Jesus Saves - Rick Springfield

Jesus Saves
(Springfield)

You let me read your
pretty poetry
And I fell for your
trailer park majesty

And I, when I said I'd die for you (for you)
I didn't mean for you to write the eulogy
You betrayed yourself and me, too

I know you lied, but it's true
Jesus saves white trash baby like you
It's too late for you to undo
Jesus saves white trash baby like you

I should appreciate the irony
cause I've led us both to my Gethsemane
I, I don't hate you, I hate love
it's true
I held you so close I couldn't see
while you had the grander view

I know sometimes it's true
Jesus saves white trash baby like you
We make what we can't undo
Jesus saves white trash baby like you

I know you lie when it's true
Jesus saves white trash baby like you
It's too late for you to undo
Jesus saves white trash baby like you

I know sometimes it's true
Jesus saves white trash baby like you
We make what we can't undo
Jesus saves white trash baby like you

(total playing time 3:17)

Song Facts: This can be found on shock/denial/anger/acceptance. When performing this song in concert Rick has said "this could be about me, or it could be about someone else".

More Reviews

When I first acquired the CD, I must admit that I really didn't like this song at all. Seeing Rick do this one live really changed my feelings!

First off, the whole "Will you spank my knees in a religious manner?" stuff at the beginning gives me the creeps. To find out that this man was talking to a phone solicitor doesn't really make me feel any better either. I mean, I hate telemarketing calls as much as the next person, but he sounds way too convincing that he might actually be a weirdo to me. That's what gives me the willies.

When I realized this was the "teaser" music we'd been hearing on RS.com for months, all I could say was "Wow!". If only those people looking for the teen idol who sang Jessie's Girl knew what the title of that was... I'm sure some people would have just clicked right on to another website. I'm phrasing that in a "judging a book by it's cover" type of assumption here. That was another thing that I'm sure was turning me off of this song - the whole white trash issue. Right out there in the title for the whole world to see. It kind of made me want to double check my wardrobe, my makeup, heck my whole neighborhood for that manner... in private, just to make sure he wasn't referring to me.

The version on the CD sounds to me like Rick is droning on in the chorus. There's no tone in his voice, really. The sarcastic part of my brain kept telling me that this was Rick trying to mimic a song off of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album. Too many change ups in the way the music moves for me, it's flowing along just fine until it pounds into the chorus. Which drones on... (alright, I think you get my point).

Then I saw Rick perform this song live for the first time. Oh my f*uckin' God. I think those were my exact words. Let me say first that I really like when he's out in the crowd connecting with the audience. In all my years of fandom in the 80's, I think that would've been the thing I wished for the most, for him to come to me in my nosebleed seat so I could touch him. So when he went to start up this song at that show in the crowd, I kind of did a groan inside. Everyone around me just exploded, and for a bit I just watched the crowd singing at the top of their lungs with him. When it got to the chorus, I sneaked a peek at him. After that, someone could have plowed me over and I wouldn't have known it just then. His arms were spread out in a preacher pose, and his body was glistening all over with sweat and the spotlight was hitting him from behind showing him off as the God he is to all of us. The emotion in his voice when he was singing the words was just so different from the recorded version, I wish he had put that much effort into it to begin with. I think my jaw went slack for a bit, but then by the end of the song I was singing at the top of my lungs with everyone else. I was Saved!

Now when this song starts up on the CD, I don't tend to skip it (as much). After a summer of being saved, I've got lots of live memories to plug into this one to make it sound so much better to me. The lyrics themselves leave a lot to think about, such as whom he's referring to. (I don't believe it when he says it's him) There was quite the lesson learned for my children as well. Lots of questions arose from the backseat, from the basic "What's white trash Mom?" to the profound, "How does Rick know Jesus Saves White Trash?" That second one was harder to answer :-). I'm still pondering what the truth really is behind this one. If history repeats itself, it'll be another 20 years before I've got it figured out.

