Z is for Zadok

Zadok the Priest is an anthem, composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of King George II in 1727. The work has been sung prior to the anointing of the sovereign at the coronation of every British monarch since its composition and has become recognised as a British patriotic anthem.

It is based on 1 Kings 1:38–40. Lyrics from the anthem are:

Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King.
And all the people rejoiced, and said:
God save the King! Long live the King!
May the King live for ever,
Amen, Alleluia.

(okay, I know that one's not particularly modern. You try and pick one for Z, then...)

Y is for You Got The Love

Disco star Candi Staton recorded You Got The Love back in the 1980s after she decided to ditch her secular music career and to devote herself to the church. Unfortunately, the gospel song was then featured in a direct-to-video documentary about the world's fattest man... it only became famous when The Source remixed the track in 1991. The remixed track's success prompted Staton to reassess her career.

"It was such an inspirational song it allowed me to rethink," she told The Guardian . "People in church used to tell me secular music was the devil's music - but I realised it wasn't."

The song was written by Anthony B. Stephens, Arnecia Michelle Harris, and John Bellamy.

X is for eXodus

Exodus: An Oratorio in Three Parts (2008) is the ninth album by William Shatner, produced in 2008. It is a dramatic biblical reading in which Shatner is accompanied by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. It was produced by David Itkin,

In addition to Shatner and the 75 member orchestra, a choral group of 350 singers accompanied the reading of the passages.

W is for The Wanderer

The Wanderer is yet another scripturally-based song for U2, however it was not sung by Bono (although he did write the lyrics). It was the final track from their 1993 album 'Zooropa'. Instead, it featuring country singer Johnny Cash.

Bono explained: "I wrote the lyric based on the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament, which in some translation is called The Preacher. It's a story of intellectual wanderlust. The preacher wants to find out the meaning of life and so he tries a bit of everything. He tries knowledge, educates himself, reads every book, but that doesn't do it. He tries travel, sees every sight, but that doesn't do it. He tries wine, women and song, that doesn't do it. All, he says, is vanity, vanity of vanities, striving after wind. As you read this book you think, 'I can't wait to hear what does do it!' And the most extraordinary line is: 'There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour.' Love your work. That's what it is. It is good to love what you do. I think there's a lot to that."

V is for AVenged SeVenfold (Chapter Four)

Chapter Four is a song by Heavy Metal band Avenged Sevenfold. The song’s name and lyrics are based on Genesis chapter 4, where the story of Cain killing Abel is told. The band also took their name from that same story (Genesis 4:24).

U is for Until The End Of The World

Many of U2's songs have had a spiritual theme, haven' t they?

Until The End Of The World is sung from the perspective of Judas Iscariot in the Garden of Gethsemane, and describe a fictional conversation between Jesus and Judas. The first verse is about the Last Supper; the second about Judas identifying Jesus with a kiss; the final verse is about Judas' suicide after being overwhelmed with guilt and sadness.

It's the fourth track of their 1991 album 'Achtung Baby'. It was composed by U2, with lyrics by Bono.

T is for Turn, Turn, Turn

Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season) was written by Pete Seeger, with lyrics taken from the book of Ecclesiastes (3:1-8). The words were rearranged and paired with Seeger's music to make the song. Seeger included a live version on his 1962 album 'The Bitter And The Sweet' with just voice and guitar.

The Byrds topped the charts with it in 1965 with their version, released as the follow-up to 'Mr Tambourine Man'. The plea for peace and tolerance struck a chord with the American public as the Vietnam War escalated at the time.

S is for Spirit in the Sky

Spirit In The Sky makes several religious references to Jesus in the lyrics, although Norman Greenbaum (who wrote the song) is Jewish. Of course, so was Jesus...

In a 2006 interview with the New York Times, Greenbaum told a reporter he was inspired to write the song after watching someone singing a gospel song on TV. Greenbaum said: "I thought, 'Yeah, I could do that,' knowing nothing about gospel music, so I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. It came easy. I wrote the words in 15 minutes." The resulting sound was an "oddly compelling" combination of gospel and hard rock music

R is for Rivers Of Babylon

Rivers of Babylon is based on Psalm 137:1-4, and details the exile of the Jewish people in 586 BC.

