"Plastic Jesus" Question
Abrey Myers
A friend of mine in New York City has some questions regarding the
origin of the song "Plastic Jesus". Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
sang it, and who the author of the song is? I don't beleieve it is
Anonymous. Sorry for the long post. Many thanks for your research.
Abrey Myers
ab...@aol.com
-----
[First message]
>I think you first mentioned to me the song "Plastic Jesus" several
years
>ago; this was a song I used to hear every morning on Don Imus' show on
WNBC
>radio when I was a kid. I hear now that it was originally done in "Cool
>Hand Luke" by none other than Paul Newman, a-playin' on a banjo.
>Reportedly, the lyrics are thus:
>
>Plastic Jesus
>--------------------
>
>I don't care if it rains or freezes
>Long as I got my plastic Jesus
>Sitting on the dashboard of my car
>Comes in colors pink and pleasant
>Glows in the dark cause it's irridescent
>Take it with you when you travel far
>
>Get yourself a sweet Madonna
>Dressed in rhinestones sittin' on a
>Pedestal of abalone shells
>Goin' 90, I ain't scary
>Cause I got the Virgin Mary
>Assurin' me that I won't go to hell
>
>Never having seen Cool Hand Luke, I don't know for sure if this is for
>real. Do you know?
>
>Beth
>
>..............................................................................
>
> Do I have a Y2K Problem? - No, I've got a Mac.
> I've got a Year 29,940 A.D. Problem!
[second message]
><<This is the latest incarnation of "Plastic Jesus" from the Idiot's
Delight
>Digest:
>
>>I couldn't resist checking into this a bit further. At:
>>http://gunther.simplenet.com/v/data/plasticj.htm
>>I found:
>>
>>ARTIST: Trad and Anon
>>TITLE: Plastic Jesus
>>
>>Well, I don't care if it rains or freezes,
>>Long as I have my plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>Through all trials and tribulations,
>>We will travel every nation,
>>With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>Through all trials and tribulations,
>>We will travel every nation,
>>With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.
>>
>>I don't care if it rains or freezes
>>As long as I've got my Plastic Jesus
>>Glued to the dashboard of my car,
>>You can buy Him phosphorescent
>>Glows in the dark, He's Pink and Pleasant,
>>Take Him with you when you're travelling far
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>
>>I don't care if it's dark or scary
>>Long as I have magnetic Mary
>>Ridin' on the dashboard of my car
>>I feel I'm protected amply
>>I've got the whole damn Holy Family
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>
>>You can buy a Sweet Madonna
>>Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
>>Pedestal of abalone shell
>>Goin' ninety, I'm not wary
>>'Cause I've got my Virgin Mary
>>Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>
>>I don't care if it bumps or jostles
>>Long as I got the Twelve Apostles
>>Bolted to the dashboard of my car
>>Don't I have a pious mess
>>Such a crowd of holiness
>>Strung across the dashboard of my car
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>
>>No, I don't care if it rains or freezes
>>Long as I have my plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>But I think he'll have to go
>>His magnet ruins my radio
>>And if we have a wreck he'll leave a scar
>>
>>{Refrain}
>>
>>Riding through the thoroughfare
>>With his nose up in the air
>>A wreck may be ahead, but he don't mind
>>Trouble coming, he don't see
>>He just keeps his eyes on me
>>And any other thing that lies behind
>>
>>Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>Though the sun shines on his back
>>Makes him peel, chip, and crack
>>A little patching keeps him up to par
>>
>>When pedestrians try to cross
>>I let them know who's boss
>>I never blow my horn or give them warning
>>I ride all over town
>>Trying to run them down
>>And it's seldom that they live to see the morning
>>
>>Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>His halo fits just right
>>And I use it as a sight
>>And they'll scatter or they'll splatter near and far
>>
>>When I'm in a traffic jam
>>He don't care if I say Damn
>>I can let all sorts of curses roll
>>Plastic Jesus doesn't hear
>>For he has a plastic ear
>>The man who invented plastic saved my soul
>>
>>Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>Once his robe was snowy white
>>Now it isn't quite so bright
>>Stained by the smoke of my cigar
>>
>>God made Christ a Holy Jew
>>God made Him a Christian too
>>Paradoxes populate my car
>>Joseph beams with a feigned elan
>>>From the shaggy dash of my furlined van
>>Famous cuckold in the master plan
>>
>>Naughty Mary, smug and smiling
>>Jesus dainty and beguiling
>>Knee-deep in the piling of my van
>>His message clear by night or day
>>My phosphorescent plastic Gay
>>Simpering from the dashboard of my van
>>
>>When I'm goin' fornicatin
>>I got my ceramic Satan
>>Sinnin' on the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
>>The women know I'm on the level
>>Thanks to the wild-eyed stoneware devil
>>Ridin' on the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
>> Sneerin' from the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
>> Leering from the dashboard of my van
>>
>>If I weave around at night
>>And the police think I'm tight
>>They'll never find my bottle, though they ask
>>Plastic Jesus shelters me
>>For His head comes off, you see
>>He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask
>>
>>Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
>>Riding on the dashboard of my car
>>Ride with me and have a dram
>>Of the blood of the Lamb
>>Plastic Jesus is a holy bar
>
>That's the longest version of it I've seen so far; I particularly like
the
>part about "ceramic Satan".
>
>Beth
>
>.
>
> "Don't anthropomorphize computers. They hate that."
Mark Rouleau
>
> Oh, Dementites:
>
> A friend of mine in New York City has some questions regarding the
> origin of the song "Plastic Jesus". Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
> sang it, and who the author of the song is? I don't beleieve it is
> Anonymous. Sorry for the long post. Many thanks for your research.
>
Hope this helps.
--
Mark Rouleau
I'd like to be alone with my thought.
