From Jesus to John Wayne

if it's heads I'll go to Tennessee,
and tails I'll buy a drink

"Jesus Is for Losers," Steve Taylor
"Jesus Loves You, Brian Wilson," Lost Dogs
"Jesus Met the Woman at the Well," Nick Cave
"Jesus the Mexican Boy," Iron & Wine
"Jesus Walks," Kanye West
"Jesus Was a Crossmaker," The Hollies
"Jim Morrison's Grave," Steve Taylor
"Jimmy Hickey's Waltz," The Waterboys
"Jimmy Olsen's Blues," Spin Doctors
"Jitterbug Boy," Tom Waits
"Joe Astrospy," Charlie McGloughlin
"Joey," Concrete Blonde
"John Wayne," Terry Scott Taylor

This section of the alphabet, oddly, seems to consists of songs named after men and sung by men (except for one sung -- to the Nth degree -- by a woman named John). Two here from guilty pleasure Steve Taylor -- I prefer to think of him as "former frontman for Chagall Guevara" rather than as "the director who cast Michael W. Smith in a leading role." Charlie McGloughlin podcasts from "King Bonk's Campfire."

Comments

[Stephen]

Steve Taylor is not a "guilty pleasure." However bad his choice for leading man, however bad his directing, does not make his groundbreaking, ahead-of-its-time, genius music and lyrics a "guilty pleasure."

I am deeply, deeply disappointed in you.

[wanderingoutlaw]

"Jesus of Suburbia" - Green Day
"Jet Pilot" - Bob Dylan
"Jim Jones" - Bob Dylan
"Jimmy Jazz" - The Clash
"Joey" - Bob Dylan (my least favorite Dylan song)
"The John B's Sails" - Roger McGuinn
"John Henry" - Roger McGuinn
"John Riley" - Roger McGuinn
"John the Revelator" - Roger McGuinn

[LL]

Big ups to Concrete Blonde. They rule.

[John]

Jim Dean of Indiana - Phil Ochs
John Henry Faulk - Phil Ochs

[JS Bangs]

Steve Taylor's music is excellent. There's no guilt in that pleasure.

"John the Revelator" - Depeche Mode

[PAUL]

Please forgive my 'Random moment' folks,but I thought maybe you'd like to see these sites I just stumbled across {Pretty shocking stuff}.

Strategic Executive Assassination (SEA):
The Army of God Will Soon Start Assassinating America's New Nobility

www.Armyofgod.com
www.christiangallery.com

They even have Tiger Woods and David Letterman on the assassination list for some reason or other.Why would christo-fascists want to kill thoughs guys...Strange world in which we live !

[Amy Yoder McGloughlin]

Shameless plug for Charlie McGloughlin's new music. Joe Astrospy is SO last decade!

http://www.purevolume.com/kingbonk

[Andrew Hickey]

Jesus Thinks You're A Jerk - Frank Zappa (about Robertson & Swaggart)
Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry

[Todd Richards]

Charlie McGloughlin.... Wow! That's a name that takes me back. Taught me how to play "Hey Joe" and "Sadie's Farm."

Do well with the play Fred. I mean, Break whatever-it-is-your-supposed-to-break. I wish I lived closer to come and see you!

Hope all is well.

[James]

That seems to be an underpopulated section of my iPod, so I stretched it just a little to get to 10.

Jesus, Etc. - Wilco - Kicking Television
Jesus, I / Mary Star of The Sea - Zwan - Mary Star Of The Sea
Jesusland - Ben Folds - Songs for Silverman
Jezebel - Iron & Wine - Woman King EP
Joan - The Innocence Mission - Umbrella
Joan of Arc - Leonard Cohen - Songs Of Love and Hate
Joe Dimaggio Done It Again - Billy Bragg & Wilco - Mermaid Ave Vol. 2
John Saw That Number - Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
July, July! - The Decemberists - Castaways and Cutouts
June - Over The Rhine - Eve

[Todd Larason]

