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Songs like 'Jesus He Knows Me' by Genesis

 
  

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Regrettable Juvenilia
09:11 / 23.11.07
Hello.

I am looking for subservice songs about religion, in the style of 'Jesus He Knows Me' by Genesis. It is a song which is very critical of television evangelists, because they are hypocrits who only care about money but think they are better than other people because they know Jesus.

Can anyone recommend other songs in this vein?
 
 
Closed for Business Time
09:56 / 23.11.07
Not sure if you're taking the piss, Fly, but Bad Religion is always a good source of upbeat iconoclasm.

Frinstance their song I want to conquer the world from the album No Control?

Lyrics:
Hey Brother Christian with your high and mighty errand,
Your actions speak so loud, I can't hear a word you're saying.
Hey Sister Bleeding Heart with all of your compassion,
Your labors soothe the hurt but can't assuage temptation.
Hey man of science with your perfect rules of measure,
Can you improve this place with the data that you gather?
Hey Mother Mercy can your loins bear fruit forever?
Is your fecundity a trammel or a treasure?
And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all my decisions
With a quick wink of the eye
And a "God you must be joking!"
Hey Mr. Diplomat with your worldly aspirations,
Did you see the children cry when you left them at the station?
Hey moral soldier you've got righteous proclamation,
And precious tomes to fuel your pulpy conflagrations.
And I want to conquer the world,
Give all the idiots a brand new religion,
Put an end to poverty, uncleanliness and toil,
Promote equality in all of my decisions
I want to conquer the world,
Expose the culprits and feed them to the children,
I'll do away with air pollution and then all save the whales,
We'll have peace on earth and global communion.
I want to conquer the world! [x4]

....

Ah yes, makes me wanna weep for youth lost and stones gained.
 
 
jamesPD
10:03 / 23.11.07
Wikipedia says Many songs by Frank Zappa are sharp satires of televangelism, for example: "The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing", "Dumb All Over", "Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk". Genesis released a song called Jesus He Knows Me that satirised televangelism. Also, The Mirrorball Man, a scandalous televangelist was one of the personas of U2's Bono during the American legs of their Zoo TV tour also was a parody of televangelists.

Or perhaps some of the new Arcade Fire album?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
10:09 / 23.11.07
Genesis released a song called Jesus He Knows Me that satirised televangelism.

Great stuff guys, keep it coming!
 
 
jamesPD
10:12 / 23.11.07
Oh, and Holy Smoke by Iron Maiden.
 
 
Evil Scientist
10:21 / 23.11.07
Roots Manuva's Sinny Sin Sins:

Woke up one Sunday, feeling kinda raw
I said "Dad, I don't really want to go Church no more"
Soon as I said shit, I felt a slap to my jaw
He said "Son, as long as your living under my roof
Your gonna heed my interpretation of the truth
And the truth is right here
It's written in this book the Holy Bible
It's the key to survival so you best heed the word"
He said, "Do as I say, not what I do
And you'll see, goodness will follow you"
begrudgingly, I ironed my shirt, polish my shoes
Went to Chruch and I took in their far-out views
with their strange perceptions of Heaven and Hell.
To this very day I still fight down their spell
'Cos all that we pray, we still stay poor
With that leaky roof dripping on the front room floor.

Sins gonna make you cry
Oh Lord, can you help me with my sins?
Oh Lord can you help me with my sin sin sinners?
There are no Sins like sins.

Please don't get me twisted, I'm far from a heathen
This is just a simple song of basic rhyme and reason
It's not my meaning to demean or blaspheme
But most things in the Bible ain't as plain as they seem
Can I trust King James to translate these papers?
Do I need a middle-man to link with the creator
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
Church band plays, now I'm spending my pound
Looking for a short-cut to the road to Zion
We can't fool God, but we wasting time trying
Two third of the truth is yet to be told
Two thousand years of corruption soon unfold.


It isn't necessarily critical of religion, it's more of a suggestion that you don't need to be spoon fed it at church or have other people's interpretations of it forced upon you, that it is more of a personal thing.
 
 
Eloi Tsabaoth
10:41 / 23.11.07
Of course 'Jesus He Knows Me' is a total rip of 'I'm Best mates with Buddha' by George Formby.

Now when I'm walking down the street
In almost any place
The people that I chance to meet
say 'There's a funny face!'
They wonder why I look so calm
When everything is mad
And I just look at them and say
"Namaste, my lad!"
I'm best mates with Buddha,
He's a right good lad, you see,
He tells me the four noble truths
When I have him round to tea,
I'm best mates with Buddha,
We go out all round the town,
But if I met him on the road
I'd shoot the bugger down.


