Song 8 "Jesus Christ"

"Jesus Christ" was written by Woody Guthrie in 1940.

This song is about Jesus Christ and how he was persecuted by the rich during his preaching. The poor people followed him and listened to him. Jesus told the rich people to give their money to the poor people and they didn't like that so they "laid Jesus in his grave". The song also relates to today's (1940) rich people in the last stanza. It is saying that they, too, will lay Jesus in his grave because of the way they are treating the poor.

The song is written so that it is a story about Jesus, but at the same time it is serving as a reminder to the rich during that time period, so in a way it's also seems like the songwriter is writing about events as they happen.

This song is a different kind of religious song than I am used to, so I thought it was a little odd. Also, it was kind of funny the way the singer tried to fit "Judas Iscariot" into two syllables. I think my dad would enjoy this song because he likes bluegrass for some reason, I'm not really sure why, and the song sounds like the bluegrass he listens to.

This song shows that there was a deep divide between the poor and the rich. Having just gone through the Great Depression, I'm sure the people who were still poor were probably aggravated by the rich who they thought were being ostentatious.