I know in the beginning when this one came out he kept saying this song was about him. Now, he has said many things since then, but I can easily see how this song could possibly be his writing from another person's perspective on him..... It's almost like he is "trashing" (pardon the pun) himself in front of his audience every night. It's like he "tricks" us all into singing this back to him. Kind of his own little planned irony... Could be it is out of guilt over hurting someone. If this is truly about him, he stages his own very public "flogging" night after night. He takes this audience made mostly of people that adore the crap out of him and has us all singing the chorus of "Jesus saves white trash like you." back at him. I know the song was the song long before it became what it did live (because I don't think anyone, Rick included had any idea what that song was going to become live) but if this strange theory is in any way a reality it is something that would totally be something he would come up with.

This song live is definitely intense. I know several people have said this one feels like a revival. He really sells that feeling too. He is very expressive with this song. Big gestures. Pulling the audience in to the song. I have to say, that I had always longed for him to do that song on stage instead of in the audience because generally when he is in the audience I don't always have the best view of him and generally the view is always from behind. (side note: not to say that the behind view is anything less than spectacular, I think you know what I mean...) Well, at a festival type show this summer where the crowd wading mission was just not going to work out, I got to see this one from the stage and it really did kind of lose a little of that "come to Jesus" revival feel. He was way less expressive doing the song from the stage setting. This one is just best done surrounded by the congregation I guess. :o)

Most powerful line in this one for me? "I should appreciate the irony, cause I've led us both to my Gethsemane." Gethsemane being the place where Jesus went to pray with his disciples and where he was taken prisoner, the beginning of the events leading up to his crucifixion..... WAY heavy.

I really like this song-but I know a few people who thought Rick was saying "Jesus is white trash-baby like you". My friend did not believe me until she saw the lyrics. Maybe the people who are leaving the concerts are misunderstanding the words? I agree that there is too much religious symbolism for this song to go main stream.

Ahhhh, Jesus Saves! This is a bold song, one in which I would not want to be the subject of!!! It has a religious title, but it's an angry, in-your-face song. "Perfect" placement of this tune on the CD. I like how it comes after IDWAFY. The opening voices are rather strange "come here please and spank my knees in a religious manner." Very interesting Rick and his "religious" themes and words. This song has a kick-ass beat, hard-driving, rockin` sound. It's another one of Rick's songs I can bounce up and down to jam to head-bang!

"You let me read your pretty poetry and I fell for your trailer park majesty" (I love how he says "and" like he is stunned shocked, that he fell for her crap!) She came across like someone she was not. Interesting analogy trailer park majesty, that`s a good one! I want to chuckle when I hear that. I love the sound of Rick's voice in this song. It's very different from what I was used to. A nice change of pace.

WOW! What a classic line: (this whole collection is full of classic, amazing lyrics) "And I, when I said I'd die for you, for you, I didn't mean for you to write the eulogy." Did she kill the love? Sounds like she took his love for her and stomped all over it! "You betrayed yourself, and me too." In my opinion, this sounds like infidelity, but I'm not sure. One can betray oneself and others in many ways trust, honesty, etc. and it not necessarily mean infidelity. The "I know's" are powerful and raw, almost a growling sound! "I know sometimes it's true, Jesus saves white trash baby like you." The first time I heard this song, despite the title "Jesus Saves" (and call me crazy if you will), but I swear I thought he was saying "Jesus is white trash." I was a little taken back for a second. I went straight to the lyrics and learned otherwise. "Jesus Saves white trash" makes perfect sense.

This is another angry song, but also contains shock. (Those two seem to go hand in hand). He feels that whatever she did, cannot be resolved by him or her alone. "It's too late, for you to undo, Jesus Saves white trash, baby like you." She needs to ask for forgiveness from her higher power.

I really like that sound before the 2nd verse that sounds like an orchestra. Not sure if it's keyboards or what! "I should appreciate the irony, cause I led us both to my Gethsemane" I feel he's saying that he shouldn't feel so angry, that he did something to cause the betrayal. Has it come back to bite him? Turnabout? More POWERFUL lyrics "And I, I don't hate you I hate love, it's true, and I held you so close I couldn't see." That is almost bone-chilling to me! Damn the love he was totally blinded by it. "While you had the grander view" she was playing him, using him. She had it all figured out.

