The ideal Easter playlist: the story behind the songs 'Jesus' (2023)

Easter is approaching, and what better time than to relax with some songs that have the word 'Jesus' in the title?

A far-fetched exercise perhaps, but this would be ideal listening on this holiest holiday – especially as the titles and lyrics often hide meanings that might surprise you.

To be clear - this is not an exercise in belittling people's belief systems; just diving into certain songs that aren't quite what they seem at first. And before anyone gets upset, let's not forget that the fact that we humans have a sense of humor should mean that God and Jesus do too. After all, being made in His image strongly suggests that we share similar traits.

Depeche Mode - 'Personal Jesus'

Your personal Jesus
Someone who will hear your prayers
Someone who cares

Well, we had to start with the obvious, but it remains a classic.

In 1989, Depeche Mode released this single from their then-upcoming album 'Violator', which later became a fan favourite. At the time, the band's label, Mute, placed personal ads in local newspapers with the words "YOUR PERSONAL JESUS" and a phone number. Whoever decided to answer could hear a new song.

While many consider the song to be about the commercialization of religion, lead songwriter Martin Gore explained in a 1990 interview with Spin that it wasn't about that at all. The lyrics actually referred to Priscilla Presley's autobiography, 'Elvis And Me'.

"It's a song about being Jesus for someone else, someone who will give you hope and care," Gore said. “This is about how Elvis Presley was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everyone's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?”

The song often tops Depeche Mode's greatest hits lists and has been covered many times, including by Johnny Cash in 2022 on his album 'American IV: The Man Comes Around' and by Marilyn Manson in 2004. In 2008, Hilary Duff based her song 'Reach Out' to 'Personal Jesus', changing the lyrics to "Reach out and touch me."

Cheeky tramp.

Tom Waits - 'Chocolate Jesus'

Well, I don't go to church on Sundays
Don't kneel to pray for me
Do not memorize the books of the Bible
I have my own special way

I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little more
I fall on my knees every Sunday
In Zerelda Lee's pastry shop

A personal favorite, this one…

For the pagans among you, Chocolate Jesus refers to the chocolate sculptures of Richard Manderson who in 1994 created a series of small chocolate Jesuses filled with raspberry fondant that were sold to visitors to Australia's cultural centre, the Gorman House Arts Center in Canberra. American newspapers condemned his act of portraying Jesus on chocolate, and in response Manderson brilliantly decided to create a real life-size chocolate Jesus, which he called "Trans-substantiation 2". The piece went on public display around Easter 1994, and Manderson invited the public to come and partake of his flawless confection.

There is Tom Waits, who five years later released the song 'Chocolate Jesus' on his Grammy-winning album 'Mule Variations'. (If you haven't had that pleasure, discard this article immediately and let them listen to you.)

The lyrics describe a boy who goes to a candy store every Sunday to get his fill of chocolate Jesus.

Waits said he wasn't inspired to write this song after learning about Manderson's work, but Testamints, a candy with a cross and Bible verse embossed on the cover.

"My father-in-law was trying to get me interested in this business venture - these things called Testaments," he said in a 1999 interview on the David Letterman Show, weaving another of his stories. "They're these little lozenges with little crosses on them. If you're on the road, or something, and you can't worship the way you're used to, or it's during the week, you can take one of these little Testaments, and in a way you puts you in touch with your higher power.”

The song is essentially a playful jab at those who use religion only as a feel-good mechanism, comparing those who hypocritically practice biblical cherry-picking just for the superficial rush of conscience-clearing to the endorphins released in the brain when addicted kids get their sugar high. Faith then ceases to be about faith, and more about the evils that many do in the name of religion.

My sweet Lord…

George Michael - 'Jesus Child'

And what I learned
From all this pain
I thought I would never feel the same
About anyone
Or anything again

This one is not what it seems either.

Undoubtedly one of the late artist's most poignant and beautiful songs, 'Jesus to a Child' is a personal tribute to George Michael's grief after the loss of his first love, Anselmo Felepp.

