For My Sunday Song #262, we are talking about “Jesus Came to Tennessee” by Will Hoge. The song is off one of Will’s protest E.P.s called ‘Modern American Protest Music’ from 2012. The whole album is Will speaking out about what was going on in America at the time and there will be another song we highlight from this E.P. That will be two songs out of ten that will come from an E.P. and not an album and that should tell you what I think about the E.P.

This one is where the lyrics need to be read as it is totally and utterly brilliant. The song is a fictional story about Jesus coming down to Tennessee and visited with Will. It is a conversation he and Jesus had as they drove around Tennessee. It is hilarious at times no doubt with Jesus saying the following…

And I’ll call off this doomsday end of the world and I can go back home
“It gets wild when I leave Daddy and John Lennon up there all alone”

But most of it is commentary to how badly we have screwed up things down here. Will and his wife had a child out of wedlock, but Jesus says thats okay as he was born out of wedlock as well. Jesus sees all the war and poverty and how we treat the gays and He is ready to pull the plug on us. Will asks Jesus if he wants to watch Fox or CNN and Jesus says he just wants to hear the truth. And then Jesus calls off the Doomsday when he sees the little children of all different races and sexes playing together with no cares about race or anything. Jesus then said maybe there is hope. Which reminds us that racism is learned and not natural. There is so much great stuff in this song that you need to listen to it more than once. Here is one more line that I love…

I yelled, “One more thing Jesus, could you help me write some hits?”
And in a big voice he said that “I will, if you quit writin’ songs like this”

I love that line as it shows that Will doesn’t take himself serious and has a great sense of humor. I’m telling you, this guy is pure gold!! I could dissect every line in this song and relate to current events, but I think you will pick up on it easily enough when you hear it. It is a combination of everything that is wrong with our country right now and some hope that we could fix it.

Musically, it is a country style track and Will speaks-sings the lyrics like some old-school outlaw country track. It is a simple beat the whole time and Will goes through the whole conversation with Jesus. There isn’t too much to it as this song is all about the lyrics so listen close and take it all in.

Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. I hope you like it and find it informative and enlightening as well. Will isn’t scared to tell it like he sees it.

“Jesus Came To Tennessee”

Jesus came to Earth today, smack-dab into Tennessee
Knocked upon my front door said, “Hey Will, remember me?”
I said, “Oh Lord please forgive me, but I ain’t real good with names
“But your face looks real familiar. Wait a second, uh, is it James?”
And he said, “No, no, no”

He said, “It’s Jesus – you know, the Son of God?” and I didn’t realize
I said, “Man, I’m sure sorry” and invited him inside
Offered him a sandwich ’cause he was lookin’ awful thin
And then I went and got nervous and said, “So Jesus, where you been?”
And he said “Heaven Will, I’ve been in heaven”

And then I saw him looking at a picture from my weddin’ day
Of my wife and me and our one-year-old son. I said, “I guess that’s not okay?”
He said “The truth is, all I care about is that you love and take care of your kids
“Remember I was born out of wedlock too, though some folks soon forget”
They’d soon forget

We just sat there talkin’, watchin’ the TV news
I asked him “Fox or CNN?” He said, “Will, I prefer the truth”
I said, “PBS, okay my friend” and we both had a laugh
But with the stories they kept showin’, he started lookin’ pretty sad
It was all war and death and hatred, poverty and greed
He said “The rich folks and politicians are sure startin’ to get to me “What part of ‘love your neighbor’ is so hard to understand?”
I said “Don’t take it too hard Jesus, let’s just take a drive my man”
Take a drive my man

Hopped into my old Ford and went out for a spin
Drove past a military funeral where we saw these angry men
With signs that said that “God hates fags”, Jesus said “Let me out”
Walked up to them all calm and cool and I heard one man shout
“Get out of here, you goddamn hippy, I can’t wait for you to die”
And Jesus said “I already did” and then smiled and waved goodbye
Got in and said “Daddy don’t hate nobody, that’s an awful thing to say
“Plus, Daddy knows what he’s doin’: He’s the one that made ’em gay”
God made ’em gay

I went back to drivin’ and then I saw him shed a tear
He said “Y’all sure have made a mess of all the things that we gave you down here
“All this war and global warmin’, no help to the sick and the poor
“I guess Daddy and I should just pull the plug, y’all ain’t worth it anymore”
I said, “Woah! Jesus, Jesus, take it easy. I gotta pick my two sons up at three
“And if it’s gonna be Armageddon, I think I’d like to have them here with me”
He said “Okay then let’s go get ’em” and then we turned up the radio
And we sang along to old Merle Haggard songs as we rode on down the road
“Mama Tried”
Oh, Mama tried

Pulled up to the playground and Jesus said “Lookey there”
All the kids were runnin’ ’round laughin’, there was smiles everywhere
The white, the black, the Chinese, the short, the fat, the tall
Christians, Muslims, Jews and Atheists havin’ themselves a ball
Jesus smiled and said “Well, maybe there’s hope for you folks yet “Learn a lesson from your children and try not to forget
“And I’ll call off this doomsday end of the world and I can go back home
“It gets wild when I leave Daddy and John Lennon up there all alone”
Oh yeah

I said “Okay Jesus, thanks for hangin’. See you another time”
And just like that he was gone and everything seemed fine
I yelled, “One more thing Jesus, could you help me write some hits?”
And in a big voice he said that “I will, if you quit writin’ songs like this”
Amen

Written by Will Hoge