Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: GUEST,oldhippie Date: 03 Sep 06 - 10:11 PM guest, what's your e-mail? I can send you the Marrs mp3. |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 09 Aug 07 - 07:15 PM Refresh |
Subject: ADD Version:Plastic Jesus(Ecumenical/Universalist) From: Greg B Date: 09 Aug 07 - 08:31 PM Okay, I admit it. I'm the guy who wrote the Ecumenical (or Universalist) Plastic Jesus: I think nothing could be cuter Than to see magnetic Buddha sitting on the dashboard of my car Other drivers they throw fits Buddha he just sits and sits sits there on the dashboard of my car For safety you can't top the Torah which explains the huge Menorah up there on the rooftop of my car I know I have done my utmost With my mezuzah on the doorpost Please touch it as you get into the car I press firmly on the pedal protected by a St. Chris medal fastened to the dashboard of my car Now I hear he's been demoted To him we'll no more be devoted I'll peel him from the dashboard of my car There's a crystal made of glass Which creates a blinding flash Hanging from the mirror of my car Though it makes it hard to see It brings the cosmic energy To focus on the dashboard of my car With other cars I will not tangle Long as I have that fine pentagle riding on the dashboard of my car My new car it has lots of room much better than my other broom My view ahead is clear to see Because an atheist that's me With nothing on the dashboard of my car On the road my sole protector Is a good radar detector Looking through the windshield of my car On the road I fear no moron For I have my trusty Koran Riding in the glove-box of my car My faith's as solid as can be I'll make the mountains come to me Soon I will no longer need the car Other drivers they should fear me for I have their effigy riding on the dashboard of my car No more in life will they be grinnin' After I just shove this pin in They'll wish they'd never bumped into this car Though in faith we are diverse In cars our outlook grows perverse We drive as though our brains was made of tar Different idols seem to linger But every driver has one finger Waving it at every other car |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Charley Noble Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:42 PM Greg- Very nice but there are a few major religions you've neglected, not to mentions several hundred other religions that are seriously endangered. I really need to compose a verse about Baja, the Thunder God who may still reign over a small region of Ethiopia. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: catspaw49 Date: 10 Aug 07 - 08:52 PM I thought Baja the Thunder God was the master of projectile diarrhea....................I could be wrong. Spaw |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: GUEST,Art Thieme Date: 10 Aug 07 - 10:37 PM A verse I wrote in the '60s for a small metal Tyrannosaurus Rex that was glued to the dashboard of our Volkswagen bus. To make sure I get good sex, I've got my metal T-rex Right there on the dashboard of my car. No bad guys or sneaky fella Can defeat Sister Mary Godzilla Who protects us on the dashboard of our car. Art Thieme |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Dave'sWife Date: 11 Aug 07 - 12:49 PM great verses everyone. The other thread might be about Cool Hand Luke. I posted there last year after getting caught up in Cool hand Luke on cable |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Mr Happy Date: 01 Jun 09 - 04:06 AM This song has always seemed to me to be a parody, perhaps of a hymn, anybody know?? |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Mr Happy Date: 18 May 10 - 10:13 AM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_Jesus |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: Joe Offer Date: 18 May 10 - 07:15 PM Click here for another page on "Plastic Jesus." Seems to me that Ed Rush's claim of authorship is credible. -Joe- |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: GUEST,Gerry Date: 22 Jul 11 - 12:00 AM Back issues of Broadside have been online for a while now (http://broadsidemagazine.com/ click on Backfile & Indexes). The story as Ed Rush told it above on 5 October 2004 differs a bit from the story as he told it in Broadside 41. There, he wrote, "After getting the words, rather awkwardly phrased, from a Cal co-ed of our acquaintance, we [George Cromarty and Ed Rush] put them into meter, set them to an innocuous (?) melody and surrounded them with dialogue...." Rush goes on to cite the original, "I don't care if it rains or freezes/Leaning on the arms of Jesus..." which was the theme of a "radio show from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, in the 1940s. On hearing this, some wag changed the words and 20 years later they ended up in my hands...." It seems to me that in 1964 Ed Rush was disclaiming any credit for the lyrics of PJ. |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: GUEST,Don Wise Date: 22 Jul 11 - 10:08 AM I can remeber an american singer called Chris Rohmann(?), who was touring with Harvey Andrews at the time, singing it- way, way back........ |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: GUEST Date: 27 Apr 12 - 04:19 PM I have been trying to find the origins of this song also. I have had for many years an old tape, rather scratchy that sounds like it was recorded in the 40's or early 50's of Plastic Jesus. Several years ago, I digitized it for a mix CD of humorous songs. It begins with an organ and a voice saying "Good morning, friends; this is the hour of reckoning...(then singing) Hello, friends and neighbors; how do you do?" It sounds like a real ad or spoof ad from Del Rio, Tx with a live audience. I will be happy to send an mp3 of it to whoever thinks it might help them identify the performers. I can be reached at jdcrump at Yahoo dot com if you are interested. |
