“If I Was the Priest” by Bruce Springsteen
“If I Was the Priest” is a song in which Bruce Springsteen imagines himself and others in sort of a Western movie type of setting. And in this particular scenario, as the title suggests, he envisions himself taking on the role of a priest. The additional shtick of the song is that he also introduces a number of Biblical characters/references into the lyrics. For instance as part of this fantasy, Jesus is actually “a sheriff”.
So conclusively, compared to some of the Boss’s other tracks, despite how deep it may sound at points “If I Was the Priest” doesn’t seem to have any particular meaning outside of being entertaining, perhaps even controversially so.
This is one of three songs from the album “Letter to You” which Bruce Springsteen actually wrote very early in his career, back during the early 1970s. In fact it was originally recorded, under the name “If I Were the Priest’, by a singer named Allan Clarke in 1974.
Bruce produced this tune alongside Ron Aniello. And the Boss’s version was officially released by Columbia Records on 23 October 2020.
This song is actually quite deep if you ask me.
It’s about the dichotomy between good/bad; success/failure and how the line between these things is often a bit blurry. That, and that for some they will always be branded in a negative light no matter what they do.
The opening lyrics, “There’s a light on yonder mountain and it’s calling me to shine…There’s a girl over by the water fountain asking to be mine,” suggests that happiness or some level of satisfaction with life is within reach and I should go get it, but I’m going to get pulled away from other things in life (some out of my hands) that are going to keep me in this perpetual cycle of coming up short. The fact that he ends the song about where he started, demonstrates this too. He uses Jesus to demonstrate that many of the mistakes we make begin with the best intentions.
Later when he says, “Me, I got scabs on my knees from kneeling way too long. It’s about time I played the man and took a stand where I belong,” he’s clearly saying that he can’t always count on outside forces to help him and if anything is going to change, he has to actually do something different. Again, break the cycle.
The song is filled with moral symbols of “good” and “bad”. He’s definitely not the only one stuck in this rut. So many people are out there trying to do good, but something about the world is making it easier to do the opposite. And we’re not talking about evil, just those things that people have to do to survive in a world that has already passed final judgement on them.
So, he’s giving up potential happiness for the familiar. Ironically, some of those things that define happiness and comfort are the very things that a PRIEST MUST GIVE UP to be considered “good”. So again, what’s good?
At the end of the day, so many of us “outlaws” are in the same boat.
Thank you!! Makes me feel better about liking that song.
Yes…great summary!
Thanks. Great interpretation, ***beautiful*** song. Given the review, you’ll be my priest (Jesus?) for the day 🙂
Superb, summary of my favorite song on the album.
I appreciate your thoughts
I do get uncomfortable with the lyrics
Especially the Mary lyrics, as with others (Holy Ghost)
Of course I wish he is not being disrespectful to God, in the way I would want nobody to be
Anyone’s thoughts?
These are grifters and charlatans playing the roles of Mary, Jesus, etc… Taking advantage of folks if faith.
I think that this song is blasphemous.
I do not care for this song because of the lyrics. To even think those thoughts of Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Mother let alone write them in a song is disrespectful. Someone could say ‘well he was young and being rebellious’ but he is not young anymore and should have left this one behind. For those of you who are not Catholic, it may not bother you.
I am Catholic and this is one of my favorite Springsteen songs– How do you know Jesus doesn’t own a Buckskin Jacket”
You don’t
I bet you drive a pickup with a “Pray Hard” bumper sticker on it.
I have to agree with you on your statement, and Bruce should have left this song un recorded.
Yes ! Exactly my line of thinking on this song.
As I listen to the song and read its lyrics I get a slightly different version, but pretty much along the same lines. The girl and the water fountain and the metaphors of Jesus as sheriff gives me a perception of choices however Bruce refers to being in Heaven and Big Bobby……….. In the ending I get a little head scratcher that Jesus is ready to fan and he’s needed (as a priest) to get down there.
Either way, I really enjoyed reading your take.
This is early Bruce that I miss so much as we get older and he writes about some of the modern aged issues. However, I think he realizes with the loss of Clarance and Danny that this is not going to last forever, hence this song as well as well as “Janney needs a shooter.” These songs are 40 years old.
I very much agree with this analysis; I think the element of competition comes into play also, especially with the chorus/line “…trying to work the same line.” For the girl, for doing good, make an honest living in tough times…
Great analysis!
Great analysis and you considered the time he wrote it. As a practicing Catholic I also have no issues with the imagery of Jesus If the shit does go down with Evil, I would want Jesus on the 6 gun in the doorway.
Well said brother
Love it.
So, “conclusively”? Isn’t meaning derived by the listener? Maybe it’s better said “conclusively to me”? Not saying you’re wrong, but who made you the boss of me?
Great summary
I try to think of this from the perspective of a young 20ish, confident, song writer’s perspective. The main metaphors are Jesus (God) and Priest (servant). The characters are fit into the religious milieu but the story isn’t. Going back to the two main metaphors – what is important is the relationship between Jesus as the boss to the servant. The story is the call to the young songwriter pursue destiny (‘light yonder mountain’), being given directions on how to pursue his path at times, too many others doing similar things with their music (‘too many outlaws trying to work the same line’), rebelling from what he has been told (scabs on knees from kneeling too long),being pointed by the boss/others to go in a particular dIrection (Dodge City) but ultimately deciding to go in his own direction (Cheyanne). The other characters build around this. OR it is all just a mind picture (this was written around the time of Blinded by the Light) and without coherent meaning. I prefer the former.
