For the past three years I have played some songs for Easter, and as these seem to have been well-received I thought I’d do it again. I am not particularly religious but that doesn’t stop me recognising its significance: we were all brought up here learning the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and his subsequent resurrection. My stepmother is an ordained (now retired) priest in the Church of England, so I’m always reminded of what this weekend means – she has sent me a card in case I forgot! – and I hope that those who celebrate it derive fulfilment from their faith. The songs I have played for this bear varying degrees of relevance to the event, from little to none, but you’d expect nothing else of me, would you? As this is a long weekend I’m giving you a bumper edition to occupy your time: eight songs, all of which – bar one – I’ve played before but they are all worth another spin..

I played this one last year for the first time, and it’s a good one to get us off to a rousing start:

As I said last year, some of you may know the version done by the Doobie Brothers but I prefer the first one I knew: this one, by The Byrds. Jesus Is Just Alright is actually a gospel song written by American singer Art Reynolds and first recorded by The Art Reynolds Singers, for their 1966 album, Tellin’ It Like It Is. It uses an American slang term “just alright,” which during the 1960s described something that was considered cool or hip. The Byrds’ version was on their eighth studio album, Ballad of Easy Rider, released in November 1969, reaching #36 in the US and #41 in the UK. The track then became a single in December 1969, but only got to #97 in the US and wasn’t a UK hit at all. That didn’t stop the Doobies from doing an almost identical copy of the song, which got them to #35 in the US in 1972. No justice, eh?

Next up is one that I usually play at this time of year. No surprise, then, but it still sounds great to me:

It isn’t often that a song with overtly religious lyrics becomes a huge smash hit, but this one did. Norman Greenbaum began his musical career in 1967 as a member of Dr West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band, who had a minor US hit with a song he wrote, the wonderfully titled single The Eggplant That Ate Chicago, about an alien invasion. Spirit In The Sky was the title track of his first solo album, and was released as a single in December 1969 in the UK and January 1970 in the US. It was #1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, and West Germany, and reached #3 in the US. He is the epitome of the classic one hit wonder syndrome, having never troubled the charts again here in the UK. It’s still a great and memorable riff, though. The song also has the distinction of having topped the UK charts three times, in three different versions: as well as this, there were Dr And The Medics in 1986, and Gareth Gates (with The Kumars) for the 2003 Comic Relief single. Nothing beats the original, to my mind!

This is another regular favourite of mine for this time of year:

One Of Us is a very thoughtful song, which asks some big questions. It was written by Eric Bazilian of The Hooters, who have featured here several times, and it takes the approach of asking what it might be like if God was just like us, doing everyday things. It is an intriguing thought, and I’ve always enjoyed the song. Joan Osborne first released it as a single in February 1995, ahead of its album, Relish, the following month. These were her debut records, and they did well for her. The album peaked at #9 in the US and #5 in the UK, and the single reached #4 in the US and #6 in the UK, and topped the charts in both Australia and Canada. I bought the album and can recommend it. In case you were wondering the album version of the song, which is the one I’m playing here, starts off with the first four lines of a recording titled The Aeroplane Ride, made on October 27, 1937, by American folklorist Alan Lomax and his wife Elizabeth for the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, with Mrs Nell Hampton of Salyersville, Kentucky, singing a variation of the 1928 John S. McConnell hymn Heavenly Aeroplane. (Thank you, Wikipedia!)

I’ve played this next one before, but only once, a couple of years ago. Like most of the others I’m playing today, it isn’t specifically about Easter, but it is a version of a Christian hymn giving thanks for the new day and for the joys it brings, so I don’t think it is out of place in this collection:

Morning Has Broken was a track on Cat Stevens’ album Teaser And The Firecat, which was released in October 1971 and peaked at #2 in both the UK and the US. The track became a single in January 1972, and reached #6 in the US and #9 in the UK, whilst also making #1 on the US Adult Contemporary chart, based on radio airplay. It is a hymn first published in 1931, with words by English author Eleanor Farjeon set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, Bunessan. There is a long list of artists who have also recorded the song but Cat’s version is for me still the definitive version: its delicacy really captures the spirit, I think.

