This song does relate to our lord and saviour Jesus Christ a lot more than the previous post. It doesn’t tell a story about him, nor is it a passage from the Bible set to a piece of music. Closing out the first half of The Velvet Underground’s third album, ‘Jesus’ could be seen as something of a prayer.

“Jesus – help me find my proper place/Help me in my weakness ‘cause I’ve fallen out of grace” are the sole lines in this track, repeated over and over amidst tasteful guitar lines, arpeggiated bass notes and a beautiful harmony between Lou Reed and Doug Yule. Whether the track is taken to be serious is up for debate. This was the same band who were depicting scenes of orgies, drug use, and homosexuality on the previous album. And that was only in one song.

Maybe Lou Reed really was asking to be absolved of his sins. Sounds sincere to me but you never know. Nevertheless, ‘Jesus’, for me, is a highlight from an album that showed a wholesome side to The Velvet Underground. More quiet and digestible. A band you could let your parents listen to. These people couldn’t harm anyone.