Oh, one of my favorite things I get so excited when I hear his Aussie accent coming through, as with the word "make." How cool is that?! In the second verse "we make, what we can't undo, Jesus saves white trash baby like you." Am I hearing a bit of accent also when he says, "it's too late?"

I adore the killer guitars and keyboards during the break in the song. Those drawn out "you's" in the chorus toward the end are tremendous! Man, it's such a gift for Rick as a vocalist to be able to wrap us up in the emotion he felt when he wrote a song. It pulls me in, and I can really feel the pain, the anger, the disbelief. The musical ending is a great wrap for this tune. When the next song, Beautiful You kicks in, the soundclip "yeah buddy" just seems to seal the deal with Jesus Saves. He moves on to a happier state of mind, as if to say "ok now that THAT is out in the open we can move on."

Fan Reviews

This is another song that I know I'm not really getting. Maybe it's all the religious references that keep screwing me up, I'm not sure. This was definitely at the bottom of my list of songs in the ranking, until I saw it live. It took on a whole life of it's own. I felt like I was at a revival, and you could feel yourself being swept in. It really didn't matter what the song meant at that point, the experience of being there watching it being performed was just....something else. Rick says "the song kind of speaks for itself"....NO IT DOESN'T. I think this is the song I have the least sense of what he's saying. He also says the song could be about him, or it could be about someone else. Riddle me this.......grrrr..... It's definitely got some really great lines in it, I think it's very poetic, I just can't tie the thoughts together into any cohesive meaning, for me.

I know exactly what you mean about this one. When the CD was first released, this was my "skip track" so to speak, I really didn't like it at all. It has a whole Beatlesque feeling to me, the way the music shifts up and around at the beginning, and the whole "will you spank my knees in a religious manner" at the beginning just creeped me out (still does). Don't get me wrong, I like the Beatles, I'm just not sure I like Rick emulating the Beatles. ( a cover, I'm okay with but this...I'm torn) Then, when I saw Rick do it live - it did what you just said - took on a whole life of it's own. There was like some kind of transformation that took place - and you can tell when Rick is singing this one that he seems to be very proud of the song - but (again) agreeing with you -

I just don't get it either. Then, listening in the car - the inevitable happened, my kids started asking me what Rick means in this song also. I just don't know what to tell them. We do listen to it more now, and I'll be darned (!) they like it... so I keep hoping that listening to it more will help me to understand it more.

I'm with you. I love the music to this tune. It's very catchy. But the lyrics annoy me. I'm not offended by the chorus or anything. It's just that I feel like he's looking at someone after being in a relationship with them and thinking of them as less than valuable as a person. It feels like he's saying, "What was I thinking... being with someone like you... eeww" or something like that. Does anyone else feel that way??? Maybe I don't like the lyrics because it reminds me of a past relationship with this guy who was really screwed up. I have to admit that I could have sung this song to him.

I'm getting the same message from this that I get from Wasted actually---"you let me read your pretty poetry--and I fell for your trailer park majesty"--her porno emails maybe? "I didn't mean for you to write the eulogy--you betrayed yourself and me too"---again, she did something that gave him no choice but to end the relationship. "I should appreciate the irony cause I've led us both to my Gethsemane"---his betrayal of his vows? and the irony being that she has now betrayed him as he was betraying himself.

"We make what we can't undo"---it happened, its over and nothing can be done about it--it can't be taken back--and I know he points to himself during "Jesus saves white trash baby like you"---maybe that is his guilt coming out--calling himself white trash.

I so hope I'm wrong on all this! lol

When I'm listening to these songs and trying to figure them out, I have to make myself remember that these song were not just written last month. Most of them were written during the time he was in Vegas, away from his family, away from his wife. That distance can put a strain on any relationship. I also remember Rick constantly saying how jealous he gets, how suspicious he gets when he is away from his wife (i.e., Don't Talk To Strangers), so I feel like a lot of these lines he puts in these songs may stem from Rick's own constant insecurities, not necessarily from reality.

