How the Bible has influenced pop lyrics

Quotations from the Bible have often popped up in popular music through the decades. This is the story …

The 1960s

In 1965 the folk rock group “The Byrds” had a number one hit with “Turn! Turn! Turn!” written by folk singer and activist Pete Seeger. It is actually straight out of the Bible and is the words from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 in the King James Version set to music, although most people did not realise it. In 1967, Tom Jones had a hit with Delilah, which was a reference to Delilah whose story is told in Judges 16:4-22. In 1971, Dolly Parton had a hit with “Coat of Many Colors” which alludes to the story of Joseph in Genesis 37.

The Bible in musicals

Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice wrote a string of hit musicals. Two of them blatantly drew on Bible stories. The musical “Joseph” premiered in 1968, and the more controversial “Jesus Christ Superstar” three years later in 1971, producing some hit songs.

The song “Any Dream Will Do” from the former was sung by Donny Osmond and later by Jason Donavon in 1991. It is based on the story of Joseph interpreting dreams which is found in Genesis 39 and 40, where he interpreted dreams for the cupbearer, the baker and the Pharaoh.

The song “I don’t know how to love him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar” was sung in the musical by the character of Mary Magdalene to Jesus. It was a hit for Yvonne Ellimen and also for Helen Reddy, and, unusually, versions by both of them appeared in the Top 40 at the same time in 1971.

Cat Stevens

“Morning has Broken” was a hit for Cat Stevens in 1972, (although he later became a Muslim and now goes by the name of Yusuf Islam). It is actually an old Sunday School song from 1931. The song is about creation and the first day mentioned in Genesis 1, and then the Garden of Eden. The end of the second verse has a reference to God walking in Eden ‘where his feet pass’, and is a reference to God walking in the Garden of Eden from Genesis 3:8.

Boney M

Rastafarian music often makes biblical references. In 1978 the German Rasta band Boney M had a hit with “By the Rivers of Babylon” from Psalm 137 in the King James Version of the Bible. The first two lines are directly quoted from the first verse of Psalm 137, and then it summarises verses 3. The chorus ‘How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a strange land?’ is verse 4 of Psalm 137.

Bob Marley

Bob Marley’s music has a lot of biblical references in it. “One Love” includes the lines ‘Let’s join together (let us pray to the Lord)’. It was a hit in 1984. Most recently people will know “Iron Lion Zion”, which uses biblical imagery. It was recorded in the early 1970s, but was released posthumously just after he died in 1992 and was a major hit. It has the chorus ‘I’m gonna be Iron like a Lion in Zion’. The lion refers to the Lion of Judah, and Zion originally a hill in Jerusalem, was used poetically as a reference for Jerusalem itself. In Rastafarianism they can also have a double reference to Emperor Haile Sellasie and Ethiopia.

Norman Greenbaum

He might not be a household name but Greenbaum’s song, “Going on up to the Spirit in the Sky”, continues to get radio play today. It is about going to meet God in heaven after you die. It has the lines ‘Prepare yourself you know it’s a must, Gotta have a friend in Jesus’. It was released in late 1969, but it is usually better known by the cover version by Doctor and the Medics which was an international hit in 1986.

U2

There were a lot of biblical references, direct and indirect, in the music of the Irish pop group U2, thanks to the Christian background of some of the band members. “Gloria” on the 1981 album October includes the words ‘Gloria in te Domine, Gloria exultate’ which references Psalm 30:2, but in Latin. The song “40” from the 1983 album War is basically Psalm 40 set to music. In fact the band often used to finish their gigs with this song.

The song “Where the Streets Have No Name” is the first song on the 1987 album The Joshua Tree. It is based on the idea in John 14:3 that there is a place prepared for us, but contrasts it to Belfast where you can tell whether a person is likely from the Catholic or Protestant community if they tell you which street they live on. The song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” from the same album is about spiritual seeking, on the idea of ‘Seek and ye shall find’ in Matthew 7:7. It includes the words ‘You broke the bonds and you, You loosened the chains, You carried the cross, Of my shame, Oh my shame, You know I believe it.’

1990s

In 1995, Coolio had a number one hit with “Gangsta Paradise”. It starts with the phrase ‘As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death’ which is a direct quotation from Psalm 23 verse 4 in the King James Version.

The song “2 Become 1” was a hit by British band the Spice Girls in 1996. It draws on the verse in Genesis 2:24, of a couple coming together, which is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 19:4-6 and by St Paul in Ephesians 5:31, usually in the context of marriage.

Cliff Richard

The prolific English singer Cliff Richard is openly Christian and has supported the evangelical Christian charity TearFund for many decades. His 1988 Christmas number one hit “Mistletoe and Wine” includes the words ‘A time for forgiving and for forgetting’ and ‘A time to rejoice in the good that we see’ which seems to echo Ecclesiastes 3 in a Christmas context. His 1990 Christmas number 1 hit “Saviour’s Day” is about Jesus without mentioning his name. It includes the words ‘He is calling you, calling you’. In 1999 he had a number one hit with the Millenium Prayer which was the Lord’s Prayer using traditional wording, sung to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

Zadok the Priest

OK so it’s not pop, but it is a big part of our popular culture. At the king’s Coronation in 2023, King Charles III was anointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the choir sang the rousing hymn “Zadok the priest” which was written by Handel in 1727, and has been used at every Coronation since. The words ‘Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, anointed Solomon the king’ is straight out of 1 Kings 1:34 in the King James Version. When the British radio station Classic FM was launched in 1992, this was the first piece of music to be broadcast on the station. Also since 1992, the tune has also been popularised as the tune for the European football Champions League.

Biblical references

This is not an exhaustive set of biblical references in pop music, but gives a flavour of some of the more well-known ones from across the decades, which you will likely still hear on the radio. Keep listening, because biblical references pop up in the most unlikely places.