar riff.
I think the yodeling song that you’re thinking of might be “Hocus Pocus” by Focus.
Shindig With The Lord – by Kevn Kinney is my favorite ” He said I’ll see you on Easter and they said “what’s that”, well that’s they day when I’ll be back”
http://youtu.be/4-9DB97ayYo
The opening couplet to This Jesus Must Die would win the best vocal intro.
Awesome. Tip-o-the-hat to you geo.
“Are You Drinkin’ with Me, Jesus?” by the Beat Farmers. Mojo Nixon did a solo version but it’s not as good.
One thing I’ll say for Him, Jesus is cool.
Yup, I love me some Jim White, and he’s great live. At the last show we were at, he was giving away his trucker hat collection.
Like geo, I would 100% recommend “Wrong Eyed Jesus.” My other favorite, which includes a lovely duet with Aimee Mann, is “Drill A Hole…”
Oh, thank goodness it’s this song. I was worried that perhaps I had misinterpreted, and Rory was maybe a euphemism for Jesus. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8HEs5GXaPQ
Another favorite: King Missile’s “Jesus Was Way Cool.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVJ-Wlacc-E
I voted to the Velvet Underground (Big Star is a close second). Presence of the Lord by Blind Faith would win if they mentioned Jesus by name instead of title.
Over on Country Town Hall, George Jones walks away with it for Please Take the Devil Out Of Me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrriztmRDx8
I also voted for “Jesus.” Last night I remembered that the song that actually inspired this poll was left off, maybe the one Jesus song I’d put up there with the VU’s song: Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky,” which works for me on so many levels.
Billy Joel…ahem…”The DownEASTER Alexa”
Tom Waits’ “Jesus Gonna Be Here” from Bone Machine.
Boy, do I hate Spirit in the Sky…
I don’t think that it’s better than some of the other suggestions but King of Carrot Flowers Part 2 by Neutral Milk Hotel is a pretty good little number. Also, it may contain one of the most saturate/overdriven guitar tracks ever (Possible competition: Hey Hey My My by Neil Young, and a song on Overwhelming Colorfast’s first album whose name escapes me right now).