Popular Songs Based On The Bible (Sampler)

For today's post, here is a short sampler of songs that were in one way or another inspired by the Bible. I am by no means religious (I am an atheist, in fact), however I have always found biblical references in literature and popular culture quite fascinating. I could have put a lot more than 12 songs in this sampler, but I thought I'd make it brief and just choose a few of my favourites.

1. Rivers Of Babylon (Boney M., Single Version)

- From Psalms 137:1-4 & Psalms 19:14

2. Sodom & Gemorrah (Village People)

- Recounts the story of Sodom & Gemorrah from Genesis 18:16- 19:29

3. Samson & Delilah (Newton Family)

- This popular story from Judges 16 appears in this and the following song

4. Samson & Delilah (Middle Of The Road)

- Samson & Delilah of course, but also a fleeting reference to the story of Cain & Abel

5. Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is A Season) (The Byrds)

- From Ecclesiastes 3

6. The Lord's Prayer (Beach Boys)

- From Matthew 6:9-13

7. Ac-cent-tcu-ate the Positive (Johnny Mercer)

- In addition to talk of sermons, faith, and sin, there is a reference to "Jonah in the whale, Noah in the ark."

8. Judas (Lady Gaga)

- A line-by-line biblical analysis can be found at Vulture.com, but of course the primary biblical influence is the story of Judas's betrayal of Jesus.

9. Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord (Boney M., 12" Version)

- Of course, there are a great many popular Christmas songs retelling the story of Jesus's birth, but I've always had a soft spot for this one.

10. One Love/People Get Ready (Bob Marley)

- Job 34:22 is among many references/allusions in this song, which can be found at the Words of Wisdom site.

11. Man Smart (Woman Smarter) (Harry Belafonte, Live at Carnegie)

- Belafonte performed/recorded many versions of this song in his career, with different stories in each version. The recording from the 'Calypso' album (1956) includes the story of Samson & Delilah; This live performance from 1959 includes references to the story of Adam & Eve in the garden of Eden

12. '40' (U2)

- From Psalms 40

Download (98MB, ZIP format) here.

P.S. David Porter at Suite101 wrote a nice review of Biblical imagery/quotations in popular music, which served as a little guidance in putting together this post. The site "atU2" also has an extensive list of biblical quotations in U2's songs.
P.P.S. You can also get Alec R. Costandinos's biblically-based disco suites "Judas Iscariot/Simon Peter" at the Disco2Go Blog (where you can also find many other great disco albums).