Songs about The Rapture

Subject: Songs about The Rapture
From: The Og
Date: 28 Mar 26 - 01:36 PM

Couldn't find a Rapture Song thread, so I'll try this... What if you were raptured but sent back down? What if it happened a second time? What it it happened again and again?


Raptured and Rejected …parody (?)    …tune “Farther Along”
                                                               ©? Bill Ogden (2024)
                           1            4          1
Rap-tured and rejected, never selected,
                                     2                  5
Always neglected, oh, where can I go?
                            1         4             1
There’s no controversy, others all curse me,
                                  5          1
Show me no mercy, why is it so?

Yes my demeanor, might have been cleaner
Nothing obscener, they said go away.
Begone you sinner, no chicken diner,
You’re not a winner, maybe some day.

Was it my banjo, all heaven despised so,
They always said no, just sent me away.
Alone must I wander, hither and yonder?
Reasons I ponder, day after day.

I sang in the choir, it was a quagmire,
Tried to be a live wire, it just wasn’t so.
Altos, tenors, and bases, they made nasty faces.
Sopranos were graceless, told me where to go.

Six times I’ve been gathered, in holiness slathered,
I blathered and blathered, they sent me back down.
Listen my brethren, you’ll never know when,
They’ll call you a has-been, a rodeo clown.

5                   1
“Send up the clown”

Subject: ADD: The Man Comes Around (Johnny Cash)
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Mar 26 - 02:00 PM

The man comes around (Johnny Cash)

THE MAN COMES AROUND
(Johnny Cash)

There's a man going around taking names
And he decides who to free and who to blame
Everybody won't be treated all the same
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down
When the Man comes around

The hairs on your arm will stand up
At the terror in each sip and in each sup
Will you partake of that last offered cup?
Or disappear into the potter's ground
When the Man comes around

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling, voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks

Till Armageddon no shalam, no shalom
Then the father hen will call his chickens home
The wise man will bow down before the throne
And at His feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the Man comes around

Whoever is unjust let him be unjust still
Whoever is righteous let him be righteous still
Whoever is filthy let him be filthy still
Listen to the words long written down
When the Man comes around

Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers
One hundred million angels singing
Multitudes are marching to the big kettledrum
Voices calling and voices crying
Some are born and some are dying
It's Alpha and Omega's kingdom come

And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree
The virgins are all trimming their wicks
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks

In measured hundred weight and penny pound
When the Man comes around.

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 28 Mar 26 - 09:29 PM

Ain't No Grave
In That Great Getting-Up Morning
Who/what is the Great Speckled Bird?
When the Saints Go Marching In

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: YorkshireYankee
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 12:32 AM

Here's a song inspired by reading that apparently "The Rapture" was supposed to happen on Sept 24 2017. (BTW, this song is not directed at all Christians – just the ones who use the excuse of their religion as a stick with which to beat those they disagree with/disapprove of.

You can hear a rough recording (just enough to provide the melody) here: After the Rapture

AFTER THE RAPTURE
Vikki Appleton Fielden ©Sept 24 2017

After the Rapture, oh won't it be wonderful
After the Rapture, won't it be grand
After the Rapture, oh won't it be heavenly
After the Rapture, we'll all understand

For so many years, I've heard stories of miracles
I know that the chosen will all disappear
The faithful are waiting for Lord Jesus' summoning
And after the Rapture, it'll all become clear

After the Rapture, oh won't it be wonderful
After the Rapture, won't it be grand
After the Rapture, oh won't it be heavenly
After the Rapture, we'll all understand

They say that the endtime will be hell on earth
But I cannot help thinking it won't be that bad
When so many Christian fanatics evaporate
The rest of us left here might not be that sad

After the Rapture, oh won't it be wonderful
After the Rapture, won't it be grand
After the Rapture, oh won't it be heavenly
After the Rapture, we'll all understand

Goodbye Jerry Falwell, so long Oral Roberts
Farewell Billy Graham and all of your kind
The world will be gentler without your lot in it
To stir up the hatred you find so divine

After the Rapture, oh won't it be wonderful
After the Rapture, won't it be grand
After the Rapture, oh won't it be heavenly
After the Rapture, we'll all understand

