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One of Us

from Heard it all before by Ian Bourne

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about

Joan Osborne's wonderful song about God. Or not about God. What if God was one of us? Just a slob, like one of us. Been a staple of my live performances for years. Also used to perform this one in "Cinnamon Sky", a duo I was in years and years ago.

Over time, I felt this song was too short (there is a longish instrumental section on the original recording which simply doesn't work played live on only an acoustic guitar), so I added a new verse of my own a while ago. Have included it on this recording for completeness.

lyrics

If God had a name what would it be?
And would you call it to his face?
If you were faced with Him in all His glory
What would you ask if you had just one question?

And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin' to make his way home?

If God had a face what would it look like?
And would you want to see if, seeing meant
That you would have to believe in things like heaven
And in Jesus and the saints, and all the prophets?

And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin' to make his way home?

Just tryin' to make his way home
Like back up to heaven all alone
Nobody callin' on the phone
'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

:::::: My extra verse :::::::

If God had a house, what would it be like?
Would he sit on the roof, to watch creation burn?
Would he hide in the hallway so he couldn't hear you asking
"What would Jesus do"?

::::::::::::::::::::::::

And yeah, yeah, God is great
Yeah, yeah, God is good
And yeah, yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Tryin' to make his way home?

Just tryin' to make his way home
Like a holy rolling stone
Back up to heaven all alone
Just tryin' to make his way home
Nobody callin' on the phone
'Cept for the Pope maybe in Rome

credits

from Heard it all before, released January 11, 2017
Joan Osborne (words and music)

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Ian Bourne Nuneaton, UK

Acoustic artist, performing quirky (and often obscure) covers and moody original songs, usually solo, but sometimes with a variety of friends.

Musician, nice guy, photographer, husband, father, temporary world citizen, unwilling future corpse
... more

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