"Jesus Christ", Arlo Guthrie
"Jesus Christ", Woody Guthrie (x2)
"Jesus Forgive Me", Concrete Blonde
"Jesus Met the Woman", Peter Paul & Mary
"Jesus Walking On the Water", Violent Femmes (x7)
"Jesus Was Way Cool", King Missile
"Jesus Was a Cross Maker", Warren Zevon
"Jesus Wrote a Blank Check", Cake
"Jesus of Rio", Violent Femmes
"Jesus", Vowel Movement
"Jesus, Calling Jesus", The Nails
"Jetsetter", Morningwood
"Jewel Box", Jeff Buckley
"Jezebal", Recoil
"Jiggs Casey", Steven Wright
"Jim Needs an Animal", Concrete Blonde
"Jim, I Wore a Tie Today", The Highwaymen
"Jimmie Brown the Newsboy", The Carter Family
"Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family", The Carter Family
"Jimmy Carter", Firesign Theatre
"Jimmy Jet and His TV Set", Shel Silverstein
"Jimmy the Exploder", The White Stripes
"Jimmy", Tool
"Jingle All the Way", Lena Horne
"Jingle Bell Rock", Randy Travis
"Jingle Bell Rock", Wayne Newton
"Jingle Bells / Jingle Bell Rock", Ultra-Lounge
"Jingle Bells From Capitol Records", Ultra-Lounge
"Jingle Bells", Dean Martin
"Jingle Bells", Duke Ellington
"Jingle Bells", Frank Sinatra
"Jingle Bells", Frank Sinatra
"Jingle Bells", The Simpsons
"Jingle of a Dog's Collar", Butthole Surfers
"Jive", Cibo Matto
"Joan of Arc", Jennifer Warnes
"Joan of Arc", Judy Collins
"Joan of Arc", Leonard Cohen (x5)
"Joe Bean", Johnny Cash
"Joe Camel Says Goodbye", Firesign Theatre
"Joe Harper Saturday Morning", Van Morrison
"Joe Hill", Billy Bragg
"Joe Hill", Joan Baez (x2)
"Joe Hill", Joe Glazer
"Joe Hill", Paul Robeson
"Joe Hill's Ashes", Mark Levy
"Joe Hill's Last Will", Utah Phillips
"Joe Stalin's Cadillac", Camper Van Beethoven
"Joey", Concrete Blonde (x8)
"John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man", Anita Carter
"John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man", The Carter Family
"John Henry", Woody Guthrie
"John I Love You", Sinead O'Connor
"John Riley", Joan Baez
"John the Revelator", Depeche Mode (x9)
"John the Revelator", The White Stripes
"John, John, John", Anita Carter
"John, John, John", Anita Carter
"Johnny Hart", Woody Guthrie
"Johnny Kick a Hole in the Sky", Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Johnny Strikes up the Band", Warren Zevon
"Johnny", Violent Femmes
"Johnny", Violent Femmes
"Johnny's Mambo", Michael Lloyd & Le Disc
"Johnny, I Hardly Knew Yeh", Joan Baez
"Johnny, I Hardly Knew You", Anita Carter

Vowel Movement was a Johnette Napolitano project during Concrete Blonde's hiatus.

[Kevin]

Jesus Freak - DC Talk
Jesus Freak - Larry Norman
Jesus in New Orleans - Over the Rhine
Jet Pilot - System of a Down
John Bean - Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere

[pharoute]

Jesus just left Chicago - ZZ Top

[LL]

Just remembered this:

Juke Joint Jezebel by KMFDM

[colin roald]

Allow me to second "Jesus Was Way Cool", King Missile:

Jesus was way cool. Everybody liked Jesus.
Everybody wanted to hang out with him.
Anything he wanted to do, he did.
He turned water into wine, and if he had wanted to,
He could have turned wheat into marijuana, sugar into cocaine,
or vitamin pills into amphetamines.
He walked on the water and swam on the land.
He would tell these stories and people would listen.
He was really cool.
If you were blind, or lame, you just went to Jesus and he would put his
hands on you and you would be healed.
That's so cool.

He could have played guitar better than Hendrix.
He could have told the future.
He could have baked the most delicious cake in the world.
He could have scored more goals than Wayne Gretzky.
He could have danced better than Baryshnikov.
Jesus would have been funnier than any comedian you can think of.

Jesus told people to eat his body and drink his blood.
That's so cool. Jesus was so cool.
But then some people got jealous of how cool he was, so they killed him.

But then he rose from the dead!
He rose from the dead, did a little dance, and went up to heaven. I mean, that's so cool. No wonder there are so many Christians.

