Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

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"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"
Song by The Vaselines
from the album Dying for It
Released1987
GenreIndie pop
Length3:31
Label53rd & 3rd
Songwriter(s)Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee
"Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam"
Song by Nirvana
from the album MTV Unplugged in New York
Released1 November 1994
Recorded18 November 1993
VenueSony Music Studios, New York City
GenreAlternative rock
Length4:37
LabelDGC
Songwriter(s)Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee
Producer(s)Alex Coletti, Scott Litt, Nirvana
MTV Unplugged in New York track listing
13 tracks

"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by the Scottish alternative band the Vaselines for their EP Dying for It. It is a parody on the Christian children's hymn "I'll Be a Sunbeam", which has the opening line "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." The Vaselines re-released the song in 1992 on the compilation albums The Way of The Vaselines: A Complete History and All the Stuff and More.

The song was little-known outside the indie-pop scene until Seattle grunge band Nirvana recorded the song in November 1993 for their live acoustic album MTV Unplugged in New York, re-titling it "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam". Two more versions of this rendition of the song were released on Nirvana's 2004 box set With the Lights Out. This included an acoustic version recorded in Europe in 1994, and a live electric performance on the DVD section of the box-set. Another version was released in 2011 as a bonus track on the 20th anniversary edition of Nevermind.

In the version featured on the MTV Unplugged in New York album, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain refers to the song as "a rendition of an old Christian song, I think. But we do it the Vaselines' way."[1]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Kurt Cobain, Nov. 18, 1993. MTV Unplugged in New York, DGC Records, released Nov. 1, 1994.



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