Genesis took direct intention at televangelists with their 1992 single “Jesus He Is aware of Me.”
Initially launched on the band’s 1991 album We Cannot Dance, the tune’s construction got here earlier than any phrases had been written.
“Phil [Collins] was enjoying actually quick on the drums and I began enjoying a chord sequence on prime of it,” Tony Banks recalled in Genesis’ 1993 live performance movie The Manner We Stroll. “I began enjoying this reggae rhythm on prime of what he was doing as a result of it was in the identical type of tempo, and switched to enjoying reggae beneath it, so we bought the center eight half, then the intro developed out of the center eight. I believe it really works fairly nicely.”
On the time, a number of notable spiritual leaders had change into embroiled in controversy. Jimmy Swaggart, the southern pentecostal preacher whose weekly sermons had been broadcast throughout the U.S., had been caught with a prostitute on two separate cases. Robert Tilton, pastor of the Phrase of Religion Household Church, allegedly swindled greater than $80 million out of followers by way of his Success-N-Life weekly spiritual infomercial. In the meantime, Jim Bakker, the minister and former host of The 700 Membership and The PTL Membership, was convicted of fraud and accused of sexual misconduct.
It was in these controversies that Collins discovered lyrical inspiration.
Watch Genesis’ Video for ‘Jesus He Is aware of Me’
“I consider in household / With my ever lovin’ spouse beside me / However she do not find out about my girlfriend / Or the person I met final evening,” the Genesis frontman sang in one of many verses, lambasting televangelists’ insincerities over household values. Later, Collins addressed spiritual hypocrisy head on, singing: “Will not discover me practisin’ what I am preachin’ / Will not discover me makin’ no sacrifice / However I can get you a pocketful of miracles / Should you promise to be good, attempt to be good.”
The tune’s subject material was additional amplified by its music video. In it, Collins and his bandmates performed completely coiffed televangelists, projecting household values on the TV display whereas having fun with an extravagant life-style behind the scenes.
Launched as a single on July 13, 1992, “Jesus He Know Me” reached No. 12 on the Billboard Sizzling 100. The tune was additionally positively obtained by critics, with Rolling Stone describing it as “a pointy indictment of televangelical piety.” Nonetheless, the observe did not discover a everlasting place in Genesis’ reside reveals. Regardless of being carried out extensively by the band throughout their 1992 tour, it by no means discovered its method a Genesis set listing once more.
Genesis Albums Ranked
From Peter Gabriel to Phil Collins to that man who got here after Phil Collins, we check out all the band’s studio data.
