Religious Rock Top Ten: Jesus Is Just Alright (#2)

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When I announced this last week I’m pretty sure this is one of the first songs that popped into your head. And, truthfully, no countdown that features songs that made the pop charts with a religious theme could be complete without this one. Here’s today’s tune. #2: Jesus Is Just Alright - Doobie Brothers I really hope nobody thought I’d forget this one!!! As you can imagine, this is a cover. You don’t expect to run into a biker band named after marijuana slang at church. (Although, truth be told, that was part of the appeal of the “Jesus movement”: God isn’t just for people in suits or dresses with short hair, and that includes biker bands named after marijuana slang.) What I didn’t know until researching this is that the Doobies more or less borrowed their arrangement from another long-haired rock band: the Byrds. The Byrds’ version was recorded in 1969, and that sort of made sense, given that they’d covered the Louvin Brothers’ “The Christian Life” on Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The Doobies’ version is on an album with a title song about a “house of ill-repute.” Only in rock and roll. This has become a favorite of believers and non-believers alike. Jesus Is Just Alright Written by Arthur Reid Reynolds Recorded by the Doobie Brothers From Toulouse Street, 1972 I don’t care what they may say: