| Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam | |
| Artist: | The Vaselines |
| Album: | Dying for It |
| Released: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Indie pop |
| Length: | 3:31 |
| Label: | 53rd & 3rd |
| Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam | |
| Artist: | Nirvana |
| Album: | MTV Unplugged in New York |
| Released: | 1 November 1994 |
| Recorded: | 18 November 1993 |
| Venue: | Sony Music Studios, New York City |
| Genre: | Alternative rock |
| Length: | 4:37 |
| Label: | DGC |
| Producer: | Alex Coletti, Scott Litt, Nirvana |
"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by the Scottish alternative band the Vaselines. It was later covered by American rock band Nirvana in 1993 who renamed it "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam".
"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by the Scottish alternative band the Vaselines for their EP Dying for It.[1] It is a parody on the Christian children's hymn "I'll Be a Sunbeam", which has the opening line "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." The Vaselines re-released the song in 1992 on the compilation albums ,[2] and All the Stuff and More.
The song was little-known outside the indie-pop scene until Seattle grunge band Nirvana recorded the song in November 1993 for their live acoustic album MTV Unplugged in New York, re-titling it "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam".[3]
Two more versions were released by Nirvana on their 2004 box set With the Lights Out. These were an acoustic version recorded in Portugal in 1994, and a live electric performance on the DVD section of the box set that was recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on October 31, 1991.[4] This version was re-released in 2011 as a bonus track on the 20th anniversary edition of the Nevermind album and on the Live at the Paramount DVD and Blu-ray.[5]
In the version featured on the MTV Unplugged in New York album, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain refers to the song as "a rendition of an old Christian song, I think. But we do it the Vaselines' way."[6] At a Nirvana concert that took place on December 30, 1993, at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, Cobain dedicated the song to the recently deceased River Phoenix.[7]