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).