Imagine the world without fine Christian zealots
The ones who oppress in the Lord Jesus' name
If God should deliver us from sweet Christian malice
Then glory hallelujah! I'll gladly proclaim

After the Rapture, oh won't it be wonderful
After the Rapture, won't it be grand
After the Rapture, oh won't it be heavenly
After the Rapture, we'll all understand

Subject: Lyr Add: 21st of May (Nickel Creek)
From: cnd
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 10:16 AM

A favorite modern bluegrass number we can celebrate soon! Similar to Yorkshire Yankee's song, inspired by a doomsday cult who was perhaps a bit early: Nickel Creek - 21st of May

It's time to bid this old world goodbye
Oh, glory, time to fly away
We'll meet our savior in the sky
Hallelujah, the 21st of May

Sinner, heed these words of mine
About the coming Judgment Day
Yes, the end is drawing nigh
Hallelujah, the 21st of May

CHORUS
They laughed while Noah built his boat
Then cried when came the rain
They mock me now but I will float
On the 21st of May

Well, I've never been so sure
And I've never led no one astray
'Cept in the fall of '94
But Hallelujah, the 21st of May

CHORUS

They mock me now but I will float
On the 21st of May

Hallelujah, the 21st of May

Subject: Lyr Add: When the Fire Comes Down
From: cnd
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 10:28 AM

I originally heard this number on a 78 by the Turner Brothers, but Hank Williams has a fine recording of it too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVyygPG4HHg

WHEN THE FIRE COMES DOWN
(Milton Estes, John "Wally" Fowler, Tom Harrell, and Paul "Curley" Kinsey)

Way back in the days of Noah, water covered all this land
Then the great rainbow of promise started us on life again
And the Good Book tells of fires that will fill the earth someday
Then the sinful will be screaming as this earth shall pass away

CHORUS
When the fire (when the fire) comes down from Heaven (comes down from Heaven)
This old world (this old world) will melt away (will melt away)
Millions then (millions then) will cry for mercy (will cry for mercy)
But it will be (but it will be) too late to pray

Oh, this world is at a tremble and it's rocking to and fro
You can read it in the papers, hear it on the radio
In the movies, they are showing, towns and cities, how they blaze
But there's hotter fire a-comin' if we follow sin's highway

CHORUS

Texas city, Texas city, oh, how awful was her fate
First, she burned and then exploded, now the story, we'll relate
Of the Winecoff in Atlanta, how she burned right to the ground
Of the great fire in Chicago and the dead lay all around

CHORUS

Subject: Lyr Add: Oh! What A Storm
From: cnd
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 11:04 AM

Another bluegrass number, this one by the Dry Branch Fire Squad's 1987 album Antiques & Inventions. listen -- my transcription is below. (The above two posts were versions of lyrics I found elsewhere online I modified to fit the recording linked).

There's also a good writeup about the song here. The ending of the second line of the chorus is a bit of a question mark. After transcribing it, it's less of a rapture song than I'd initially thought, but I've already written it out, so I'm putting it on here.

OH! WHAT A STORM
(Ron Thomason)

There were mighty tornadoes back in '74
Struck the Ohio Valley, raging over and o'er
It brought darkness like night in the high afternoon
And the buildings in Xenia were all crumbled and ruined

CHORUS
Now brother, oh! What a storm! It reached over the land
Well it can tear down the mighty, evincing despair
And it will wash away evil with the strength of His flood
Brings the fear of the Master to the hearts of the pure

Now the people in Ohio, when the skies turn brown
And the heavens open up with the terrible sound
And the rains comes tearing and the awesome winds fly
When the storm god rages, there is no place to hide

CHORUS

When the skies flashed terror with its terrible lightning
Little children were crying and their mothers were fighting
All the sinner-men cursed while the strong men prayed
So like Daniel and Noah, God will show them the way

CHORUS

So now, people take warning when there's lightening and thunder
It can tear down your house, and it can rend you asunder
It can steep you in fear of the almighty sky
The only shelter from the storm is in Heaven on high

Subject: Lyr Add: What A Time We're Living In
From: cnd
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 11:14 AM

Here's a song from the 1981 Library of Congress set, Children Of The Heav'nly King. The notes below are produced as they appear in the album's liner notes.