[John Robinson]

Jesus Can Work It Out - Keith "Wonderboy" Johnson & The Spiritual Voices
Jesus is on The Main Line- The Gospel Keynotes
Jesus just left Chicago- Government Mule
Jesus on the Mainline- Joseph Spence
Jesus Was A Capricorn- Kris Kristofferson
Jet Airliner- Steve Miller Band
Jets Song- West Side Story
Jeux d' eau- Sviatoslav Richter
Jingle Bells- Mitch Miller & the Gang
Jingle Bells- The Singing Dogs
Jive at Five- Count Basie
Jocko Homo- Devo
John Henry- Aaron Copland

[Rob H.]

"Jesus Built My Hotrod" (x4) - MINSTRY
"Jesus Christ Porno Star" (x2) - Chemlab
"Jesus Christ Pose" - Soundgarden
"Jesus Lives In Waco" - Deist Requiem
"Jesus of Suburbia" - Green Day
"Jewish Princess" - Frank Zappa
"Jigga What/Faint" - Linkin Park and Jay-Z
"Jigsaw" - Love Spit Love
"Jihad" - KMFDM
"Jingle Bell Rock" (Pussy Galore Mix) - Bond
"Jizzlobber" - Faith No More
"Jo the Lover" - Sow
"Jocko Homo" - Devo
"John the Baptist" - Afghan Whigs
"Johnny" - Suicide
"Jonny Hit and Run Pauline" - X

[Richard]

No "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam" by Nirvana or the Meat Puppets?

[JM]

Also the original "Sunbeam" by the Vaselines -- a fine song in any version. Thanks for reminding me of "Joey" -- it's just right for my mood.

[Theo]

"Jilted John" - Jilted John
"John Brown" - Bob Dylan
"Johnny's Gonna Die" - the Replacements
"John Walker's Blues" - Steve Earle

[Ray]

No Jesus, no John Wayne, just Jig of Life (Kate Bush) and Joga (Bjork).

[Bruce in South Florida]

A perfect song for this site -

"Jesus He Knows Me" - Genesis

You see the face on the tv screen
Coming at you every sunday
See that face on the billboard
That man is me

On the cover of the magazine
Theres no question why Im smiling
You buy a piece of paradise
You buy a piece of me

Ill get you everything you wanted
Ill get you everything you need
Dont need to believe in hereafter
Just believe in me

Cos jesus he knows me
And he knows Im right
Ive been talking to jesus all my life
Oh yes he knows me
And he knows Im right
And hes been telling me
Everything is alright

I believe in the family
With my ever loving wife beside me
But she dont know about my girlfriend
Or the man I met last night

Do you believe in god
Cos thats what Im selling
And if you wanna get to heaven
Ill see you right

You wont even have to leave your house
Or get outta your chair
You dont even have to touch that dial
Cos Im everywhere

And jesus he knows me
And he knows Im right
Ive been talking to jesus all my life
Oh yes he knows me
And he knows Im right
Well hes been telling me
Everythings gonna be alright

Wont find me practising what Im preaching
Wont find me making no sacrifice
But I can get you a pocketful of miracles
If you promise to be good, try to be nice
God will take good care of you
Just do as I say, dont do as I do

Im counting my blessings,
Ive found true happiness
Cos Im getting richer, day by day
You can find me in the phone book,
Just call my toll free number
You can do it anyway you want
Just do it right away

Therell be no doubt in your mind
Youll believe everything Im saying
If you wanna get closer to him
Get on your knees and start paying

Cos jesus he knows me
And he knows Im right
Ive been talking to jesus all my life
Oh yes he knows me
And he knows Im right
Well hes been telling me
Everythings gonna be alright, alright

Jesus he knows me
Jesus he knows me, you know...

[Troll]

Bruce Garrett is an unfair butthead

[David]

Steve Taylor was indeed a musical genius. I say was because he hasn't done anything musically in a few years now. His last album, Squint, couldn't help but feel like a bit of a step down for me after the glory of Chagall Guevara, and lyrically almost seemed apologetic at times for having dare foray outside of CCM.

His film career has been a dead dissapointment. He went from the cool sounding Saint Gimp which he had productions stills for on his Squint Records webpage for a while to the above mentioned travesty starring MWS.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, I really do, but MWS...

