So I went into a bar and this was playing...

"Prepare yourself you know it's a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He's gonna recommend you
To the spirit in the sky"

A horrible song with a catchy tune. WTF was Norman Greenbaum thinking. He is a jew. Why did he write about jesus ? Sounds like a very confused person.

According to the Rolling Stone magazine edition that featured the top 500 songs of all time (this song was in the countdown's upper half), Norman Greenbaum was quoted as saying that he figured that more people would purchase his song if it was about Jesus instead of Yahweh; in other words, it was clearly a gut decision based on the need to sell records.

...and ultimately, it always boils down to sex. If it increases your chances of sexual congress, that's the route most of us take, that's why we do what we do.



"...And then the last stone was turned over, and there lay the pellucid, slimy truth, that 'wisdom' is simply doing what ought to be done, rather than what you think will get you laid."

--Judic West, Junior Woodchuck Patrol Leader to Huey, Dewey & Louie

Judic is indeed very wise.

The craving of flesh rules the world? The craving that creates empires and dynasties just so the most beautiful will be attracted to the most powerful, or the funniest, or the most talented---the means to even the score with those who were born dreamy?

I knew it, the politicians are f*cking us.

I've been reading EOD's posts for about 15 years but it annoys me that I'm not in on the Judic West joke/ref.

I googled it in case it/he/she is something or someone real, but all I got was some interesting information about the structure of the legal system in Western Australia. Let me know if want to learn any background on the powers of our Supreme Court. LW probably knows it all anyway...

I have never met Judic West and am somewhat suspicious because he has so many different titles and skills. But my dear friend Judy Quest ensures me that Judic is real and, call me naive, I choose to believe.

As for Australia's supreme court, I am at a loss. All I know about your homelands is that its Creator had an inordinate fondness for noxious reptiles!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2019 09:22PM by Lot's Wife.

Stop ripping off J.B.S. Haldane!

Put down that beetle and slowly walk away, you Lemonite miscreant!

Ms Quest should know that all Australian states have Supreme Courts, but that the right of appeal from those is to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom, not to the federal Australian High Court.

Also please tell her that our snakes are indeed nasty but as most of us live in cities, they don't cause too many problems. Watch out for those lethal, aggressive, funnel-web spiders, though, in suburban Sydney backyards.

Still - Mormons, eh?!

That's strange. Someone told me the cities were fully of snakes too--just of another sort!


;-)

Tom in Paris just came out with it one day, a few years ago, and asked, "What the F is this Judic West thing you do all about!?!"

It is a fetish.

As fetishes go, there are worse.

It started when I was a 7th grader at Fifth St. Elementary School in Las Vegas, NV. (5th St. was later renamed Las Vegas Blvd. Boy, can I wax nostalgic about those old days!)

Our 7th-grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson (yes, the one who laughed her butt off when I did a book report on The Scapegoat and called it The Scrape Goat), told us about pseudonyms, and how so many writers had them. She gave us an assignment, for those who wanted to, to come up with a pseudonym, a pen name.

I was very intrigued by this notion, that I could be known by another name, one that I could make up all by myself! My birth name is wholly and completely Hispanic, and it is both common and unremarkable in any Spanish-speaking country. But here in Los EEUU, from the beginning of my scholastic career, every new teacher stumbled over both the first and last names.

So the notion of sailing through life with a name that would flow easily, smoothly from the lips of all my admirers was not only soothing but enchanting!

So I labored as mightily as an 11-year-old can (I was a year younger than my classmates) and came up with Judic West. I recall nothing about the process, except that my study desk at home was Avocado Green.

Judic West has been an infrequent visitor in my head, always comporting himself with a studied nonchalance that I envy. And he's never worked a day in his life and has made love to women far above my station in life.

I dread the day Saucie meets him!!

My revenge on him is to make up really silly sayings and musings and to then foist them onto Judic, while at the same time ascribing to him totally preposterous titles and/or attributes. People would think I was crazy if I said all the things he did!!



