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Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too
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Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too |
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Subject: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Sharyn Date: 03 Nov 13 - 12:47 PM I first heard this song in the 1980's at the San Francisco Free Folk Festival. I am now wondering who wrote or recorded it and a Google search turns up squat. It is not "Jesus Was Once a Teenager, Too." Does anyone know this? It starts: Say your prayers every night Go to church every Sunday. You'll go to Heaven Not now, but someday..." Thanks |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Jim Date: 22 Aug 14 - 10:31 AM I first heard it at Reed College, Portland Oregon, 1960-1961. I know of no recordings, and am busy chasing up evidence regarding which of two classmates might have written it. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: Mrrzy Date: 22 Aug 14 - 11:44 AM No, thread creep, I once heard something about did he have a baby sister... looking forward to the rest of your lyrics, . |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: Mrrzy Date: 22 Aug 14 - 11:47 AM Rats. I tried to be cute and say that I was ending my thread creep by using the chevrons or whatever they are with the slash that means ending whatever was going on, but it must have been just htmly enough to mean something because it...just... vanished... |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST Date: 09 Mar 15 - 08:42 PM Possibly Peter Berg, who also wrote "Looking for a Woman with a Chainsaw" The version I heard went: Do all your homework. Go to church every Sunday. You'll get to heaven, not tomorrow, but one day. Down at the drag strip, you gotta race fair. Though you racing 'gainst Tommy, Jesus is there Roses are redish, violets are bluish. If it wasn't for Jesus, we'd all still be Jewish. One pair of sandals was all that he had. But if He'd wanted another pair, He could just ask His Dad.
-Joe Offer, Mudcat Music Editor- |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,John Ullman Date: 23 Jan 17 - 01:44 AM I heard it at Reed in 1961-62. I am pretty sure it was written by a student who was a few years ahead of me. He also wrote Barry Goldwater Marches On, perhaps others. I meet have some of this on a reel to reel, but it would take me hours to find it. Barry Hansen might know about it as well. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: Jim Carroll Date: 23 Jan 17 - 04:20 AM Best Jesus sing, in my opinion Jim Carroll D2 THE BALLAD OF THE CARPENTER (Ewan MacColl, 1954) Written on the way to a Christmas party, alternative title: "The Carpenter" words and music: Ewan MacColl Jesus was a working man, A hero you shall hear; Born in the slums of Bethlehem At the turning of the year, Yes, the turning of the year. When Jesus was a little boy The streets rang with his name, For he argued with the aldermen And he put 'em all to shame, Yes, he put them all to shame. His father he apprenticed him A carpenter to be, To plane and drill and work with skill In the town of Galilee, Yes, the town of Galilee. He became a roving journeyman And he wandered far and wide, And he saw how wealth and poverty Live always side by side, Yes, always side by side. He said, 'Come all you working men, You farmers and weavers, too; If you will only organise, The world belongs to you, Yes, the world belongs to you.' So the fishermen sent two delegates And the farmers and weavers, too; And they formed a working committee of twelve To see the struggle through, Yes, to see the struggle through. When the rich men heard what the carpenter had done, To the Roman troops they ran; Saying 'Put this rebel, Jesus, down, He's a menace to God and man, Yes, a menace to God and man.' The commander of the occupying troops, He laughed and then he said: 'There's a cross to spare on Calvary Hill, By the weekend he'll be dead, Yes, by the weekend he'll be dead.' Now, Jesus walked among the poor For the poor were his own kind; And they wouldn't let the cops get near enough To take him from behind, Yes, to take him from behind. So they hired a man of the traitor's trade And a stool pigeon was he; And he sold his brother to the butcher's men For a fistful of silver money, A fistful of money. Jesus lay in the prison cell. They beat him and offered him bribes To desert the cause of his own poor folk And work for the rich men's tribe, Yes, work for the rich men's tribe. The sweat stood out upon his brow And the blood was in his eye, And they nailed his body to the Roman cross And they laughed as they watched him die, Yes, they laughed as they watched him die. Two-thousand years have passed and gone And many a hero, too; And the dream of this poor carpenter, It's time it was coming true, Yes, it's time it was coming true. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 23 Jan 17 - 02:16 PM Jesus Was A Teenager Too from "The Middle" (television series 2009-2017) Warner Brothers Studio episode - "The Prom" session 2 episode 22 - aired May 11, 2011 (character - reverand TimTom) Jesus was a teenager, too. Beneath the long hair and pimples, King of the Jews. A lonely teenage savior no one could understand. Awkward on the outside, but inside a wise young man. Yeah, Jesus was a teenager, too. It's tough being a parent. It's hard being Mom and Dad. It's hard being a parent, you wonder why kids do the things they do. Well, I said it before and I'll say it some more, remember, Jesus was a teenager, too. Mary wondered if he'd be okay, But he turned out to be a super nice guy in every way. He did, yeah. It's hard being a parent. It's the toughest job you'll ever do, and it's the most rewarding, too. Remember how they used to spit up on you? Don't worry this will pass, too. Yeah, it's hard being a parent. Sincerely, Gargoyle Type of catchy phrase I would have expected from Larry Norman, or Keith Green, Peter Gabrial, Randy Stonehill. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,DJ Grindrod Date: 17 Dec 17 - 01:25 PM I heard a version in the mid-60s in Madison (WI) Unitarian youth group. One verse I remember was "At the dance at the high school gym, I was dancing with Tom, but I was thinking of Him- Jesus was a teenager too!" |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Curlihead Date: 10 May 18 - 02:51 PM One More Verse: Oh His mother Mary, well she was a pru-ude Until she met Go-od, she'd never been screw-ewed She screwed for you Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-oo-oo-ooh Ooh-ooh-ooh Ooh-oo-oo-ooh |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: Tunesmith Date: 11 May 18 - 04:36 AM Where is the proof that Jesus was teenager? We read about him when he was a baby, and when he spoke to the elders in the temple when he was 12, but I don't think we ever hear about the teenage Jesus. Let's stick to the facts! |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: Joe Offer Date: 11 May 18 - 05:10 AM Sharyn, was this a funny religious song or a seriously religious song? I can't imagine the singer was Peter Krug, because you'd remember if it was him. Or could it have been a Peter Krug song that Faith Petric sang? I vaguely remember her singing a funny Peter Krug Jesus song. -Joe- (email sent) |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Sharyn Date: 11 May 18 - 03:34 PM Hi Joe, Sylvia Herold knows this song -- I have heard her sing it. I know more words than those I posted based on a tape from the '80s. I wouldn't have thought it was a Peter Krug song and I never heard Faith sing it. None of the songs mentioned above sound like the same song except for part of the stanza about the drag strip, which I know as, "So if you go to the drag strip better drag fair/Though you can't see him Jesus is there. Yes, I'm telling you, Jesus was a teenager too." The song is funny, done in the style of a doo-wop pop song. I just want to know who wrote the words and music. Perhaps if any of Peter Krug's friends are still around one of them would know if he wrote it. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Curlihead Date: 09 Jun 18 - 06:49 PM This song is and was totally 100% a joke. I heard that Jewish kids sang it at a summer camp in the sixties. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST Date: 29 Nov 19 - 02:07 AM Hi, Sharyn. I learned this song from Marguerite Millard. I wish I knew who wrote it. Here is how I remember it: Jesus Was a Teenager Too Say your prayers every night, go to church every Sunday You'll get to heaven. Not now but one day 'Cause I'm tellin' you: Jesus was a teenager too Do all your homework, be kind to your teachers Pay due respect to policemen and preachers 'Cause they're tellin' you: Jesus was a teenager too Now Jesus never went to the drive-in, never spent hours on the telephone Jesus never went steady. He spent all his time alone So when you go to the drag strip, better drag fair Though you can't see him, Jesus is there Oh, yes, it is true: Jesus was a teenager too Sylvia Herold |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Chris Date: 18 Jan 20 - 06:31 AM I heard Jesse Winchester sing Jesus was a teenager too in Montreal in 1971 or 72. He introduced the song so I thought that he wrote it. I don’t remember the lyrics but the title always stuck either me. I have looked through his catalogue and couldn’t find it so perhaps he was covering someone else’s song to pad out his set. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST,Bill Logan Date: 30 Nov 20 - 01:55 PM This story is a bit long but it is accurate about the origin of the song by Jesse Winchester. Before the start of the fall semester of 1965, I (not me, actually Fletcher Clark) had never visited the campus of Williams College , my new home for most of the next four years. My dad had taken time out from a medical convention in NYC to drive up for a look-see in the January before my admission - he pronounced it suitable. His plan was for me to drive my stuff there in his '64 Mercury Comet sedan. I would be accompanied as co-pilot by a high school friend whom I would drop off at Princeton on the way. From there I would pick up an old family friend in Orange, NJ (downstate, charming, with rolling hills), who would later drive herself back to Texas after we dropped me off. Going up the NY Thruway through Albany, we stopped off for a pre-arranged visit with one of my to-be roommates and his family. North to Troy and then east on Rte. 2 (The Mohawk Trail), I was beginning to realize how rural New England really was. We arrived and found our way to my dorm assignment, a 2nd story 3-room "suite" in an 1882 structure. There I met my other roommate and his family, who had just arrived from Westchester Co., NY. It didn't take long to unload my stuff so Marge could hit the road back to New Jersey, and it certainly did not take long to make my bed and arrange my things. I then wandered over to Baxter Hall, the student union, and eventually found my way to the basement "Rathskellar", where I found a simple upright piano. Playing grounded me some. A fellow walked in and listened, and after introductions, suggested he go grab a guitar so we could jam. I said I would do the same, explaining that I was a total hack on piano. When I came back with my beloved Gibson 225 and my Fender Deluxe amp, he was already there with two other guys - his bass player and drummer. And with that we started playing all kinds of blues, rock & roll, and R & B. We scheduled another get-together for a later date, and by then I had recruited one of my freshman dormmates to bring his Wurlitzer electric piano. (This would be my life-time friend Dr. Fred Bashour who later become one of the top classical recording engineers world-wide.) I should say at this point that our leader was Jimmy Winchester, who would later use his middle name Jesse for his long and successful career as a singer-songwriter. But at the time he was just Jim, just back from his junior year abroad in Hamburg ('64-'65), later to finish his summa cum laude degree in German. His gentle Mississippi Valley accent gave a sonority to the R&B, and he was a damn good guitar player. Over the course of that school year, we played scores of college and frat party gigs. Winchester wanted to name the band ‘Roget and the Thesauruses’, but we all resisted until we finally settled on ‘Roget & the Mojo Teeth’. Jim introduced me to another senior by the name of John Sundstrom, who conscripted me into several of the theatre productions in which he was involved (and forever corrupted me with my first joint). Together, they had written this faux doo-whop song, "Jesus Christ Was a Teenager, Too", for which John would take the mic for a wry recitative in the back half. It stuck with me, and years later, when my college music partner (Jack Jacobs)and I formed Balcones Fault in Austin, I did it one night at the Split Rail Inn, finding to my surprise that when I began the sermonic portion, I was spontaneously channeling some odd combination of Elmer Gantry and Prof. Harold Hill. (A tearful and very inebriated young coed wailed that I shouldn't be talking about Jesus like that - in an accent I could never hope to replicate.) So over the years, it became a mainstay - and somewhat of a cheap shot. I suppose it could be construed as blasphemy, but although the goal was comedic, I realized that all my improvised utterances (never the same) were sincere and not spoken sarcastically. There is a much longer tale involving my later reunion with Jesse Winchester, since we parted ways after his graduation in 1966. But for this chapter, I wanted to present the backstory of the writers of "Jesus Christ Was a Teenager, Too", Jimmy Winchester and John Sundstrom. This clip is from the Balcones Fault Austin City Limits appearance near the beginning of its second season. (There were other notable presentations to much larger crowds at the Armadillo, the Cotton Bowl, et al.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0mX5_GgABs&fbclid=IwAR3Mf-cunWKcwcH7brYAWtnI9dvM8Fa84OsWFeKvKp61OqBGavZOlZ95OEM |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GerryM Date: 30 Nov 20 - 11:16 PM From: Mrrzy Date: 22 Aug 14 - 11:44 AM No, thread creep, I once heard something about did he have a baby sister... ****************************************************************************** Margret Roadknight, who has posted to Mudcat on occasion, recorded Did Jesus Have a Baby Sister? It's available here. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: GUEST Date: 12 Jun 23 - 04:14 PM I was one of those aforementioned Jewish kids who sang it at summer camp in the ‘60s. |
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Subject: RE: Origins: Jesus Was a Teenager, Too From: and e Date: 13 Jun 23 - 09:31 PM Heinemann, Peter Arthur Pg 858, Catalog of Copyright Entries. 1961. See here: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Catalog_of_Copyright_Entries/UTMhAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22jesus+was+a+teenager%22&pg=PA858&printsec=frontcover |
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