WHAT A TIME WE'RE LIVING IN
(Rev. Robert Akers)

Sung with spoken remarks by Rev. Robert Akers, accompanied by Junior Hawkins, piano and vocal; Alex Shupe, guitar; Donnie Felts, bass; and Kim Shupe, drums; white; August 20, 1978; Galax, Virginia; Blanton Owen; BR8-BO-R11.

It's been requested we sing one other song, and, uh, I tell you, I'm just about sung out and preached out, but we -- we're going to try because, you know, uh, people could request it tonight and be gone tomorrow, and then I'd always regret it that I didn't sing it. This is another song I wrote sometime back, "What a Time We're Living In."- Key of C. Let's sing to the glory of God. Some of know this. If you will, you can help me out on it. Praise God.

Chorus:
Well, what a time, what a time, we're living in,
What a time, what a time, we're living in,
There is hate an every hand, not many love their fellow man,
What a time, what a time we're living in.

Now this earth, this old earth's going to pass away,
This old earth, this old earth's going to pass away,
This old earth's going to pass away, all the works of men shall decay,
This old earth, this old earth's going to pass away.

Chorus

Now you going to kneel, you going to kneel after while,
You going to kneel, you going to kneel after while,
Every knee will bow, every tongue confess, when God calls his children to rest,
You going to kneel, you going to kneel after while.

Chorus

Play it for me boys. I like this next verse.

Well, I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave after while,
Oh, I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave after while,
Soon that trumpet it will sound and my feet's going to leave the ground,
I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave after while.

Chorus

Oh, there'll be peace, there'll be peace after while,
There'll be peace, there'll be peace after while,
Lion'll lay down by the lamb, we shall be led by a child,
There'll be peace, there'll be peace after while.

Chorus

Play it one more time, boys.

Oh, there'll be joy, there'll be joy after while,
There'll be joy, there'll be joy after while,
All the saints shouting around God's throne and the faithful are welcomed home,
There'll be joy, there'll be joy after while.

Chorus

Amen. All right, we're not going to hold you too long tonight.

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 29 Mar 26 - 02:15 PM

The usual small island pedantry: Rapture art is not so much “Christian” as post-17th century, evangelical Protestant. Catholics (Greek, Roman, Russian,) Coptics &c &c &c… maybe not so much.

Otoh, one suspects 'morality' was the first club held by human hands.

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: cnd
Date: 30 Mar 26 - 10:14 AM

Got a timely one on my Spotify discover weekly this morning -- both for this thread, and Phil's comment as well. Definitely learning towards the satirical side of the situation rather than a more earnest belief in the rapture. Lyrics copied and lightly modified from here

THE GREAT CAUCASIAN GOD
(Written & performed by Jesse Wells)

Upon a missile rode the Lord
Roaring justice is the sword
He was melting off the faces of the damned
You have heard of Noah's flood
That tale will pale against the blood
Pouring out and boiling in uranium sands

Don't you know atomic power
Is just God's celestial shower?
There are those that He has chosen
And those that He has not
There are many who will die
In the Lord's plan, by and by
But it won't be you or I
Thanks to The Great Caucasian God

CHORUS
And I said, "Lord, be Thou near me
Blot out everything that's strange to m?
Everything that's queer"
I said, "Lord, don't be far
I am in need
Of a friend indeed
Th? Great Caucasian God."

Does not the Lord abide in Texas
Down in Waco, and the rest of
Every Israel that hubris ever claimed
Does not the Lord abide in prisons
Full of men with holy visions
Don't the Lord abide in every tent and cave

Does not the Lord abide in bunkers
In rifles without number
Every Ruby Ridge and Rittenhouse and home
Does not the Lord abide in fear
In tactical gear
Don't the Lord abide in every hell-bent soul

CHORUS

(spoken freely)
I'd like to take a moment to talk with y'all about death
There's a lot of folks who fear death coming quick and swift in the night
Stealing away from them the toil of their hands and the fruits of their labor
But I say unto you today
There ain't a crueler trick that death has ever played on man
Than fooling a man into thinking that while his soul was quite dead inside
He was in fact alive on the outside

There is a foolish generation
Squandered all their fathers gave them
They are running out of time left to enjoy
They would kill and eat their own
If the TV told them so
So, they're keen to watch the world burn just to make a point

CHORUS

I am in need
Of a friend indeed
The Great Caucasian God

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: cnd
Date: 30 Mar 26 - 10:23 AM

The last song I posted reminded me of another similar song, from the scathingly satirical hand of Texas songwriter Terry Allen - Southern Comfort. Lyrics again modified from the Genius page.