Although, he's pretty pissed off about some things, that is definitely clear.

I don't see this song as necessarily something that happened to Rick personally, but more as a "story", possibly experienced by a friend or if it is personal to Rick, maybe an incident that happened in his youth. A man has fallen for a woman who comes from a poor background, who has nonetheless risen to a standard of culture and grace, despite her disadvantages "You let me read your pretty poetry, and I fell for your trailer park majesty" The man is obviously "taken in" by this deception, but realizes his mistake when he's stabbed in the back ."You betrayed yourself and me, too". I believe the "Gethsemane" reference concerns this betrayal......as it was the place where Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. I love Rick's religious undertones, as they are totally recognizable and familiar to most people. They are the common denominator in many of his lyrics.

But I digress, back to "Jesus Saves". The woman here has shown her true colors, by revealing her underhanded, gold-digging nature and the man is truly devastated, not only at her betrayal, but by his inability to recognize such an enormous flaw in her character...."I held you so close I couldn't see, while you had the grander view" I love this line, my fave in a song of terrific images. Love is "blind", is the true message in this song, I think.

"I know you lied when it's true, Jesus saves white trash baby like you.....it's too late for you to undo" The man now knows, her secret is out.

"I don't hate you, I hate love" indicates that on some level the man doesn't blame the woman, he blames his own emotions for leading him astray. Rick proves himself a master storyteller once again. I don't know why I'm so surprised, he constantly amazes me with his genius. I wonder if I'll ever "appreciate the irony" Rick's reputation with the MediaBastards, one of distain and pop-fluff, as opposed to his true nature as an artist, known only by his fellow musicians and us, of course, his loyal following, who have taken the time to delve deep into his psyche. Which he has so beautifully put on display time and again for us......the ones who "get it".

This is by far my least favorite song on SDAA. I do tend to skip this one, but am listening to it more now, since I have heard and seen it live. I had to see this one live to appreciate it. For me, about 75% to 80% of the song is about the music. When the teaser was given to us as the opening on RS.com, I thought, "Oh yuck!"

Now, as far as the lyrics, there are a couple of really great lines in here, so in this case, I would have to say the lyrics are better than the music. I like the lines, And I, when I said I'd die for you I didn't mean for you to write the eulogy. This line reminds me of Prince's song "I Would Die 4 U", (which is a rather catchy little tune). I am thinking whoever this person is must really hate him that they would want him dead.

I also like cause I've led us both to my Gethsemane. The Garden of Gethsemane, the place where Jesus prayed so hard that he sweated blood. This person must have really done him wrong. Could it be that he is saying he has lead us both to our own personal hell on earth? I guess I am not quite sure. Other than religious songs, I am sure Gethsemane has never been used in a song before just like moot. So, I can appreciate the song for its originality.

I can hear the kids on American Bandstand though "It has a good beat, but I just can't dance to it."

I have to say that I don't think I have ever felt more confused by my feelings for a Rick Springfield song. Ever. I either love them (99%) or I dislike them (1%...and those are mostly the covers :) I can honestly say that Jesus Saves has become a comfortable thorn in my side.

When I first heard the teaser on RS.com I cringed, yes it is true. It was loud and it did not seem to flow for me, I hated the rhythm. Then I heard the full version on February 24, 2004 and as I was reaching to reduce the volume I thought "skipper". I cannot tell you how sad and disloyal that made me feel. The only redeeming factor is that I really liked the way he used Gethsemane in the song. That....is true talent.

Then I heard the rumors, "you have to see it live, it is like a revival, it will change your mind completely". Yeah....right. I bet my Hard To Hold poster it does not. Skip forward....May 6th 2004. Milwaukee. I made the pilgrimage and a faster conversion has never taken place. Mind boggling. I stood there, mouth gaping through 3/4 of the song. If anyone ever doubts that Rick Springfield is a truly gifted performer, they need to see him perform Jesus Saves. The outstretched arms glistening with sweat. The silhouette of him standing tall screaming at the top of his lungs. The passion he puts into this song is incredible.

I don't skip Jesus Saves anymore.