The song was written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. It was popularised in Europe by a 1978 cover by Boney M, which was one of the top-ten all-time best-selling singles in the UK.

Q is for Quilt (Coat Of Many Colours)

Coat of Many Colours is a song written and recorded by Dolly Parton. A true story, it tells of how Parton's mother stitched together a coat for her young daughter out of rags given to the family, just like a patchwork quilt. As she sewed, she told her child the biblical story of Joseph and his Coat of Many Colours (from the book of Genesis). When Parton wore the coat, the local kids just made fun of her.

Parton composed the song in 1969, recording it in April 1971. It reached number 4 on the U.S. country singles charts. Parton also admits that this is the favourite of the many songs she has written.

P is for the Prophet's Song

The Prophet’s Song was released by Queen. Guitarist Brian May wrote the song in the 1970s after he had a dream about the Great Flood - depicted in the book of Genesis, as well as in many other ancient manuscripts. May's lyrics even mention the return of the white dove, which was the bird that Noah released to see if the waters had gone down, and which returned after seven days with an olive branch in its beak. The working title was 'People Of The Earth,' a phrase that came to May in his dream and made it into the lyric. At over eight minutes in length, is also Queen's longest song with vocals.

O is for It's An Open Secret

In 1964, The Joystrings (led by Major Joy Webb) became the first Salvation Army pop group to achieve chart success with It's An Open Secret.

It's an open secret that Jesus is mine,
It's an open secret this gladness divine.
It's an open secret I want you to know,
It's an open secret, I love my Saviour so!

N is for Life in a Northern Town

Life in a Northern Town is a song by British group The Dream Academy. The song was written by band members Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel. The song was a global hit during 1985. It depicts a Northern town, with long lines of unemployed people and with shipyards that were closed down. Bleak - and yet there was still hope, with the Army band playing in the background...

"The Salvation Army band played
And the children drunk lemonade
And the morning lasted all day, all day..."

M is for Millennium Prayer

The Millennium Prayer is a song recorded by Cliff Richard, where the words of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13, Luke 11:2-4) were set to the tune of Auld Lang Syne.

It was released as a charity single in November 1999 and reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. The song was written by Paul Field and Stephen Deal.

L is for My Sweet Lord

The Beatles were never ones to shy away from controversial topics, and George Harrison continued to explore spiritual matters in his solo work. George’s single My Sweet Lord was originally written in praise of the Hindu god Krishna. It reached number one on singles charts globally in 1971.

After his Christian conversion, George told the evangelist who prayed with him that he was re-dedicating the song to Jesus Christ. Following George’s death in November 2001, the song was re-released and topped the charts again in 2002. It became popular again recently through the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 soundtrack...

K is for Knights Of Cydonia

Knights of Cydonia combines the concept of a terraformed planet Mars with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse mentioned in scripture. The Horsemen appear in Revelation 6: 2-8, and represent God's judgement of people's sin and rebellion, which many believe to be a foretaste of the final judgement to come. The four horsemen are traditionally named Pestilence, War, Famine and Death.

Cydonia is the region on Mars where some believe life has existed. In the video, a terraformed Mars is the backdrop to the song. In the January 2007 issue of Q magazine, songwriter Matt Bellamy is quoted as saying: "I'd definitely be up for a trip to Mars. I'd love to record an album at zero gravity. Or at least go up there and do a vocal take. The area of Cydonia is very interesting. There are parts of it that resemble abandoned civilisations."

J is for Personal Jesus

Personal Jesus is a song by English band Depeche Mode. Although the song bears the name of the King of Kings, songwriter Martin Gore was also inspired by Priscilla Presley’s book, Elvis And Me, and by her exaltation of her legendary husband.

"It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis Presley was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way, and that's not a very balanced view of someone, is it?"