[sdf (Stu)]

Too tired to think too much, but would just want to add Velvet Underground's "Jesus." A truly spiritual song.

Concrete Blonde "Joey" definitely brings me back. I'll have to dig up the old cassette tape from the closet.

[cminus]

"Jesus," Pat McCurdy
"Jesus Just Left Chicago," ZZ Top
"Jesus Of Suburbia," Green Day
"Jesus Was A Cross Maker," Warren Zevon
"Jesus Wrote A Blank Check," Cake
"Jesus, Etcetera," Wilco
"Jet Airliner," Steve Miller Band
"Jimi Thing," Dave Matthews Band
"Jimmy Jazz," The Clash
"Jimmy Was A Stimulator," Scott Weiland
"Jingo," Santana
"Joan Crawford," Blue Oyster Cult
"Jockey Full Of Bourbon," Moxy Fruvous
"Jocko Homo," Devo
"Joed Out," Barbara Manning & The San Francisco Seals
"Joey," Bob Dylan & The Grateful Dead
"Joga," Bjork
"John Henry," Snakefarm
"John McColl's Farewell To The Scottish Horse March/Miss Scott Reel/Culder's Rant Reel/Glenlyons Reel/Largo Law Reel," Paul MacNeil and Jamie MacInnis

This is a strong selection; every song except "Jesus Just Left Chicago" and "Joey" gets at least three stars from me. The top recommendation might be "Jockey Full Of Bourbon," from Fruvous's Live Noise album; Fruvous was even better live than in the studio and this Tom Waits cover gives you a good idea just how good that can be.

Also strongly recommended: "Jesus" (how can you not love a song that deliberately confuses Jesus with Santa Claus and Don Johnson?), "Jesus Of Suburbia" (Green Day's American Idiot earned all the plauds it got and then some), "Jesus Was A Cross Maker" (can't go wrong with Warren Zevon), "Joan Crawford" (the soaring chorus "Joan Crawford has risen from the grave" is perfect), "Jocko Homo" (a crucial song if you want to "get" Devo) and "Joed Out" (Barbara Manning has a timeless voice that's ideal for this nicely wistful song). In addition, Cake, Bjork and Snakefarm are highly-recommended acts, but these songs aren't the best introductions to their respective oeuvres.

[spencer]

Fred, Steve Taylor's "I Predict 1990" album was the *only* piece of Christian rock that got played more than once on my tape deck back in high school.

In fact, it got played a lot more than once. It was a great album - and this is coming from someone who absolutely detests so-called "Christian" rock.

[daniel]

Jesus Loves Me, CocoRosie
Jetplanes in Chicago, The Broadway Hush
Jewel Drop, Kashmir
Joga, Björk
John Wayne Gacy Jr, Sufjan Stevens

Steve Taylor is awesome. My favorite album was Squint.

[Brian Layman]

*Puts his eyes back in after being blindsided by a Steve Taylor reference*

Oh, come on. The movie was NOT so bad. I rather liked it and I'll add it to my DVD collection fairly soon (though probably after I add the Firefly series DVDs). When you compare it to many of the other "christian" films, it was really quite good. Additionally it was good enough to rate PPV advertisements on "The TV-Guide Channel" for my local cable company. So, for a first work, it's very cool. When you compare it to the "Movies from the Soundtrack" you can see he's come a long way... The extras on the DVD show that he's learned from the experience as well.

Frankly, I was most disappointed in J. Don Ferguson. He was under utilized and poorly used. Fixing that character would have done a lot for this movie. He was just bareky there in all the scenes. Just sort of a wet wrung out towel of a pastor. That might have been the point, but I don't think that fits his history. Not to that extent.

Anyway, I look forward to Steve's next movie - Though I'd prefer another Squint or IP1999.

[John]

Here are ten more from my playlist I don't think have been named:

Jack and Diane - John Mellencamp
Jamaica Mistaica - Jimmy Buffett
Jane - Dan Bern and the IJBC
JC Cohen - Allan Sherman
Jerusalem - Dan Bern
Jerusalem - Steve Earle
Jesus Thinks You're a Jerk - Frank Zappa
Jesus Was a Dreidel Spinner - Jill Sobule
Jesus Was a Rebel Jew - Silver Jews
Just Say No to Midichlorians - Luke Ski

[Steve]

Fred...just back from vacation so I'm bit slow on the posting. Have you seen the ST movie....A Second Chance I believe its called? Is it worth me spending twenty bucks on? (It was showing nowhere near where I live.) Others on the thread seem to differ, so you're the tie breaker.