Subject: RE: Who Wrote & Who Made Popular: Plastic Jesus? From: beachcomber Date: 28 Apr 12 - 07:38 AM Of course you realise "This means WAR !" (Intifada style !) |
Subject: RE: Origin: Plastic Jesus From: Joe Offer Date: 09 Nov 19 - 06:13 PM While searching through old Sing Out! Magazines for another article, I came across this gem. THE FOLK PROCESS "Plastic Jesus" Investigated by Ernie Marrs Sing Out! Magazine, Vol 14, no. 5, November 1964, pp. 51-53 On the cover of the February, 1964, Issue of Broadside magazine (New York’s Broadside, the original one) appeared a song that aroused a storm of controversy which still rages—- and the commercial recording of this song is still selling well. It’s “The Times They Are A-Changing,” by Bob Dylan. On one of the inside pages of this issue, there appeared another song which has caused just as much comment, “Plastic Jesus,” reprinted in SING OUT!, April-May, 1964. Let me state here and now that the version which bears my name should be retitled to avoid confusion and called “Plastic Jesus Rides Again.” It’s only one of a large family of songs on this Subject. My own initial contact with this Topic occurred in January, 1963. A young lady who was then singing with a close friend of mine, Patrick Sky, sang a one-verse version she had heard sung by another friend, Jeff Espina, who heard it sung by someone in some other town. The tune was slightly different from the one that appeared in print, but the printed version is usable. (The young lady’s verse is the first one of the song credited to me.) I felt that the song needed more verses, and added three — the second, fourth, and fifth. A copy of these verses went to Pat, who was bound for Miami, Florida. He tested the song on audiences there, and it became his most-requested number. He needed more verses, though. Meanwhile, back in Atlanta, I organized a quartet, with the intention of recording an LP of this sort of material, lampooning several sorts of hypocrisy. We settled down to serious practice sessions, and the man at the tape recorder, Richard Ainsworth, came up with the third verse. The record would have come out last year, except for two things: First, the man who was to back the pressing got editorial ideas and wanted enough material for two or three records to pick over and edit as he saw fit. We balked, feeling that this would totally destroy the effect we were aiming for. To us, artistically, even the sequence of the songs on the record was important, as in any really good concert. Secondly, my choir boy-voiced Scruggs—picker got drafted into the Army. (You could say that Uncle Sam subverted us.) By some strange coincidence, we weren’t the only ones who were thinking of recording this song. Pete Seeger wrote me a card, mailed July 15, 1963: “Ernie: What do you know about the song, ‘Plastic Jesus’? Who wrote it? Some teenagers here think it was originally a Georgia radio commercial, with new teenager verses. Is this correct?” I sent him what information I had, a tape of our group singing the song, and a typed copy of the verses. (An interesting sidelight: this typed copy was a duplicate of the sheet our group was working from. Unison lines were in upper case letters, solo lines in lower case, and this is the reason for the way it appeared in Broadside.) The tune we used was a Bill Monroe-ish thing with a lot of get-up-and—go to it. It turned out that Pete had heard and learned a different version of “Plastic Jesus,” and had taped it for inclusion on the second Broadside LP (Broadside BR 302, distributed by Folkways). Due to the confusion about versions, authorship, possible copyrights, etc., it was decided to drop the song from the recording. After Broadside #39 came out, we finally started getting definite answers, and almost pinned down the source of the song: Ed Rush and George Cromarty, the Goldcoast Singers. They began singing it in January, 1962,at the Purple Onion in San Francisco; in April, they recorded it (Here They Are, The Goldcoast Singers. World-Pacific 1806). Ed has something interesting things to say regarding this in Broadside #41, but the significant thing is this: “After getting the words, rather awkwardly phrased, from a Cal coed of our acquaintance...” Here we go again, folks! Who cares? It’s a folk song. Several variants of the song exist, and more verses keep cropping up all the time. Whenever some listener with little perception of its satire takes me to task for singing it, calling it a terrible song and a sacrilegious outrage, I usually do one of three things:
Future scholars of folk song, following in the Lomax footsteps, may perhaps trace regional singing habits in the verse structure and other characteristics of the several members of ”Plastic Jesus” family, the youngest of which (to my knowledge) is one I wrote on June 6, 1964: “Plastic Jesus for President”