He met Feleppa while performing in Rio de Janeiro in 1991 and later said that "he was the first love of my whole life".

"I was happier than ever. Fame, money, everything just pales in comparison."

Feleppa died of an AIDS-related brain hemorrhage in 1993, and given that Michael was not gay by the time the song was released in 1996, many interpreted the song as an ode to faith. Oh, the irony, given the contemptuous attitudes of most organized religions toward any deviation from heteronormativity.

'Jesus to a Child' became George's first solo single to reach number one in the UK charts. Until his death in 2016, the artist would dedicate the song to Felepa when he performed it live. After his death, the founder of UK charity Childline, Dame Esther Rantzen, revealed that all royalties from 'Jesus to a Child' were secretly donated to a charity that provides counseling services to children and teenagers going through difficult times.

Now try to listen to that song and not shed a tear.

Nirvana - 'Jesus Doesn’t Want Me for a Sunbeam'

Jesus, you don't want me for a single ray of sunlight
Sunbeams were never made like me
Don't expect me to cry
For all the reasons you had to die
Never ask me for your love

Originally recorded by Scottish group The Vaselines, this song is better known for its cover by Nirvana, who changed the original title from 'Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam' to 'Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam'.

Vaseline conceived the song as a parody of the Christian children's hymn 'I'll Be a Sunbeam', and Nirvana's version seems to have taken that baton and run with it, given that Kurt Cobain and the band were outspoken about homophobia and sexism . Cobain even said he wished he was gay just to piss off homophobes, and he often wore dresses to protest sexism.

"Wearing a dress shows that I can be as feminine as I want to be," he told the LA Times, taking a hard look at the macho undercurrent he detested in the rock scene. "I'm straight... big deal. But if I was gay, it wouldn't matter either."

He also admitted to writing a "God is gay" concern in his hometown of Aberdeen, and has repeatedly stated that he has no time for any form of apathetic behavior.

"I am appalled at what we allow to happen, how spineless, lethargic and guilty we are of not standing up to racism, sexism and all the other 'isms' that the counterculture has been whining about for years while they sit and impose these same views every night on their televisions and in their magazines ."

For Nirvana, 'Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam' was a song about rejecting a hypocritical belief system that doesn't celebrate the tolerance it preaches. For the sun's rays "were never made like me."

The Flaming Lips - 'Jesus Shootin' Heroin'

Before you dismiss the inclusion of this song as childish provocation, consider the stories behind the previous songs and open your mind (and ears) to this one.

Let's start with the lyrics:

Well, I never understood religions
Except it seems like a good reason to kill
Everyone has their own ideas
And you know, they always will
I have needles under my skin these days
Jesus shoots heroin

If priests are at your party
And you play cards that are numbered
And you have no reason to think that
Until your chances are revealed
Tell me what I have to believe
Jesus shoots heroin

Police in New York
Chased the boy, straight through the park
In case of mistaken identities
They put a bullet through his heart

I met Mary, at the corner with the street light
She asked me if I would come to her room
I told her I had no money
She said she had to leave very soon
I decided to go in
Jesus shoots heroin

Taken from The Flaming Lips' 1986 debut album 'Hear It Is', the song is less about comparing religion to drugs and more about the corruption of religion and how frustration prevails when society remains complacent in the face of suffering. This could be read as a pessimistic statement claiming that even Jesus would jump given the current state of the world. Your call.

However you choose to interpret it, frontman Wayne Coyne has kept a healthy sense of humor and distance from 'Jesus Shootin' Heroin', telling Red Bull Music Academy 2017: "I think we wanted to look menacing and deep and represent some dark, an unspeakable version of life in the Bible Belt or something. (…) It's just such a weird, weird song and I could understand why people would think there's something wrong and that we're weird and we're all pretentious at the same time."

Whether pretentious or weird, it's an underappreciated song that deserves - like its predecessors - to be included in your Easter playlist.

If you're hungry for more, check it outour ultimate guide to Easter culturefor the ideal book, series, movie and recipe for this holiest holiday.