Jesus He Knows Me
| "Jesus He Knows Me" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Genesis | ||||||||||
| from the album We Can't Dance | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Hearts on Fire" | |||||||||
| Released | July 13, 1992 | |||||||||
| Format | CD maxi 7" single 12" maxi |
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| Recorded | The Farm, Surrey; March 1991 — September 1991 | |||||||||
| Genre | Pop rock | |||||||||
| Length | 4:18 (single mix) | |||||||||
| Label | Atlantic, Virgin | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford | |||||||||
| Producer | Genesis, Nick Davis | |||||||||
| Genesis singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Jesus He Knows Me" is the second track on the 1991 Genesis album We Can't Dance, and its fourth single. The song is a satire about televangelism, released in a period when several televangelists such as Robert Tilton, Jim Bakker, Larry Lea and Benny Hinn were under investigation for promising financial success to their listeners, provided they sent money to them. The track reached #20 in the UK and #23 in the U.S.
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[edit] Release
Like all the singles from We Can't Dance, "Jesus He Knows Me" was released on two CDs as well on vinyl editions. All formats featured the non-album track "Hearts on Fire" (later included on Genesis Archive #2 1976-1992) as the primary B-side, while both CDs included an exclusive track.
The first CD had "I Can't Dance (The Other Mix)" (a remix by Ben Liebrand) and the second featured "Land of Confusion (Rehearsal Version)". "The Other Mix" is so-called because another version, the "Sex Mix", had been released some months before on the "I Can't Dance" CD single.
The second CD was the fifth disc in "The Invisible Series", a collection of Genesis CDs which featured live recordings as extra tracks.
The "Single Mix" of "Jesus He Knows Me" has a louder chorus than the album version, making it more suitable for radio play.
The song was featured in the 1996 Belgian film Le huitième jour by Jaco Van Dormael.
[edit] Live
The song was performed live on the 1992 We Can't Dance tour although it was not going to be played because the band thought the live visuals were mocking religion. The band eventually decided to perform "Jesus He Knows Me" instead of "Living Forever" which was in the setlist at the time. For the band's 2007 tour the song was originally in the setlist and was rehearsed but wasn't performed on the tour.
[edit] Music video
The video features singer Phil Collins as an unscrupulous televangelist who lives like a millionaire thanks to donations from his followers. The comedic video also features fellow band members, keyboardist Tony Banks and guitarist Mike Rutherford, as fellow evangelists. Collins, in an orange suit, tries to have his viewers raise $18,000,000 in one weekend because "the Lord told it to him". In the final minute on the video, money rains down on the set of the fake program. As the toteboard reaches his goal, the amount of money shown increases in intervals of at least $18,000,000.
The video is the second from We Can't Dance in which Banks and Rutherford have to drag Collins off at the end; the other is "I Can't Dance".
In the video near the 1:40 mark people can be seen holding a sign reading "Genesis 3:25", referring not to the Bible but to the fact that the band had three members and had been together for twenty-five years (the band formed in 1967, the video was filmed in 1992, although only Banks and Rutherford had been in the band since the beginning). Some observers, not understanding this reference, believed the sign to be an error or a joke, as the third chapter in the Book of Genesis has only 24 verses. If it referred to the Bible it could also be meaning "this kind of televangelism is a resumption of the Fall of Man" because the third chapter in the Book of Genesis is the chapter about the Fall of Man.
Throughout the clip, Collins is shown on the covers of several fictitious magazines with religious names which spoof actual publications, such as "Spirit Illustrated", "Rolling Souls", "MITE" (an anagram of TIME) and "God's Housekeeping".
As a footnote, Collins's character in this video bears some resemblance to his role of "Phil Mayhew", a low-brow game show host – con artist eventually dabbling in televangelism in the 1985 Miami Vice episode "Phil the Shill".
Thinking the band had converted to Christianity, the video was picked up by Trinity Broadcasting Network to be aired until they learned about the song's story.[citation needed]
[edit] Covers
This song was parodied in the pilot episode of the Serbian satirical show Nikad izvini, featuring Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitan bishop Amfilohije Radović, who sings how he managed to cheat God and take over Heaven to save the souls of Serbian criminals.
[edit] Track listings
- CD maxi
- "Jesus He Knows Me" (single mix) — 4:18
- "Hearts on Fire" — 5:15
- "I Can't Dance" (the other mix) — 6:00
- 7" single
- "Jesus He Knows Me" (single mix) — 4:17
- "Hearts on Fire" — 5:15
[edit] Charts
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart[1] | 26 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart[1] | 27 |
| German Singles Chart[2] | 13 |
| Irish Singles Chart[3] | 22 |
| Swedish Singles Chart[1] | 38 |
| UK Singles Chart[4] | 20 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] | 23 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks[5] | 27 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[5] | 24 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream[5] | 12 |
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Jesus He Knows Me", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
- ^ German Singles Chart Charts-surfer.de (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
- ^ Irish Single Chart Irishcharts.ie (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
- ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
- ^ a b c d Billboard Allmusic.com (Retrieved August 15, 2008)
- McMahan, Scott (January 1998). "The Genesis Discography" (PDF). http://cyberreviews.skwc.com/gendis.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-12.
[edit] External links
- Music Video at MTV
