Plastic Jesus (03/14/14 Nashville, TN)

Plastic Jesus
Widespread Panic
March 14, 2014
Ryman Auditorium
Nashville, TN

Shot & edited by Andy Tennille

[edwardbielak]

Every time I hear this, it just gets better

[geraldbrown]

WOW Absolutely Hands down the best PLASTIC JESUS rendition I’ve ever heard! “I’m a shaking it boss!”👍🎸🇨🇦

[cbthethird]

An old favorite... my granny used to sing this to me in the car when I was little.

[ericnowak]

I Love this version of this song   Way to Go Cool Hand JB

[rodscher]

Is no one going to mention that six-string banjo, tuned and chorded like a standard guitar?! I want one of those! :)

[Papajankypot]

I was never a big widespread fan, but I won tickets and backstage passes to their show in memphis( early 2000s). They were cool as hell! Got to sit on stage while they did sound check. They took request. Played Rage against the machine and the Charlie Brown theme song. Probably more, I was tripping balls. A great night. Good cover. The Ryman is a great place to see a show.

[RobertPrice-xb]

Very good...but I can't understand all the words. I recorded Paul Newman's version from the television with a little pocket sized mini-cassette recorder and played it so often I wore the tape out! 😇 😄 👍 👌 💫

[lucasbaum]

What a cover. What a band. What a venue. Grateful I got to be part of this run! Been to the Ryman 50+ times and this is by far the best show I've seen there. Great birthday gift to myself!

[blakebruner]

Plastic Jesus was written by Ed Rush & George Cromarty. They recorded it as The Gold Coast Singers in 1962 on the album, Here They Are! The Gold Coast Singers. Followed by Ernie Marrs in 1965, who falsely gets credit for creating the song. Bunches of folks have released covers of it, including The Flaming Lips on Transmissions From Satellite Heart, 1993. Paul Newman sings it in the movie, Cool Hand Luke, 1967. With his only family possession, a banjo, he sings the song after learning his mama died while he's serving time at a rural prison farm. It's on youtube, too. The Marrs version is also in the movie. The movie was the biggest vehicle for PJ.

[jamesbercot]

The Ryman with its pews is like a church for music

[wendymcallister]

HA! This is what I was lookin' for! OMG! This is it!

[JRPC]

Far and away the BEST rendition of this song I have EVER heard!  BRAVO!


Well, I don't care if it rains or freezes,
Long as I got my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all the trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my Jesus, yeah, I'll go far.

Riding through the thoroughfare
With his nose right up there in the air
A wreck might be ahead, but he don't mind
Trouble coming, but he don't see it
Just keeps his plastic eyes on me
And any other thing that rides behind
 
BREAK

God made Christ a holy Jew
Made Him a Christian too
Paradoxes populate my car
Joseph beams in faked elan
From the shaggy dash of fur-lined van
Famous cuckold in the master plan

Right there’s naughty Mary, smug and smiling
Jesus dainty and beguiling
Knee-deep in the piling of my van
His message clear, night or day
My phosphorescent plastic Gay
Simperin’ on the dashboard of my van

CHORUS
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all the trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.
 
BREAK
 
When I find myself in a traffic jam
He don't care if I say “Damn”
I let all curses just roll
Plastic Jesus, he doesn't hear
For he’s sportin’ a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul
 
You know you can buy a Sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shell
I’m goin' ninety, I'm not scary
'Cause I've got the Virgin Mary
Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell

BREAK
 
I don't care if it bumps or jostles
I got the Twelve Apostles
Bolted to the dashboard of my car
Don't I show a pious mess
Such a crowd of holiness
Strung across the dashboard of my car

I don't care if it's dark or scary
I got Magnetic Mary
Ridin' on the dashboard of my car
I’m feelin’ I'm protected amply
I've got the whole, the whole damn family
Riding on the dashboard of my car

CHORUS
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
When I bought Him his robe was snowy white
Now it isn't quite so bright
Stained by the smoke of my cigar

CHORUS
Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all the trials and tribulations,
we will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.
 
Through all the trials and tribulations,
we will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

[kungfuasgaeilge]

This was the longest version I found, so I was sure it would have the verse I was looking for, but no luck :(

'He don't slip and he don't slide, 'cause his ass is magnetised' etc.

[Stacker-qtsv]

Plastic Jesus just got me through a major metro area following my buddy that bought a car with a busted transmission that wouldn't shift, took 4 hours to travel what's usually half an hour. Jesus and Seafoam for the transmission.... we needed everything to get that auction car home. But Seafoam and Jesus, and some creative diving got us home. Praise my plastic Jesus that came with my auction car!

[pskreish]

Saw y'all perform this in Nashville and Wilmington.  Thanks for the tunes, the memories, and the shows to come.  I'm a full fledged SpreadNeck.

[rebeccacrewemusic]

Weird how things work. This evening I was thinking about this song...playing it in my head, thinking of how it could have many different approaches; hoping to find a version much like this. How satisfying to have found this rendition! So well done!

[mikeberry]

I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but I really like this song.

[jeffmantkowski]

dude this video is so good, thanks for the good times 😎😎

[longjohn]

Tight as hell and a fantastic live mix

[Mysoulshine]

Thanks Buck for bringing me to the family.