I was just grooving in some Youtube and then Wikipedia and never realized that "Jesus is Just Alright" was NOT from the Doobie Brothers - that I always thought it was. It was from McQuinn and the Byrds (original recording)....Never knew that. I was digging on some Easy Rider stuff and came across this - I never knew.
""Jesus Is Just Alright" is a song written in 1969 by Arthur Reid Reynolds[1]. The song was recorded by The Byrds for their 1969 album Ballad of Easy Rider and released as the second single from the album, but it barely scraped the US charts, peaking at #97. Psychedelic group Underground Sunshine released a version of the tune as a single in 1970; this single failed to chart.
The tune was then covered by The Doobie Brothers, who included it on their 1972 album, Toulouse Street, and released it as the second single. This rendition became a hit, peaking at #35 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart after its release in February 1973. This version continues to be a staple of playlists on classic rock radio stations. One of the Doobie Brothers admitted that they wrote Listen to the Music while singing Jesus is Just Alright for a church group. When Tom Johnston began to sing Listen to the Music on stage, the pianist Mark Ordell picked up the tune. When the Listen to the Music was first recorded, Mark was again the pianist.
In 1992, Christian rock group dc Talk recorded a version of the tune (entitled "Jesus is Still Alright") for their album Free at Last, and filmed a music video for the song, which became a hit on Christian radio. This version follows the Doobie Brothers version stylistically, but adds to it rapped verses and samples from Madonna's "Vogue" and Snap!'s "The Power".
Most recently, the song was covered in 2006 by Robert Randolph for his album, Colorblind. Eric Clapton guests on this track."
Dig it...
