Mixtape: "Is It Appropriate To Wish Someone A Happy Easter Given How We Got There? Discuss."

What better way to end the week on Good Friday than with a religious-themed mixtape. Remember when I asked the question Does God Have A Sense of Humor? My answer to that is I sure hope so, because otherwise I'm going to have to hear about some of the songs on this Mixtape on Judgment Day, and I'm pretty sure I'll already be taking up an inordinate amount of time that day, not the least because way way back when, my sister and I invented "High Fives For Jesus," which were more or less what they sounded like: whenever we wanted to thank God for doing something, or just emphasize how cool Jesus was, we'd do a high five for Jesus...

Which was, I think, not as bad as this:



But "High Fives For Jesus" were more or less plagiarizing this song in advance...



... even though I didn't know about that song until Sweetie got me the Cheesecake Truck song on a CD for a Christmas present. By then, I had plenty of other Jesus songs in my library, like this one:



Which I heard is being made into a musical, and about which album I have this to say: What the heck is it about? I'm told it's a concept album, but I'll be... well, damned... if I know what the "concept" is. I miss straightforward concept albums' like Roger Waters' "Radio KAOS."

Which has nothing to do with this mixtape, so back to it with Johnny Cash:



And if Depeche Mode made the concept of a Personal Jesus sound tacky, doesn't Johnny Cash make it sound like all you'd ever need to maybe grab a little happiness? I wonder how he did that. The only person who ever sounded more sad in a religious song was Kurt Cobain in "Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam:"



Okay, enough seriousness: Here's a threefer from Cake: Jesus...


Heaven...


And Hell...



And then back to seriousness for a moment, as Bono tries to steal some thunder from God AND John Lennon, answering the question "Who was really bigger than Jesus & John Lennon rolled together? Bono... at least according to him."

God Part II, U2:


Who can match U2 seriousness for seriousness? Coldplay, of course: "Kingdom Come."



Less seriously, here's some punk interpretation of the Bible, "Here's Your Future" by The Thermals.



And that's not their only one: "Pillar of Salt" is religious, too:




And then I think this might be about religion. It sounds religious, anyway: "Soolaimon" by Neil Diamond:



And then there's some more Neil + Religion, now with extra Johnny Cash: "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show:"



If this list DOESN'T play well up in Heaven, The Pogues can provide me some advice: "If I Should Fall From Grace With God:"



It's not immediately apparent that this is a religious song, but it is: Joe Henry, "Time Is A Lion."



You might have caught a version of this in Watchmen, but Allison Crowe does "Hallelujah" better than anyone else:



And I can't do a mixtape without including The New Pornographers. Luckily, they know "All Of The Thigns That Go To Make Heaven And Earth:"



And finishing up with the single best song ever written about God destroying a world populated by Monkeys and Robots...

God Monkey Robot:



Have a great Holiday weekend!