Tag Archives: jesus

#668: The Velvet Underground – Jesus

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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.

#667: Jakobínarína – Jesus

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This song isn’t about our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. You know when you hear or witness something incredibly dumb and over the top and you just roll your eyes and say “Jesus…” to yourself? I believe that’s what this song’s title is going for. Here, the statement reflects the narrator’s frustration with the poor music taste of the crowd and the people performing in front of them.

Throughout the track vocalist Gunnar Bergmann Ragnarsson constantly throws shade at those around him, calling the crowd “kitsch-ass motherfuckers” with “low IQs” who are destined for desk jobs and nothing more. He’s clearly having a miserable time. The music on the other hand is driven by these sleek guitars and a bouncy keyboard melody that doesn’t make things seem so dire. There’s a hip-hop like quality to the rhythm too, dominated by a hefty bass drum and some sampling in the small instrumental break before the bridge.

This track got some frequent play on MTV2 in the UK back in the day. I either always changed the channel when it came on, or it would be finishing when I changed to MTV2 to see what was going on. I didn’t give it a chance that much. That all changed when I actually got the band’s album. That was ten years ago, my god. One of my favourites by the band from the small selection of songs they made.

My iPod #309: Green Day – East Jesus Nowhere

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Watching the World Cup and then going on to do nothing but browse the Internet after almost made me forget that I had this to do. If you are watching the football, how’s your team doing? Both teams that I were supporting are both out now which smells, but I will of course carry on viewing the action.

So today’s song is “East Jesus Nowhere”, a track and a single from Green Day’s album “21st Century Breakdown”. Not my favourite of the band’s for reasons that have probably been covered in other reviews that you can read elsewhere. For me, the whole ‘concept’ is a bit too much; I still don’t really understand it now but I never tried to in the slightest. That’s just one thing; I won’t go much into the rest.

“East Jesus Nowhere” is an ‘anti-religion’ song inspired by Mike Dirnt’s displeasure on witnessing a baptism in a church filled with ‘hypocrisy and hatred’. Billie Joe himself said to The Sunday Times that “the never-ending hypocrisy of religion, all those snake-oil-salesman types, and that subliminal thing of threatening people and ripping away their individuality.” Can’t ask for more than that really.

It’s a track I don’t care for that much. Sounded good back in 2009, but now….. ehh. It’s alright.