SOUTHERN COMFORT
(Terry Allen)

When Jesus saves the world, where will you be?
Out on the lonesome plains of Texas, or the shores of the Galilee?
When Jesus Saves the World, which He will surely do
It don't matter where you are, He's gonna bring His wrath on you

Ah-um Mississippi
Ah-um Alabama
Ah-um Louisiana
Ah-um Nashville, Tennessee

When Jesus Saves the world and tallies up the toll
For ever one he sends to Glory, there'll be a billion burned below
When Jesus Saves the world, He'll be looking right straight at you
And ever sin you ever did, it gonna stick out clear and true

Ah-um Carolinas
Ah-um Atlanta, Georgia
Ah-um Miami, Florida
Ah-um New Orleans, yeah

When Jesus Saves the world, you're either on or off the track
There ain't no reincarnation, you won't be coming back
When Jesus Saves the world, your loved ones will be gone
You'll have to face his awful judgment stark naked all alone

Ah-um old Virginia
Ah-um Oklahoma
Ah-um Arkansas, yeah
Ah-um Abilene

When Jesus Saves the world, all time will stop with sin
And nothin will be mysterious, it'll all just be The End
When Jesus Saves the world, He will kill it too
And the righteous will rise to Glory, what a comfort to me and you

Ah-um Lubbock, Texas
Ah-um Dallas, Texas
Ah-um Houston, Texas
Ah-um Austin
Ah-um Fort Worth
Ah-um San Antonio
Ah-um Amarillo
Ah-um El Paso
Ah-um Marfa
Ah-um Coleman
Ah-um Monahans
Ah-um et cetera

Ah-um (x14)

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: cnd
Date: 30 Mar 26 - 10:30 AM

Back to a more serious tone, here's one from The Canaanland Boys. I have it on their cassette, Live! In Florida; this video appears to be an exact match of the performance. Transcription is mine.

FOOT STEPS

There is something that's gonna happen
And the day is drawing near
It is time to get excited
Is that footsteps that I hear?

Come on Gabriel, blow your trumpet
All the dead in Christ shall rise
Oh, we are going to a meeting
Just beyond the eastern sky

CHORUS
Is that footsteps that I hear
Heavenly portals seem so near
Heavenly lights are shining clear
Is that foot steps that I hear?

(spoken) How many of you are ready for the rapture of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight?

Now are you ready for the rapture
When we meet Him in the air?
Oh, His coming is drawing closer
Is that footsteps that I hear?

Oh, many the saints have run the battle
Run the race and shed the tear
Oh, but now it's time to get excited
Is that foot steps that I hear?

CHORUS (x3)

Heavenly lights are shining clear
Is that foot steps that I hear?

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: cnd
Date: 30 Mar 26 - 10:32 AM

I'll also link a song I've already transcribed before, The Rapture by Pastor & Mrs. Buck Ledford.

Subject: RE: Songs about The Rapture
From: cnd
Date: 30 Mar 26 - 10:40 AM

Below is my transcription of the song Redemption Draweth Nigh. This recording was from the Blue Ridge Quartet's 1972 album On The Move, but I have multiple recordings of it. Listen here.

REDEMPTION DRAWETH NIGH
(Gordon Jenson)

Years of time have come and gone
Since I first heard it told
How Jesus would come again someday
If back then it seemed so real
Then I just can't help but feel
How much closer His coming is today

CHORUS
Signs of the times are everywhere
There's a brand-new feeling in the air
Keep your eyes upon the eastern sky
Lift up your head, redemption draweth nigh

Wars and strife on every hand
And violence fills our land
Still some people doubt He'll ever come again
But if the word of God is true
He'll redeem His chosen few
Don't lose hope, for soon Christ Jesus will descend

CHORUS