riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle) (10/24/84)
Could be I remember wrong, but it seems to me that the segment you quoted was
one of the many in which Webber and Rice had some of the characters treat JC
with rather less respect than he deserved, as a way of saying that his
followers were not all equally sincere in their motives. Another one which I
recall had the disciples get drunk and sing, "Then we'll retire and write the
Gospels so they'll still talk about us when we've died." One of the major
themes of "Jesus Christ, Superstar" is the hypocrisy of many Christians, then
and now.
--- Prentiss Riddle ("Aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada.")
--- {ihnp4,harvard,seismo,gatech,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddlemyers@uwvax.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (10/24/84)
> > My candidate for the worst lyrics of all time -- and I'm surprised > that nobody else has brought it up yet -- is the following song > from "Jesus Christ Superstar" by Webber & Rice. Supposedly the > Jews are singing it to Jesus. > > Ho-sanna, Hey-sanna, Sanna, Sanna, Ho, > Sanna Hey, Sanna Ho Saaa Naaaaa... > Hey, J.C., J. C., > You're all right by me! > Sanna Hey, Sanna Ho, Superstar! > If these are the worst lyrics of all time, then all music must be pretty wonderful and sophisticated (perhaps the original poster is joking?!). I find that they lend exactly the right air of pretentious/shallow/non-holy adulation of the mass of the masses at that time in the story. Make the lyrics fit the mood (apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan). Jeff Myers
lutton@inmet.UUCP (10/28/84)
Thank you all for your replies to this message.
"You're all right by me" is not an appropriate thing to say
to your God in any religion I have ever heard of. Nobody talks to
Jesus that way in the Gospels. (Nobody talks to anybody that way
in the entire Bible. The English language has deteriorated since
then. :-) )
The music in Jesus Christ Superstar, if you listen to it today,
is Seventies-pretentions and does not impress thirty-year-old listeners
as much as it did back when they were teenagers and had never heard
anything as sophisticated as Sondheim. (-: Sondheim sophisticated? :-)
The lyrics are as hopelessly dated as the characters in a Wilkie
Collins novel. Americans had a certain way of looking at the world
in 1971 that had no counterpart in a first-century Middle Eastern
community. (But then, how many Americans can understand how first-
century Middle Easterners felt?)
The composer and author apparently felt that audiences would
understand Jesus and his times better by retelling it in terms of
modern characters -- business men on the expense account, prostitutes
who worry about "relationships" as abstract things, followers who
hope to cash in by writing memoirs, and a central character with
such serious doubts and feelings of inadequacy as to come close to
abdicating his responsibilities.
We deserve better than this. (Or some of us do. Most of us
HAVE better than this and it sits on our bookshelves unopened and
unread.)
Whoever wishes may move the above to net.flame.
I still cringe whenever I hear "Ho Zanna Hey Zanna
Zanna Zanna Ho." I wonder what it means in Hebrew when it's
arranged like that?myers@uwvax.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (10/28/84)
> The music in Jesus Christ Superstar, if you listen to it today, > is Seventies-pretentions and does not impress thirty-year-old listeners > as much as it did back when they were teenagers and had never heard > anything as sophisticated as Sondheim. (-: Sondheim sophisticated? :-) > > We deserve better than this. (Or some of us do. Most of us > HAVE better than this and it sits on our bookshelves unopened and > unread.) > Jesus Christ Superstar impressed me when I was thirteen, and impresses me more now that I'm 25. It impresses me both musically and as biblical interpretation. Of course, considering that I'm agnostic and like rock music, I, like Judas, am probably "Damned for All Time". Jeff Myers "Did Judas Iscariot have God on his side?" asks Bob Dylan.
gregbo@houxm.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (11/01/84)
> From: lutton@inmet.UUCP Hi Mark. Remember me? > WARNING: EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE TO CHRISTIANS AND JEWS > AND ALSO TO ANYONE WITH ANY SENSE OF POESY > My candidate for the worst lyrics of all time -- and I'm surprised > that nobody else has brought it up yet -- is the following song > from "Jesus Christ Superstar" by Webber & Rice. Supposedly the > Jews are singing it to Jesus. > Ho-sanna, Hey-sanna, Sanna, Sanna, Ho, > Sanna Hey, Sanna Ho Saaa Naaaaa... > Hey, J.C., J. C., > You're all right by me! > Sanna Hey, Sanna Ho, Superstar! > "Hey J.C., J.C., you're all right by me!"?????? > Is this any way to talk to the Son of God???? > I find it offensive and I'm an atheist! How do you feel about the Doobie Bros. "Jesus is Just Alright"? "I don't care what they may say, I don't care what they may do, I don't care where they may go, Jesus is just alright ..." (apologies if those are not the exact words) -- Baby tie your hair back in a long white bow ... Meet me in the field, behind the dynamo ... Greg Skinner (gregbo) {allegra,cbosgd,ihnp4}!houxm!gregbo
"Paul W. Benjamin" <Benjamin@CISL-SERVICE-MULTICS.ARPA> (11/05/84)
> How do you feel about the Doobie Bros. "Jesus is Just Alright"?
I'm not sure who originated "Jesus is Just Alright" but it wasn't the
Doobie Brothers. It appeared on the Byrds' "Ballad of Easy Rider"
somewhat before the top 40 version.rcook@uiucuxc.UUCP (11/26/84)
So what you're saying is that if religious words are behind a rock and roll beat, it is terrible and atheistic, right?? Think about it!