It really boils down to me being a better fake White boy than I would have been a real White boy, if that makes any sense. Although Saucie says I am totally and completely a White boy on the inside...

There, aren't you glad you asked?

Thanks Jose, it all starts to make sense. It's a great name and I'm glad you have stayed in touch with it/him all this time.

Are you and Saucie married IRL and is Lot’s Wife also part of the family?

I’m new here and I get confused.

Are you and Saucie married and is Lots Wife also part of the family?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2019 08:44PM by LJ12.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2019 08:44PM by LJ12.

No.

Many years ago EOD and Saucie met at an ex-Mo conference and fell hopelessly in love. I have never met them in real life; we have just been posting with and against (against is more fun!) each other for over a decade.

There are a couple of people here who occasionally accuse us of being the same poster, but 'tisn't true. More's the pity!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2019 08:43PM by Lot's Wife.

Wow, is that really true? That’s a lovely thing to hear.

I don’t know what’s happening with my posts they keep going in the wrong places...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2019 08:47PM by LJ12.

Just blame the gremlins. That's what I do.

Dave the Atheist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A horrible song with a catchy tune. WTF was Norman
> Greenbaum thinking. He is a jew. Why did he write
> about jesus ? Sounds like a very confused person.

Fun inside-Hollywood trivia:

The following Christmas songs were written (either the music, the lyrics, or both music and lyrics) by Jews:

"White Christmas" (Irving Berlin)

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Johnny Marks)

"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (Johnny Marks)

"A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Johnny Marks)

"The Christmas Song" ["Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire"] (by Robert Wells and Mel Torme, who were both Jews)

"Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow" (Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne, who were both Jews)

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" (Edward Pola and George Wyle, who were both Jews)

"Silver Bells" (Jay Livingston and Ray Evans)

"Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, a Jew, composed the music)

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" (Walter Kent, a Jew, composed the music)

And my all-time, most deeply detested, Christmas standard:
"Santa Baby" (Joan Javits and Philip Springer)

Most of these are pretty horrible songs. They refer to Christmas but aren't really Christian otherwise, unlike Spirit in the Sky.

No idea what all this weird talk of the Judaic West all the time is.

Wait, I thought it was “spigot in the sky”.

Don't feel bad. I thought it was "Spirit in this guy".

Put down the peyote and slowly step back.

"Gotta have a friend in Jesus"

Sometimes imaginary friends help us cope.

Even when I was a young teen I thought the lyrics were weird. I did like the song though.

Comically, being a Mormon, I was mostly concerned about it being sacrilegious, using "Jesus" in a rock song. At the time everyone seemed in an uproar about the musical Hair being disrespectful about Jesus. My folks were convinced the psychedelic trends in music (those darn kids are on drugs!) were the work of Satan.

Funny how some of these threads trigger memories that take me back to how I viewed the world.

Great now this stupid song is running around in my head.

1969 The Moon and the Mission. What a year. I loved that song then. Now when I hear it, the phrase, "He's gonna recommend you . . ." makes me remember that all religion is about the intermediary.

The message of religion is that you can't get to God on your own. You aren't enough. You gotta have a middleman. Just like in life. Whatever you want, there is the retailer there to take their cut. Your editor can get you the book deal that you couldn't. Only your agent can get you into the audition.

And religion?

Jesus is the intermediary. Joseph too. And Rusty. Wendy? Hmmmmnnn. Somebody needs to dunk or sprinkle you. Someone needs to verify your worthiness with probing questions. Someone needs your signature on a check. Somebody needs to give you the magic words and hand shakes, cuz, otherwise, you are out on your own, kid.

And then? If you play their game right? They can finally recommend you! Your life story goes on the "slush pile" for consideration. Yay!


Which is all an admission that nobody is getting Sky Daddy at wholesale.

Yep.

Religion is the middleman to tell people what God wants. Every individual knows just as much factually about a god as any religion (which is zero).