--a sad Homer Simpson
B Moke
Don't know when it was first sung/heard/published/recorded,but virtually the
same melody was used in a #1 country megahit from 1945 called "Okalahoma Hills"
by Jack Guthrie (Woody's counsin) on Capitol records.
Bob Moke
B Moke
moke
Pete Levin
Abrey Myers wrote:
> Oh, Dementites:
>
> A friend of mine in New York City has some questions regarding the
> origin of the song "Plastic Jesus". Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
> sang it, and who the author of the song is? I don't beleieve it is
> Anonymous. Sorry for the long post. Many thanks for your research.
>
>
Its listed on the ASCAP website as
PLASTIC JESUS (Tcode: 460141408)
Writer(s)
RUSH PAUL EDWARD
CROMARTY GEORGE M
Performer
GOLD COAST SINGERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Whatever tempo you play it at, that's the
right tempo." Thelonius Monk
Brian
Pete Levin wrote:
> Its listed on the ASCAP website as
>
> PLASTIC JESUS (Tcode: 460141408)
> Writer(s)
> RUSH PAUL EDWARD
> CROMARTY GEORGE M
> Performer
> GOLD COAST SINGERS
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On the album:
Here They Are!
World-Pacific WP-1806
1962
The Gold Coast Singers are Ed Rush and George Cromarty
--
-=-=-=-=-===-==-==-=-=-=-
remove ".yesbacon" from e-mail address to reply.
Matt J. McCullar
>
> Oh, Dementites:
>
> A friend of mine in New York City has some questions regarding the
> origin of the song "Plastic Jesus". Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
> sang it, and who the author of the song is? I don't beleieve it is
> Anonymous. Sorry for the long post. Many thanks for your research.
Geez, is the song THAT old? I've never seen _Cool Hand Luke_ but I do
have a version of the song on audiocassette that is sung by a woman, and
it sounds kinda like someone recording at a filk party somewhere. The
lyrics I'm familiar with aren't an exact match, of course. I don't have
a name of the female singer and can't even remember where I got it.
Matt J. McCullar
Arlington, TX
Daif LeGume
writes:
>
>Geez, is the song THAT old? I've never seen _Cool Hand Luke_ but I do
>have a version of the song on audiocassette that is sung by a woman, and
>it sounds kinda like someone recording at a filk party somewhere. The
>lyrics I'm familiar with aren't an exact match, of course. I don't have
>a name of the female singer and can't even remember where I got it.
>
>Matt J. McCullar
>Arlington, TX
Older than that. The Goldcoast Singers album, which features it (they
wrote and first recorded it) is from the early, early 60's.
Bob Purse
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Three times a day, as the average, we use of thee among of our foods.....Along
by our knowledge of the well-kept adage by the more of all helpin' with the all
of coulds"- Thomas Guygax, "At the time", circa 1970's
John U
rasm...@aol.com says...> writes re the age of "Plastic Jesus":
>
> Older than that. The Goldcoast Singers album, which features it (they
> wrote and first recorded it) is from the early, early 60's.
>
> Bob Purse
I recall hearing "Plastic Jesus" sung by some of the folkies at Reed
College ca 1963. There were a number of similarly irreverent songs going
around then, including "Barry Goldwater Marches On" to the Battle Hymn of
the Republic with a chorus of "Horse and Buggy Uber Alles" and "Let's get
Them Before They Get Us" (The Red Chinese could bring us to our knees,
Let's get them before they get us.) I think the guy who did these, and
may have written some or all of them was named Steve, but that's all I
can remember.
The funniest of all was "Jesus Was a Teenager, Too" It was done as a
"slow dance" song, the chords being the typical C,Am,F,G cycled over and
over. The background vocal was "Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Jesus
Christ,Yeah.......) to my best recollection, the words were:
Say your prayers every eveining,
Church every Sunday.
You'll get to heaven,
Not now, but one day.
For although he was a Jew,
Jesus was a teenager too.
Always obey
your parents and teachers.
Pay due respect
to your priests and your preachers.
Cause they're tellin' you
Jesus was a teenager too.
Out at the drag strip
better race fair.
Jesus is watching.
Jesus is there.
For although he was a Jew,
Jesus was a teenager too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah....
(Spoken:)
Jesus never went to drive-ins
or talked for hours on the phone.
Jesus never went steady.
He walked his life alone.
(Sung:)
So at the dance
In the high school gym,
Your dancing with her
But your thinking of Him.
For although he was a Jew,
Jesus was a teenager too.
Enjoy,
John U
Plus4dbu
>Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
>> sang it, and who the author of the song is?
I don't know if Paul Newman ever sang it (he's probably too old for it to have
been a camp song for him), but the author is Ernie Mars, one of the stalwarts
of the Atlanta folk music scene from the late '50's. The first print version
was most likely in Sing Out! about 1963, and most of the versions that were
recorded in the sixties credited Ernie as the author.
Mark Rouleau
>
> "Matt J. McCullar" <mccu...@flash.net> wrote:
>
> >Can anyone verify if Paul Newman
> >> sang it, and who the author of the song is?
>
> I don't know if Paul Newman ever sang it (he's probably too old for it to have
> been a camp song for him),
"Cool Hand Luke." He also sings "Cotton Fields" and perhaps a couple
other folk songs. (Been a while since I saw it.)
Seth Noseworthy
Mojo Nixon with the Toadliquors (1994 Alternative Tentacles Records,
Produced by Marshall Lawless and Tri-State Kill Spree Johnson).
My wife hates it, but I've got it in my car as a driving song.
Seth
Mark Rouleau wrote in message <37741410...@frontiernet.net>...
>"Cool Hand Luke." He also sings "Cotton Fields" and perhaps a couple
>other folk songs. (Been a while since I saw it.)
>Mark Rouleau