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Well I don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Well I don't want no Abba Zaba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul
When the weather gets rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel so good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way
I know Jesus loves me
Maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Well I don't want no Abba Zaba
Don't want no Almond Joy
There ain't nothing better
Suitable for this boy
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
See only a chocolate Jesus
Can satisfy my soul
When the weather gets rough
And it's whiskey in the shade
It's best to wrap your savior
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy
But that's ok
Pour him over ice cream
For a nice parfait
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Well it's got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel so good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Lyrics submitted by Dr_Colossus, edited by anniemi
Track duration: 03:55
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tell them it all relates to the chicken.
By the way, the reference to the old Abba Zabba candy bar is a little nod to one of his musical idols, Don "Captain Beefheart" Van Vliet, who also wrote a song about a piece of candy, "Abba Zabba", released on the album "Safe as Milk".
but the addiction thing makes sense as well
What Tom Waits is writing about here in "Chocolate Jesus" is the various ways people fulfill voids in their lives, and narrows it down to the specific of image.
This starts with the idea that no man/person is born complete. We seek to be content with ourselves.
It has been said, true contentment comes from within. Knowing that we are satisfying our own emotional and spiritual needs to know we are good people through our actions, our realities, our lives. When our actions are harmonious with our internal values of goodness, truthfulness, benevolence to others, fairness, and justice, we gain a sense of pride and CONTENTMENT, within ourselves. Genuine, true contentment comes from what we know inside of ourselves; that we are good people, our acts are done with virtue, and we answer to ourselves when they are not. Spiritual and emotional gratification may exist within, but carry a relationship with the external world. Our values and feelings are something we THINK and FEEL, how we implement them in our ACTS, the choices we make, deal with life's challenges, and pursuing personal goals of fulfillment and righteousness are something we DO, and are concrete. This is a HIGHLY common theme that is used in modern creative writing, and no conscious being escapes from this general law of humanity. The most important thing here to remember as far as our use in interpreting Mr. Waits, is that our fulfillment of the human void, to gain a GENUINE sense of contentment or completeness, must be rooted in REALITY or truth.
But, what does all this have to do with Chocolate Jesuses, might you ask? Well, people develop "fixes" in one way, or another. We seek methods of escape, indulgences, ways to shut off our minds to forget.
As Karl Marx once said, religion is the opiate of the masses. However, religion is not the only "opiate" people employ in our society. God, a Savior, or faith, is yet another method of escapism. For one person, the deity might be a couple drinks to unwind, indulging in a little "retail therapy" or maybe... a little sweet tooth fix?
SO! Enough background... lets take a look at the first verse:
"Well I don't go to church on Sunday
Don't get on my knees to pray
Don't memorize the books of the Bible
I got my own special way"
So here it is introduced in the first four lines, "I have my own special way..." of worship. No church, no praying... he has his own avenue to his salvation.
And on to...
"I fall down on my knees every Sunday
At Zerelda Lee's candy store"
Having no idea who Zerelda Lee was, I googled it. Here is one thing I am puzzled on but this is the best explanation I can give:
Zerelda Lee, was actually Miss Aruba and first runner up to Miss World 2001. Also, Zerelda "Zee" Mimms, was the first cousin and wife of the famous wild west outlaw, Jesse James.
Waits puts this name in to the mix as a symbol (neither figures had anything to do with a candy store).
Where I think Zerelda Lee would carry relevancy here, the symbol of a beauty queen would make sense in the context of Waits referring to someone worshiping image as a form of "diety". Also, maybe a reference to sex here?
The problem I have with this explanation is that since this album was released in 1999, and I am not sure how she would have caught his eye before that.
The other hypothesis is that Waits adapted Zerelda "Zee" to fit into his songwriting prose, is that this name came from somewhere in his life and carries some meaning to him.
We move on to more obvious allusion to desire for fame, image and fortune:
Well it's the only thing
That can pick me up
Better than a cup of gold
"Cup of Gold" was a novel by John Steinbeck, written about the real, historical Captain Morgan, now of modern spiced rum fame. The novels main character, Sir Henry Morgan, is a pirate who will stop at nothing to obtain his ideal image of fame and fortune.
And the final verse talking about our saviors melting on a hot day, I think what Waits is saying is that all of these various falsehoods.. are flimsy, and crumble. Worship of image, sugar, drugs/alcohol, and invisible people who live in the sky, are all just falsehoods we use to get "high" with.
Just sugar.... is no way to deal with life's problems.
bugera333xl
Up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy"
read the lyrics with Heroin in mind, it makes most sence to me atleast...
He's wrapping him up in cellophane because it's hot and he's melting! He's chocolate, so when he melts he looks like Big Muddy River!
And to reference the next line, a parfait is much more likely to contain chocolate than heroin.
Actually, it's sacrilicious