Or something.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
12:22 / 23.11.07
Can anyone recommend other songs in this vein?

It's perhaps all in the delivery; certainly, they didn't change a word of the traditional lyric. But it's hard to imagine anyone who's listened to Laibach's version of 'Once In Royal David's City' feeling quite the same about organised Christianity afterwards. Or, actually, organised anything else.

Fans of the band at the height of their powers (circa their cover of Queen's 'One Vision') will perhaps understand just how problematic this is as a listen. And why, as a consequence, it's a difficult tune to track down, even now.

'The lowly cattle' and so on ... well, as I say, it's not for the faint-hearted.
 
 
johnny enigma
13:31 / 23.11.07
Roots Manuva's Sinny Sin Sins is possibly the best example of this sub genre I can think of, and that Laibach tune sounds like a superb piece of detournement (I apologise in advance if I've spelt that wrong, but I'm sure you are all clever enough to know what I'm getting at).

However, isn't taking the piss out of Christians a bit like shooting fish in a barrel ie so easy as not to represent any discernable challenge whatsoever? And are such songs ever likely to have any great effect on anyone - don't such works effectively amount to (ahem) preaching to the converted?
 
 
Mistoffelees
13:42 / 23.11.07
There´s a song cover by The Birds, "The Christian Life", on their album Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The original was written by the Louvin Brothers, who were inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame this year.

There is no hint of mockery in the lyrics, but the way the Byrds deliver it, it may well be very tongue in cheek.
 
 
Jack Fear
15:59 / 23.11.07
This is a great topic, actually. Thinking about it, it occurs to me that there are really quite a few rock songs that take shots at the evils of organized religion. In some ways it's a cheap and easy shot, but there's something deeper here; I think it's because music—loud, rhythmic music especially—is an ecstatic experience itself. Musician and philosopher Jaron Lanier calls music "Sex with God"—that is, a means of direct blissful contact with a higher consciousness, an experience of the divine completely unfiltered and unmediated. And since mediation and interpretation are what organized religion is all about, you can see where it's antithetical to the spirit of pop music (and there's also something there about why most liturgical music is generally so drab and uninspired, but that's another topic).

So: first up, Philadelphia's sadly-neglected Hooters, with a weirdly prescient song from the late 1980s—the beginnings of the evangelical resurgence in America, when televangelists and the Christian Right were beginning to flex their political muscle in earnest, but when, at the same time, the moral rot and hypocrisy of the movement was beginning to be exposed in a series of ugly scandals—the song is called "Satellite":

Hush, little baby, don't cry like that,
God's gonna buy you a Cadillac.
He's chosen you to do his will,
You can spread the word in your Coupe deVille.

So jump in the river and learn to swim,
God's gonna wash away all your sins.
And if you still can't see the light,
God's gonna buy you a satellite.

Look to the heavens and see it shine,
Heal the sick and lead the blind.
Tune it in and hear it say,
It's counting down to judgement day.

[chorus]

Hey satellite man, your time has come,
Your word received by everyone.
And should you fall, well, that's okay,
You love the ones that you betray.


The "fall well" = Falwell pun kills me every time.

Interestingly, Hooters frontman Eric Bazilian, though culturally Jewish, was educated in Quaker schools; there's a strong tradition of mystical experience in the Quaker faith. Bazilian later went on to write "What If God Was One Of Us" for Joan Osborne; obviously he's a musician who's thought a lot about the brokenness of humanity's reelationship with God, and the general uselessness of religion in healing that brokenness.

More later. I've got a lot to say on this...
 
 
Jack Fear
16:00 / 23.11.07
PS Why on earth is this not in the Temple?
 
 
Proinsias
16:15 / 23.11.07
I feel rather embarrassed that this is the only song that springs to mind but what the hell it fits the topic title.

Deep breath, here goes.....