I'm not sure that I agree with the final comment - however I do agree that we should strive to show Jesus to everyone we meet. 

I is for In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

This song was written by Doug Ingle, vocalist and keyboard player for the rock band Iron Butterfly. His father was a church organist. The song title was supposed to be "In The Garden Of Eden", named of course after the birthplace of mankind in the book of Genesis. Someone had written "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" on a demo copy - reportedly because Ingle was drunk on wine when he first performed it...

A record company executive saw it and decided to use it as the title, since it sounded mystical and Eastern spirituality was big at the time (The Beatles were going to India and The Rolling Stones were experimenting with Indian instruments). The album version of the song is over 17 minutes long; the single was edited for radio. It's arguably the first ever Heavy Metal track!

H is for Hallelujah Chorus

Handel was at his lowest ebb, having had several setbacks and being in debt.  He then set to work to compose a musical with words taken from the Book of Isaiah and The Gospels.

For 24 solid days and nights he worked, hardly eating or sleeping.  The result was "The Messiah."

The most famous movement in this musical is the Hallelujah chorus, which is drawn from three passages in Revelation: Chapter 19 v 6, 11 v 15 and 19 v 16.

G is for God Gave Rock And Roll To You

God Gave Rock and Roll to You was written by Russ Ballard, and originally recorded in 1973 by the British band Argent.

The version by Kiss (prefaced by a 40-second guitar solo is played by Steve Vai) was featured on the soundtrack to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. Most triumphant!

F is for 40

40, also known as 40 (How Long), is a song by the Irish rock band U2. It is the tenth and final track on their 1983 album, War. In fact, this was the last song written for the album...

The band had already used up an extra week of studio time and desperately needed one more song to complete it. Lead singer Bono opened up his Bible, and read from Psalm 40, just making some minor modifications, and then set the words to music. He tells us that it took them 10 minutes to write it, another 10 to record it, 10 minutes to make the mix and another 10 to listen back to it. U2 then closed most of its Eighties concerts with this song.

E is for Eighth Day

Eighth Day is a song from Breaking Glass, the film that starred new wave singer Hazel O'Connor. Hazel wrote the song a mere 12 hours before she recorded it. The song is based, of course, on a the book of Genesis, where God made the Earth in six days and rested on the seventh. In this song, Man remakes the Earth in his own image, and, in Hazel's own words "having unleashed elements he cannot control, the Man-made Machine Monster takes over".

Sound familiar?

D is for Dem Bones

Dem Bones (also called Dry Bones and Dem Dry Bones) is a spiritual song, penned by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, J Rosomond Johnson. The lyrics are based on Ezekiel 37:1-14, where the prophet visits the Valley of Dry Bones and causes them to become alive.

The version of the song by The Four Lads was featured prominently in 'Fall Out', the final episode of the science fiction classic series, The Prisoner.

C is for Carry On Wayward Son

Carry On Wayward Son was written by Kansas guitarist Kerry Livgren in 1976. According to the songwriter, the song was not written at the time to express anything specifically religious, though it's clearly expresses the concept of spiritual searching.

“It’s an autobiographical song,” Livgren explained in an interview. “Parallel to my musical career I’ve always been on a spiritual sojourn, looking for truth and meaning. It was a song of self-encouragement. I was telling myself to keep on looking and I would find what I sought.”

The searching was certainly successful for Livgren, who became a Christian in 1980.

The song is currently best known as the unofficial theme song of the TV series Supernatural. It is played during the recap before every season finale (with the exception of the first season, where it was played during the recap of the penultimate episode).

B is for The Banner Man

The Banner Man was a 1971 single by Blue Mink, and the song made it up to number 3 in the United Kingdom charts. It is a fond recollection of a Salvation Army open air meeting, told from the point of view of a young child who followed the band and gathered around the Salvation Army flag.

The song was written by Roger Greenaway, Roger Cook and Herbie Flowers.

"Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing that same old story
Ain't it something grand?
To be good as you can
Like a Banner Man"