[Steve]

Jesus is Jehoav To Me - Daniel Amos
Jesus Wants You To Buy This Record - Dead Artist Syndrome
Jesus is Just Alright - DC Talk
Jesus Is The Way - The Holmes Brothers*
Jesus Got His Hooks In Me - The Holmes Brothers*
Jesus Was A Man - INXS
Jesus On The Shore - Lost Dogs
Jesus Let Us Come To Know You - Michael Card
Jesus - Ragamuffin Band featuring Ashley Cleveland
Jesus (demo) - Rich Mullins
Jesus Birthday - Bob Rivers
Jesus Is For Losers (Live) - Steve Taylor
Jesus Went To The Garden - Derri Daugherty, Paul Colman, Dan Haseltine, Sara Groves, GlassByrd
Jesus Loves Me - Whitney Houston
Jesus Walking On The Water - The Violent Femmes
Jesus Christ - Wesley Willis*
Jesus - The Seventy Sevens
John The Revelator - Phil Keaggy

* Bonus topic connector: There is a Holmes Brothers song on the soundtrack to the Steve Taylor movie previously mentioned. Can't remember which song it is, but as I recall its from this same terrific album by The Holmes Brothers, "Speaking In Tongues"
** Fred...I'm disappointed you don't have this beautiful worship song with an endorsement of Chevrolet at the end (a great, unintended commentary on the church in America) on your list...especially since I learned about Wesley Willis via your site.

[Steve]

Bonus Links:
The Second Chance Soundtrack (The song was "Homeless Child")

Holmes Brothers - Speaking In Tongues

Fred's original Wesley Willis post

Download Wesley Willis music here -- including "Jesus Christ"

[malachite]

I'm amazed that nobody at this site of all sites came up with "Jesus Was A Carpenter" by Johnny Cash.

And then there's the parody of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" by the parodist currently known as Blind Lemming Chiffon that goes in part: "And Jesus is our waiter / It says so on his apron..."

[Steve]

That is bizarre. I have 18 Johnny Cash albums (including several collections), and don't have that song. Where is it from...on what album?

[spencer]

Also:

Jesus Gets His Kicks at Six - Monday Mornings (good luck finding *that* one)

[Madpuppy]

You also forgot "Jesus Was A Leprechaun" by Snakefinger

[malachite]

(Apologies to all, but I can't figure out how to invoke italics on this site. Please read the underscores below as enclosing italicized text.)

Steve: _That is bizarre. I have 18 Johnny Cash albums (including several collections), and don't have that song. Where is it from...on what album?_

Try _Hello, I'm Johnny Cash_ or _Johnny Cash at Madison Square Garden_. However, in looking those albums up, I find that it was written by Chris Warren, unlike the earlier citations I found that credited it to Cash. But his performance is deeply moving.

Lyrics can be found at: http://www.countryfriends.dk/us/jesus-was-a-carpenter.htm

[Ray]

You start italics with an i enclosed within angle brackets.
(i) but with angle brackets.
At the end of the italics, you put /i in angle brackets.
(/i) but with angle brackets.
(b) and (/b) surround bold text.

[Ian Mathers]

As always, only ones not already poasted...

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Gavin Bryars
Jigsaw Man - Clinic
Jimmy Carter - Electric Six
Jimmy Down the Well - Monkey Swallows the Universe
Jo Jo's Jacket - Stephen Malkmus
Joan of Arc (20 Below Mix) - Low
Joe the Lion - David Bowie
John Henry Split My Heart - Songs: Ohia

The Gavin Bryars track (26 minutes) is transcendant, probably the closest thing I have in my playlist to a religious experience. The Electric Six track is far better, and affecting, than you'd think if all you know is "Gay Bar"/"Danger! High Voltage". The Stephen Malkmus track is about Yul Brynner. The Low track is pretty close to the Bryars in terms of intensity.

Wow, except for the Malkmus, this is an unusually serious/intense slice of my library.

[Russ]

What about John Wayne's Dream by Big Country?