We Need A Whole Lot More Of Jesus And A Lot Less Rock And Roll
There are four versions of this song, which was written by country artist Wayne Raney in 1957. More information about Wayne Raney here.
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Version 1 is a full studio recording, in stereo
Note that on the I Love You LP rear sleeve, this song was incorrectly titled as "(What We Need Is a Lot More Jesus and a Lot Less Rock 'n' Roll)", and was printed in such a way as to appear to be a subtitle of I Love You. The LP label also titled it incorrectly, as "WE NEED A WHOLE LOT MORE JESUS (AND A LOT LESS ROCK 'N' ROLL)" Note that the stereo image is reversed on We Wish You A Larry Christmas and on The Best Of People! Vol II |
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Version 2 is a full studio recording, in mono
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I Love You (Brazilian mono LP, T-2924)
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Version 3 is the same as version 1, but with an additional refrain at the end, after the chair scraping noises
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Down Under [Special Edition cassette version]
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Version 4 is a live recording, performed with a full band. Gene Mason and Denny Fridkin joined Larry for the People! Reunion concert in Salem, in 2006
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Version 5 is a 1970 live recording, solo with acoustic guitar
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lyrics version 1 and 2
Let us all stand for this [Spoken]
You can read it in the morning papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is a-sweeping our nation
This world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah, brethren (Hallelujah reverend)
We need a nationwide revival
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
Will you all be seated now? [Spoken]
You can read it in the morning papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is a-sweeping our nation
This world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah, brethren (Hallelujah reverend)
We need a nationwide revival
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
Will you all be seated now? [Spoken]
lyrics version 3
Let us all stand for this [Spoken]
You can read it in the morning papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is a-sweeping our nation
This world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah, brethren (Hallelujah reverend)
We need a nationwide revival
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
Will you all be seated now? [Spoken]
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
You can read it in the morning papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is a-sweeping our nation
This world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah, brethren (Hallelujah reverend)
We need a nationwide revival
To keep the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
Will you all be seated now? [Spoken]
Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
lyrics version 4
Please stand up and be seated [Spoken]
You can read it in the mornin' papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is sweepin' our nation
And this world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their heart in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
You know that the Lord is there
We need a good old time of revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Ooh yeah
You can read it in the mornin' paper
You can hear it on the radio
Wars, poverty, crime is sweepin' our nation
And eh it look like this world is about to go
What we need is a good old case of salvation, sanctification
To keep the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
You can read it in the mornin' papers
Hear it on the radio
How crime is sweepin' our nation
And this world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To keep the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their heart in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
You know that the Lord is there
We need a good old time of revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Ooh yeah
You can read it in the mornin' paper
You can hear it on the radio
Wars, poverty, crime is sweepin' our nation
And eh it look like this world is about to go
What we need is a good old case of salvation, sanctification
To keep the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
Amen
lyrics version 5
You can read it in the morning paper
You can hear it on the radio
How crime is sweeping this country
And the world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To put the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll oh oh oh oh
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah brother
We need a nationwide revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll-oh-ho-ow-ow-ow
You wanna sing it? All you gotta sing is we need a whole lot more of Jesus, lot less rock and roll, on and on [Spoken]
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll wooh
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll [x3]
Very good [Spoken]
You can read it in the morning paper
And you can hear it on the radio
How crime is sweeping our country
And California is about to go
We need a nationwide revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Je-Je-Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
You can hear it on the radio
How crime is sweeping this country
And the world is about to go
We need a good old case of salvation
To put the love of God in our souls
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll oh oh oh oh
We need more old fashioned preachers
Pouring out their hearts in prayer
'Cause when you’re in their presence
Why you know that the Lord is there
Hallelujah brother
We need a nationwide revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll-oh-ho-ow-ow-ow
You wanna sing it? All you gotta sing is we need a whole lot more of Jesus, lot less rock and roll, on and on [Spoken]
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll wooh
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll [x3]
Very good [Spoken]
You can read it in the morning paper
And you can hear it on the radio
How crime is sweeping our country
And California is about to go
We need a nationwide revival
To put the love of God in our soul
We need a whole lot more of Je-Je-Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
We need a whole lot more of Jesus
And a lot less rock and roll
I have a song called "We Need A Whole Lot More Of Jesus And A Lot Less Rock And Roll" which I may release someday. But a country singer had written a song with the same title. His was good-natured. We had been the first band to include country music, which was so hated by all the other bands. "Hasty Heart" was the first one we did. And we flew in the top "pedal-steel" session player in the world, who was living in Los Angeles. He had started playing whatever stringed instruments he could get his hands on when he was five and had made a name for himself before he even became a teenager. He did a beautiful solo. And it was a "one take" overdub. He offered to do it again and showed us a few other approaches, but the first one was emotional and that was the one we wanted. Now on this recording we played all of the instruments ourselves and some players switched instruments to make it sound more authentic and less professional. it was the last song we recorded for the "I Love You sessions" and we had no more studio time or recording budget money to re-do it. Besides, everyone was happy with it, except for me. I thought it sounded too "campy". Being a Christian, I wanted it to sound more respectful. 39 years later l finally had a chance to up-grade the reverential aspects of the song - when I sang it in concert with Denny and Gene (See LIVE AT SMITH - band set.)