This seems as good place as any for me to play the song making its debut. I have long loved the music of Ralph McTell, a wonderful English singer-songwriter, and have seen him several times in concert going right back to my uni days. It is a surprise to me that I haven’t played much of his music here, and especially this one, which seems made for Easter, given its title:

Easter Lillies tells a sad story, but it is an absolutely gorgeous song, and so typical of the way Ralph paints pictures for us with his lyrics. The song was first released in 2000 on his album Red Sky, and has since been included on a couple of compilations, including Affairs Of The Heart, a 2010 4CD box set which I have and from which this clip comes. It does exactly what it says on the tin: a 56 track compilation of songs about love that he has written since his career began in 1968. Now aged 80 he is still performing, though it has been six years since we had new music from him. At that age most of us would be thinking of retirement, anyway!

As I said at the outset, I’m not a religious person, which rather reduces the range of songs I can play for this time of year: a Google search brings up countless Christian songs, most of which do nothing for me. But I have played a couple of songs most years from one of the greatest musicals ever, and I’m closing (almost) with them again. First, this one:

That musical was, of course, Jesus Christ Superstar. The show actually first saw the light of day in October 1970 as a double LP concept album, on which Murray Head sang the role of Judas Iscariot. He didn’t play the role in either the 1971 Broadway or 1972 London productions of the show, though. The album was a huge success in North America, topping the charts in both Canada and the US, though it only reached #23 in the UK. Superstar was released as a single a year earlier, and peaked at #6 in Canada, #14 in the US, and #47 in the UK. In my memory it was a much bigger hit than that – funny how our memories play tricks on us, isn’t it? I’ve always thought this was a fantastic song, and this is my favourite version. There was much controversy over the show, which many saw as blasphemous and overly sympathetic to characters like Judas, but that doesn’t seem to have damaged it at the box office. It was produced in a number of other countries, too: in Sweden it played in 1972 and the role of Mary Magdalene was taken by a young Agnetha Fältskog – I wonder what happened to her…

When the album was first recorded the role of Mary Magdalene was sung by Yvonne Elliman, who then played the part in the 1973 movie version, from which this clip comes:

There have been a number of other versions of the song, both in various theatrical performances and on record, but this is the first one I knew and I still think it is the best. Yvonne Elliman’s heartfelt vocal really brings out the quandary the character was in, with all of the conflicting feelings it engendered, and I think it is lovely. It was released as a single but didn’t do all that well: #28 in the US and #47 in the UK were, to my mind, poor returns. The other version you may know is the one by Helen Reddy, which got to #13 in the US but didn’t make the UK charts, thankfully. It comes a very poor second, to my ears!

I said that I was almost closing with those two, but this is where I finally leave you, with a little bit of classic movie fun. I recall seeing this as a kid, as it was a standard part of Easter tv here, and it has lost none of its charm in the many years since then. The movie was Easter Parade, and this is one of its best known songs:

Judy Garland and Fred Astaire were the stars of Easter Parade, which was first released in 1948 and still receives a fair amount of tv airplay nowadays (it was on BBC4 last night, UK readers, and you can find it on iPlayer). All of the music for the film was written by Irving Berlin, who wasn’t shy about recycling his material (but who am I to comment!). This was actually the third time he had used this song in a musical movie, after Alexander’s Ragtime Band in 1938 (sung by Don Ameche) and Holiday Inn in 1942 (sung by Bing Crosby), and it was a hit single for Liberace in 1954. It is still my favourite version, and as I said the clip takes me right back to my childhood.

That’s it for my bumper Easter selection. However you do or don’t celebrate the occasion, I hope you have a lovely long weekend, and try not to overdo the chocolate – not that I’m likely to heed that advice! I’ll see you again for the usual Song Lyric Sunday date, if I can decide what to play – the choice is wide this week!

Take care, and I again wish you a