Insane Clown Posse
Hellalujah

Give God the first portion of your income, say that with me.
Give God the first portion of your income.
Give it first! not after the deducts. not after the social security, and
The hospitalization, and the malnutrition. not after all these things on ya
Check, ya say Im a give God a little whats left. you do, and thats what
You gonna get from god.
Who am i? Im not the devil,
I can take you to my level,
Above the rocks, above the earth,
Tell me what your soul is worth.
How much money do you make?
How much will you let me take?
I will give you tranquility,
Just send you wealth and checks to me.
Life is going to expire,
And your soul will burn in fire.
You will perish in the thunder,
Unless you call my hotline number.
God has asked you to make me rich,
Me and my fat-rat gaudy bitch.
On your t.v.s late at night,
Send those checks, and Ill guide you to the light.
Dont put away your wallets just yet, brothers and sisters. theres
Somebody here Id like all of you to meet. this is little jonathan.
Jonathan, say hello to the lovely people.
Hello.
Jonathan has problems. twisted neck, tangled legs, crooked spine, but we
Can heal this boy!
For just, uh, six thousand dollars, we can heal this boy!
God called me and then stopped by,
And he told me youre gonna die,
Unless you buy my holy water,
Check, cash, or a money order.
This is true, dont question me,
Ill even send you shit for free.
Its only ten buck for the call,
And Ill send a prayer, no charge at all.
Put your lips up to the screen,
Close your eyelids, and intervene,
Your lips to mine, now send the cash,
And while youre there, you can kiss my ass.
Take your paycheck, and send me half,
And Ill send you gods autograph.
Ill get you allahs, and bhuddahs too,
Even zeus, I dont give a fuck who,
Just send me that money.
Would you like to be healed, little jonathan?
Yeah, reverend.
You see, brothers and sisters, this-
Beep-beep! beep-beep!
Excuse me. I told you never to page me on a sermon day. yes? uh-huh.
Hallelujah.
Howdy.
People, that was the lord, today only, he will heal this boy, for just
Five
Thousand dollars!
Pass the collection plate
Pass the collection plate
Pass the collection plate
Pass the collection plate
(show me how you give, Ill tell you how to live.)
Your totals twenty-two eleven,
For your set of keys to heaven.
Make the checks out in my name,
Me or God its all the same.
Bring your crippled ass to me,
Pay my usher the holy fee.
Ill bless your legs, and bless your chair,
Then wheel your bitch ass outta here.
Now a special ceremony,
This part dont cost any money.
Drip a drop of blessed water,
Now I fertalize your daughter.
Even though I fucked a hooker,
Took your baby girl and shook her,
You still buy everything I sell,
And Im livin well
See you in hell.
Four-thousand eight-hundred, nine-hundred, five thousan-hallelujah!
You did it, brothers and sisters! are you ready, jonathan? lord almighty,
Weve met your price, give me the healing power, I can feel it! lord!
Rumilumilamanamanumi! this boy is healed!
Huh?
Now, to the naked eye, it would appear that this boy has not been
Healed, but I can assure you, this boys spirit has been healed! inside this
Tangled, mangled frame is a healed little boy.
His spirit is healed! hallelujah!

Country cookin, can I take your order?
You want the red-eye gravy with that?
With chitlins or black-eyed peas?
Lemme cypher up your bill, here.
That comes to fourteen nintey-five.
Okay, be ready quicker that two jiggles of a jackrabbits ass.


It does hit the nail on the head beautifully and with Flyboy's taste for cutting edge, intelligent hop-hip what more could he need?
 
 
Feverfew
17:51 / 23.11.07
You feel embarassed? The only song that springs to mind for me is They ain't making Jews like Jesus anymore by Kinky Friedman. Listen to it here if you have a desperate desire, although it has a somewhat hamfisted take on Deep-South Racism. There's also some in We reserve the right to refuse services to you;

Well, I walked on in to my House of God
Congregation on the nod,
Just chosen folks are doing their weekly thing.
Hear, O Israel, yes indeed,
My book was backwards, couldn’t read,
But I got a good rise when I heard that Rabbi sing,
“Boruch atoh Adonoi,
What the hell are you doing back there, boy ?”
We reserve the right to refuse services to you,
Your friends are all on welfare —
You call yourself a Jew ?
You need your ticket and your tie
To zip your prayers on through,
We reserve the right to refuse services unto you.


So there you have it.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
19:26 / 23.11.07
There's a song by Genesis about this sort of topic. I think it's called "Jesus Knows Me."
 
 
Evil Scientist
19:46 / 23.11.07
So...was I being slow here? Is this a piss-take thread?
 
 
The Falcon
20:30 / 23.11.07
"I am looking for subservice songs about religion, in the style of 'Jesus He Knows Me' by Genesis. It is a song which is very critical of television evangelists, because they are hypocrits who only care about money but think they are better than other people because they know Jesus."

Possibly.
 
 
Jack Fear
20:52 / 23.11.07
Oh, man. If simple typos are now proof of a lack of serious intent, then I, for one, am screwed.
 
 
Evil Scientist
21:21 / 23.11.07
Oh, my mistake then. Still, check out Roots Manuva if you haven't. Really rather good.
 
 
The Falcon
21:47 / 23.11.07
Oh, man. If simple typos are now proof of a lack of serious intent, then I, for one, am screwed.

1) that's not even true.
b) have a look at topics near the head of the Music, EvSci.

I'm sorry to be the one explaining the joke and shit, but the question was asked and I donned the Montoya mask.
 
