Bye Bye Jesus

words and music by Howard Kranz

I was sitting in the coffee house

just singing for my savior;

Lord knows I wasn’t making any bread.

When this fellow says, “You sound okay,

but all your songs are pagan.

Why don’t you sing some Jesus songs instead?”

Well, that fellow’d been so busy

just loving me for God’s sake

that he hadn’t heard a single word I’d said.

It was at that very moment

that I had my great conversion,

and I suddenly realized why God is dead.

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

I’m sorry that it had to end this way.

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

here’s to hoping that we’ll meet again some day.

In the course of conversation,

I made mention of the Buddha.

At that, a mutual friend began to rave

how this subtle Hindu plot

called Transcendental Meditation

is just idol worship, leading to the grave.

Then he told me how the devil

started women’s liberation,

and how Saint Paul told the ladies to behave.

And with every narrow-minded gem

he spoke the name of Jesus--

O He saved us all; Himself He cannot save!

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

I’m sorry that it had to end this way.

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

here’s to hoping that we’ll meet again some day.

I was feeling sort of guilty

for forsaking my old Buddy

after He upon the cross for me did hang.

It was then I had a vision

in which Mary Magdalena

and the Christ appeared before me with a bang,

and the Chorus of Apostles

and the Choir of the Angels

all floated in as in a mighty gang,

and with Mary’s solo backed up

by a thousand male sopranos,

the man himself conducted, and they sang:

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

I’m sorry that it had to end this way.

Bye bye, Jesus; bye bye, Jesus;

here’s to hoping that we’ll meet again some day.

(No, this ain’t the first time things have looked this gray.)