Nixon finds his chances blocked in the auto-sticker war, I see. Some cars on the highway carry Signs that tell us, “Bury Barry”; others have the Candidate for me. Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus, Riding on the dashboard of my car! Johnson’s speedy, but Our Master Often travels even faster, Going by just like a shooting star. Dewey’s done, he’s out of the polling, Romney hasn’t started rolling; Lodge got lodged, and he’s an also—ran. It looks like R.F.K. will wait So here’s another Candidate, The One with The Answers and The Plan: Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus, Riding on the dashboard of my car! If you’re poor or rich as Croesus, Be sure to vote for Plastic Jesus To straighten out the mess we’re in, so far. (Frankly, I have a great deal of respect for The Carpenter who tried to help the people of His day in a sort of primitive socialistic manner. He didn’t invent earthquakes, floods, flies, volcanic eruptions, blindness, idiocy, or diseases such as Huntington’s Chorea. I find fragments of Him in many people today from time to time, and these people are not peddling plastic Jesi. Incidentally, I was presented with one of the latter, made in Italy.) Woe unto you, $cribe$ and Phari$ee$ and hypocrite$! The fourth fourth of my four is getting discharged from military service in about a week. Barring accidents, we will dig out those old tapes and pick up where we left off. It is quite possible that no one will want to release a recording of our material as edited by ourselves, but that doesn’t prevent us from singing. On behalf of all the authors of all the versions and variations, from those who wrote many verses to those who only contributed two important lines, thanks. And thanks to those who have conmmented on the song, whether in condemnation or commendation, for both have added to its stature. “Plastic Jesus” is here to stay. |
Subject: ADD Version: Plastic Jesus (Sing Out! v.14, no. 2) From: Joe Offer Date: 09 Nov 19 - 06:40 PM Wikipedia says
The authorship of the song has historically been incorrectly attributed to Ernie Marrs, who recorded a version in 1965, despite Rush and Cromarty being listed as the authors by ASCAP and by the song's publisher, EMI Music Publishing. Ernie Marrs is sometimes credited as the songwriter because of the folk music magazine Sing Out! (Volume 14, issue number 2, page 40) crediting a version of the lyrics and music to him. The Ernie Marrs article above says that the Goldcoast Singers said they got the song from a "Cal coed" (from the University of California at Berkeley), so the authorship is still undecided - but ya gotta pay royalties to EMI. Here's the song entry from Sing Out! Magazine, Vol. 14, No. 2, April-May 1964, page 40. PLASTIC JESUS Version by Ernie Marrs, © copyright 1964 by author I don't care if it rains or freezes Long as I got my plastic Jesus Riding on the dashboard of my car; Through my trials and tribulations, And my travels through the nations, With my plastic Jesus I'll go far Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus, Riding on the dashboard of my car; I'm afraid he'll have to go, His magnets ruin my radio, And if I have a wreck, he'll leave a scar. Riding down a 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 eye on me, And any other thing that lies behind. Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus, Riding On The Dashboard Of My Car: Though the sunshine 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 the 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 for 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. 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. No one seems to know the origin of this song, although many have tried to trace it. Broadside (NYC), from whom this version comes, reports that it apparently originated from a commercial jingle put on the radio In Georgia by a firm manufacturing plastic “Jesi.” The version printed here is by Ernie Marrs. For some additional verses to the song, turn to page 42. These verses were contributed by reader Ken Layne, Glendale, California. Page 42, verses contributed by Ken Layne: I don’t care about traffic damage As long as I got that graven image Sittin’ there guidin’ me from bar to bar. You can have one phosphorescent, Glows in the dark, He’s pink and pleasant, Take Him along when you go travelin’ far When traffic starts to get too scary, I grab my two-bit Virgin Mary, Stand her next to Christ upon my dash. Hail Mary, full of grace, Bless me in my stop light race, Save me from an awful auto crash. You can buy a fine Madonna, Dressed in rhinestones, sittin’ on a Pedestal of abalone shells. Goin’ ninety, I’m not wary ‘Cause I got my Virgin Mary, Guaranteed to keep me out of Hell. I don’t care if the sun don’t shine, That dime store icon so divine - Has always taken right good care of me. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I’m the one they love the most; I’ve got the Lamb of God in front of me. |
Subject: RE: Origin: Plastic Jesus From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 09 Nov 19 - 07:06 PM thanks for posting the origin story, Joe, I hadn't realised it was such an old song. |
Subject: RE: Origin: Plastic Jesus From: BobL Date: 10 Nov 19 - 03:03 AM My favourite verse: Now I've got the holy hat-trick, Jesus, Mary and St. Patrick... |
Subject: RE: Origin: Plastic Jesus From: GUEST,Ray Date: 10 Nov 19 - 04:32 AM My favourite - When I’m goin’ fornicatin’ I’ve got my ceramic satan Screwed down to the dashboard of my car The women know I’m on the level When they see that stonewear devil Riding on the dashboard of my car “The saga continues!” |
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