A Song about Judas Iscariot

Subject: A song about Judas Iscariot
From:
Date: 28 Sep 98 - 09:11 AM

Can anyone help me identify this song:

Now, Judas Iscariot had a friend in the Roman guard,
And they sat down to a checker game, one day in the courthouse yard.
Said the soldier unto Judas, "I'd like to make a bet,
That your gypsy sidekick, Jesus Christ, is soon gonna meet his death."

Well, Judas flew in anger, and hollered at his friend,
"You must be crazy to think his life could end.
Why, he's the Lord's own chosen one, and the Lord won't let him die."
"I'd like to bet," said the soldier, "that you just told a lie."

"Ahhh, you ain't got no faith!" cried Judas, "but, just to show you where it's at,
For 30 dollars I'll take you up to Jesus by myself."
"It's a deal," said the soldier, "tonight at 2 o'clock," and they shook hands.
And Judas left rather hurriedly, just to find his beloved friend.

Now, Jesus he was with some friends, up in some garret room,
And they was drinkin' wine and dancin' to a Gallilean tune.
Judas stepped up to his friend and said, "Hey, let's step outside.
We got a chance to show these people that you won't never die."

Well, Jesus he let go his jug, and grabbed Iscariot's hand.
"This wine sure is wicked stuff. Why, I can't hardly stand.
And I swear I thought I heard you say that I won't never die."
"That's what I said," cried Judas. And Jesus heaved a sigh.


I could go on, but I reckon if you've heard it you'd recognize it by now.

Thanks for any tips,
David Greene
[e-mail]

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From:
Date: 28 Sep 98 - 09:20 AM

My brother used to do this song-----we played together in a folk trio and it was orginally done by Bob Frank, if memory serves. Bob did one album.....If you wanta copy, drop my brother a note at [e-mail]. His name is Rick Renardson and I am sure he can help you. He used to sing it and would go on for what seemed liked 48 verses :)

Wayne Renardson Nashville, TN

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From:
Date: 28 Sep 98 - 09:23 AM

Hmmmmm-----my brother's e-mail address did not make it... Try Rick Renardson and [e-mail]

Wayne

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Sep 98 - 05:20 PM

Hi, Wayne - gotta be careful how you use angle brackets here. This forum is set up so we can do HTML fancy stuff if we want to. anything you put inside angle brackets is interpreted as an HTML command and is not visible to the human eye. As has been discussed in another thread, I may or may not be human. Whatever the case may be, I can see things here that are not visible to the ordinary human eye, and I fixed your goofs - but I can't help with the Judas song. Can you contact your brother and ask if he can help - or aren't you two speaking to each other?
I was wondering - could that Bob Frank you speak of be Bob Franke?
-Joe Offer, running the MAX98 Operating System-

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Sep 98 - 06:16 PM

See also the Leon Rosselson song 'Stand up for Judas'.

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: David Greene
Date: 29 Sep 98 - 08:06 AM

Funny you should ask. Just this weekend I attended a live performance by Bob Franke, and I asked him about this song. Imagine my embarrassment when he had never heard of it. That's when I hopped on the web and found, lo and behold, there are two men who have been singing folk songs for 30 years - one is named Bob Frank, the other Bob Franke. Ha!

David Greene [e-mail]

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 06:16 PM

Mike Pohl, Omaha, NE
I attended college in Helena, MT from 1973-1977. A fellow student and guitar player wrote down those words by hand and signed it....
B. Frank
I still have the words and the yellow paper he gave me. Could this be the original?

Let me know @ [e-mail]

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST,#
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 06:30 PM

Try Reaching Bob Frank through Evangeline Records in the SF bay area.

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 21 Apr 15 - 10:28 PM

There's also Roy Harper's song, Baby don't you Grieve after Me about Judas. Always liked it.

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 04:46 AM

... & Peter Bellamy's Ballad Of Judas on the Tell It Like It Was album (1975):

https://mainlynorfolk.info/peter.bellamy/songs/theballadofjudas.html

≈M≈

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 08:21 AM

...and Sydney Carter's "Said Judas To Mary."

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST,CupOfTea, no cookies
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 01:24 PM

Judas also gets a pair of verses in Sydney Carter's "Bitter Was the Night" (about the eve of Good Friday)

Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 02:37 PM

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST,RBerman
Date: 22 Apr 15 - 07:59 PM

Then there's the British "Bonfire Carol," aka "Judas Was a Red-Headed Man."

https://mainlynorfolk.info/june.tabor/songs/judaswasaredheadedman.html

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST,Martin Duffy
Date: 07 Nov 15 - 05:36 AM

You can hear Ruth Tongue, who collected the Bonfire Carol, singing it here:

http://sounds.bl.uk/World-and-traditional-music/Bob-and-Jacqueline-Patten-Collection/025M-C1033X0012XX-2500V0

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: MartinRyan
Date: 07 Nov 15 - 02:14 PM

Judas also turns up, disguised as a secondhand chariot seller, in Con Fada O Driscoll's epic Ben Hur, of course.

Regards

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: dick.hamlet
Date: 07 Nov 15 - 05:59 PM

Perhaps it belongs in another thread (about Jesus, or Woody's parody)
but I learned this god-knows-where:

JESUS CHRIST (Parody of Jesse James, from the Communist viewpoint)

Jesus Christ was a man, an honest working man, a carpenter by trade,
He said to the rich, "Give your goods to the poor!", so the laid Jesus Christ in his grave.                  
                                                                                                            
(Chorus)                                                                                                   
Jesus had no wife to mourn for his life, he needed a bath and a shave.                                       
But that foe of the proletariat, Judas Iscariot, laid Jesus Christ in his grave.                           
                                                                                                            
Born in 29 B.C. in a barn in Galilee, and bathed in his unwed mother's tears.                              
He fought the ruling classes and preached gospel to the masses, and he dated Marx by 1800 years.            
                                                                                                            
Yes Judas was the guy, the lousy labor spy, a stoolie for the Roman boss.                                    
He ate of Jesus body and he drank Jesus blood, then he nailed Jesus Christ to the cross.                     
                                                                                                            
With thieves on either side, Jesus Christ was crucified, and tears filled Mary's eyes.                     
But his words to you and me from that hill on Calvary, were, "Don't pray for me -- organize!".               
                                                                                                            
So they laid him in the ground, and his followers gathered round, to spread the gospel by the sword and cannon.
                                                                                                         
But his following today is corrupt in every way, as the party of Khrushchev and Bulganin.

Subject: RE: A Song about Judas Iscariot
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 18 - 02:21 AM

I first learned this version in high school, around 1971, from a collection of bawdy and otherwise naughty songs called Roll Me Over.