 
Tsuga
21:54 / 23.11.07
I thought that the typos (and the contenxt) were pointing towards some joke or reference, but I'm too ignorant to get it. I thought of a song, though. Or a few, there are at least two, maybe three on My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Especially "Help me Somebody", which isn't really mocking, so much as using the fervency of preaching in the energy of the song.
 
 
Proinsias
21:57 / 23.11.07
My posting of Insane Clown Posse seems even more fitting now.

Keep the joke threads coming Flyboy and the music forum could be buzzing. Maybe Randy should try one in the G&G forum.
 
 
Evil Scientist
21:59 / 23.11.07
To be fair I rarely venture into Music. Now I remember why that is.
 
 
Lugue
22:09 / 23.11.07
I think it's because music—loud, rhythmic music especially—is an ecstatic experience itself. Musician and philosopher Jaron Lanier calls music "Sex with God"—that is, a means of direct blissful contact with a higher consciousness, an experience of the divine completely unfiltered and unmediated. And since mediation and interpretation are what organized religion is all about, you can see where it's antithetical to the spirit of pop music (and there's also something there about why most liturgical music is generally so drab and uninspired, but that's another topic).

But then a side-note has to be made for the enjoyment of gospel music in the African-American church context, seeing as it's the organization of the event of that supposedly unorganized moment of aesthetical bliss. As there's not much of "drab and uninspired", at least energywise, to a lot of gospel, from what I gather. And this can't be the only example of religious institutions encouraging that sort of communication with the divine, through music and dancing and active engagement. Maybe this ought to be specified as a Judeo-Christian trait?
 
 
Tsuga
22:47 / 23.11.07
Maybe this ought to be specified as a Judeo-Christian trait?
Okay, now you're joking, right?
 
 
Regrettable Juvenilia
23:14 / 23.11.07
While at heart this thread is meant to be humorous, deep down it is serious in intent.

I would like to add my own choice to the list, 'The Fight Song' by Marilyn Manson. It goes:

I'm not a slave!
To a god!
That doesn't exist!


In this song Manson is saying that not only does he not obey God, but he couldn't obey God even if he wanted to, since God does not exist. He (Manson, not God) has also recorded an ironic cover of the song 'Personal Jesus', originally recorded by committed Christian Jonny Cash. Manson has said his version is ironic, because it is not really about Jesus.
 
 
Lugue
23:20 / 23.11.07
Maybe this ought to be specified as a Judeo-Christian trait?
Okay, now you're joking, right?


Actually, I'm asking.
 
 
Proinsias
23:49 / 23.11.07
I'm not a slave!
To a god!
That doesn't exist!


Good for him.

I imagine he'd find it a bit mysterious if he found out he was, unwittingly, doing the bidding of a God that does exist.
 
 
Tsuga
00:13 / 24.11.07
I imagine he'd find it a bit mysterious if he found out he was, unwittingly, doing the bidding of a God that does exist.
I'll bet god would feel pretty dumb if it found out it was doing the bidding of a megagod it didn't know existed.
Actually, I'm asking.
Ah, sorry, I see now. You're talking about the drab and uninspired part, when I thought you were speaking of the opposite. I'm not sure how fair it is to characterize the classic western hymn as drab, so much as adhering to it's own limitations, as much as many other forms of music. The redundancy which can bring a state of meditation could be thought of as dull, though it could create the opposite effect. I think that many other cultures and religions have ritual music that could be considered slow, simple, austere, repetitive, or "dull". Please don't make me look it up, though.
 
 
Proinsias
00:28 / 24.11.07
I'll bet god would feel pretty dumb if it found out it was doing the bidding of a megagod it didn't know existed.

It probably would if it made a song stating it definitely wasn't obeying the megagod and that it didn't exist. I rekon the song might be even better than Manson's attempt.
 
 
Proinsias
00:32 / 24.11.07
*disclaimer*

I don't think I've actually heard the Manson song I'm discussing.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
05:11 / 24.11.07
What about 'Jesus He Knows Me', I think the band were called Jelly-cyst or something? Alternatively there is 'It's a Sin' by the Pet Shop Boys, although strictly speaking it's not satirical.
 
 
Evil Scientist
07:04 / 24.11.07
He (Manson, not God) has also recorded an ironic cover of the song 'Personal Jesus'

The cover that God did was much better though, more electro.
 
 
Mon Oncle Ignatius
08:08 / 24.11.07
God's covers are always sublime.
 
 
rizla mission
12:20 / 24.11.07
Mystery solved; God is in fact four greasy-haired Australian men, and he rocks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR7iNNxC8Vs
 
  

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