People eat it up so they get to think they will live forever and have a sky daddy who will look out for them and make everything right in an afterlife. For many people, paying a middleman for McAnswers and myths seem to be worth it.

Middleman is a great career if you have a catchy gimmick and no conscience. Don't let empathy trip you up.

Exactly. The first tribal dude who realized he could be a special magic shaman instead of having to work like everyone else figured out the whole gig.

Perhaps . . .

The first god, I have no doubt, was the god of thunder. And with no understanding of thunder and lightning and even less for nature and most likely terrified of it, primitive man was ripe for one of the more imaginative from his big-fore-headed group to assume that someone had to be making that crackling boom sound and throwing that jagged flame through the sky purposefully. From there it was a hop, skip, and a jump
to an all-powerful being, and the idea of a god was born from fear of the unknown.

Before you know it, a more devious big-brained Homosapien seized the opportunity and claimed to have a connection to this deity—this God of Thunder; claimed to have met him, knew all about him. And human nature being what it has always been, he was instantly getting gifts regularly as an incentive to be the intermediary between anyone and everyone who wanted a favor from said god. At first, humans just wanted to get good crops, but then you know how people are. The sky became the limit for the favors they sought.

So this lucky devil, the intermediary, would never have to go hunting and gathering again if he played his sticks and stones right. The middleman had invented himself. The bamboozle known as God was born. All that was left was to design the fancy robes, and slippers and hats, and, the "piece d'resistance"--the Afterlife! Genius!

And that is the problem with calling the Cosmos God. The cosmos doesn't need an intermediary since it is clearly not "homosapien responsive." Well, sez I, anyways.

And who do you pay your tithing to?

Yes Dagny....you hit the nail on the head. “Wow, this sure beats workin”!!

So many excellent comments on this thread which sum up par excellancey the spirit god or gods in the sky along with the whole scheme wrapped around it. So agree that at the heart of this "bamboozle" (thanks to Done and Done for this great word) is for the person to get his jollies and power with as little effort as possible. Been going on for a mighty long time and will continue as long as their are the minions willing and able to have their thinking done for them.

I wouldn't mind if there were a deity, and that we all are going live 'forever.'

The infamous old Greek, Roman and Norse ghawds would occasionally take notice of what the mere humans were up to, usually while in the process of scoping out a lucious babe, and then interesting things would take place, about which tales evolved.

Now the Christian ghawd sees all and knows all. Not even a sparrow can fall from the sky without ghawd taking note.

Here's my question: How come Mr. Deity doesn't listen/talk to all of us, all the time? Certainly he has that kind of power, per the tales told of him by his agents. And why is he content to allow competing agents to argue with each other? Why doesn't he set the record straight? I'd even be okay with frequent responses from ghawd that were just quick, "I can't answer that right now" type responses. what's wrong with sending down an angel to tell a grieving parent, "Sorry, dude, but one day you'll understand..."?

As things stand now, I think that if there is a ghawd of the bible, he's has done and is doing, a shitty job. And you can tell him I said so.

I actually used to like this song. But now it’s annoying - and in my head again. Funny how things that used to make me feel good now make me feel so bad. I think once your eyes are opened there really is no turning back. That has struck me even more since also rejecting a belief in god. Believing in god makes no sense, because as EOD says, he really is doing a terrible job.
Losing your religion is a much bigger deal than gaining a new faith. It feels final, it feels good and free. By the way, that WAS a good song, Losing your Religion by REM, but it actually wasn’t about religion, it was about unrequited love. Which is ironic because that’s what religion IS: Loving a god who does not love us back.

Isn't it amazing!

Written in 1969, by Norman Greenbaum.

I'm most familiar with Bauhaus
Covering it in the 1980's

Let's Dance
(David Bowie)

Back in the day there was a DJ who would say, "Norman Greenbaum? I picked strawberries with him in Oregon!" whenever this played. I remember it, because I've picked strawberries in Oregon. Now when I hear the song, I think of picking strawberries in Oregon.