I’ve come to think that the battle portrayed in the song relates to his family moving to California and Bruce staying behind in NJ. The light and the girl in the opening verse is Bruce’s pursuit of a music career and a girlfriend. Dodge City and his father riding shotgun are representative of the family moving west. Jesus being the sheriff represents how his mother’s view on religion was viewed as always the right way, and ‘my mama was a thief’ references them trying to make Bruce move and steal his desire to pursue music on the Jersey Shore.
Yes! Thank you!!
Your explanation makes sense and I can appreciate the song in a much better light. As someone who takes my Catholic Faith seriously, I’m not a fan of throwing the names of Jesus, Mary (our Blessed Mother) or the Holy Spirit (Ghost) around like their some secular set of characters.
But again, I get the view from the character in the song and what Bruce saw when he originally wrote the song, and why he took it off the self. Love the Album!!
The melody reminds me Percy Sledge’s “When a man loves a woman”
I agree with many of the comments and also look at the meaning of the song from Bruce’s young perspective. He grew up in the shadow of a father who he truly loved and admired but a father who was also under the pressures of raising a family and developed the scabs from kneeling way too long but who had no other alternative in order to raise that family. That creates pressure and stress in a family and throughout relationships and I completely understand Bruce’s perspective with regards to this. At the time that Bruce wrote this song he had lived in this type of situation and had to make a tough decision at a young age after observing this as to which direction he would take his life, towards the light on yonder mountain? I grew up in a similar situation and my Father worked his whole life for our family in very tough conditions (construction & a paper mill)he lost an eye, was burned by steam and had a finger crushed and after you live with this and see the consequences of it you get angry and regret it. “When you get let in for free but they hit you when you go” anger develops and you ask yourself if its worth it. At that point in his life, Bruce had lived with this for 20 or so years and come to the conclusion that there is still too many bad boys (bosses, companies organizations) trying to work the same line and that it would never change. A pretty good assessment for a young kid with a guitar on his back. After living through a similar situation , I often wish it was different and I wonder if Bruce feels the same?
I sure felt the “your happiness is right there if you go get it” vibe from this song. I took it for a drive, got my courage up, bought a ring and asked my girlfriend to marry me.
She was asking to be mine….. and now is. Yay.I needed a push, and this delivered. So glad it came along at the right moment.
Congrats!
Let’s face it…it’s the last great unreleased Bruce song. And reworking the arrangement from the solo piano to full band couldn’t be more inspired. And at the end he throws in an old-school Bruce harmonica riff that makes my hair stand up. Now the last great unreleased Bruce song is Evacuation of the West. His fascination with the Old West and the spaghetti westerns couldn’t be more evident in these songs.
Any song which includes the lyrics, “and the holy ghost is the host with the most and he runs the burlesque show”, is clearly trying to have a little bit of fun and shouldn’t be taken too seriously.
In this digital world, it’s been so long since I’ve listen to an album all the way through and then listened to it again “all the way through”. You know, like the way we all did back in the stone ages of vinyl. Thanks to a road trip, I had the time and the attention to enjoy “Letter to You” the old fashioned way. On first listen, “If I Were a Priest” was my favorite track and it’s holding up pretty well after multiple replays.
OK, so here’s my far fetched analysis. I read above that this song was written sometime in the early 70’s, so it preceeded “Born to Run” and Bruce’s catapult into the national spotlight. At the time Springsteen hadn’t been out of NJ very much so the western motif of the song had to be derived from movies, books or wherever else Bruce would have formed images of the West in his head. But I think the idea of “too many outlaws trying to work the same line” is a metaphor for what Springsteen was going through trying to break on to the music scene; in this case with “outlaws” being a metaphor for other musicians or other bands. And the idea of all these folks trying to “work the same line” probably reflected the situation Bruce and the band were going through with all the competition they faced try to get booked at certain venues or get a recording contract from a big studio.
Well, fortunately for all of us it worked out pretty well for Mr. Springsteen and he was able to create and share his talents with us for many decades to follow.
“…and the holy ghost is the host with the most” – that’s so fun to say!
It is a great song, lyrically, musically, and symbolically. It is every reason I fell in love with his songs in 1973 as a young teen. A woven tale with loose religious meaning to what we see every and experience every day in our lives. All set to a complex music background with a strong lead.
Simply brilliant. With “Janey” and “Orphans” this trio is a gift from Bruce to his long time fans. Bring on Tracks Vol 2.
Love that every comment above had a thread of truth in it, just like every Springsteen song that I listened to in the mid 70’s on the 8-Track Tape in my 1965 Ford Falcon. I went to Catholic School for 24 years and always enjoyed the symbolic religious hints in his lyrics (even though I thought his name was Jewish at first).
If you read his book or saw the Broad Way play all of this sheds light on how he was raised has influenced his work.
The time he wrote the song (early 70’s) adds greater meaning, in context, to the very Dylanesque ballads he wrote as a young artist. (Why else did John Hammond sign him to CBS Records – listen to “Mary Queen of Arkansas” Demo.)
I also heard the 2 demos released : My Letter to You and Ghosts, and knew this would be a special Boss Album.
When I played the album through, start to finish, the song that stuck in my head was “If I Were The Priest”, from the lyrics and the musical hooks, yet the meaning didn’t totally come through at first.
After learning when it was written it all makes sense. In his book and the Broadway Show, Bruce explains how awestruck he was about the desert and the west while driving cross country to a gig in Big Sur, Ca. before he was signed.
Maybe this song should have been named “Imaginary Religious Western” or “Once Upon a Time in the Religious West” or “Boss Priest and Sheriff Jesus” 🙂
To me this song is the embodiment of an early Bruce writing style in the realm of his influence by fantasy Dylan ballads.
Can’t wait to see it LIVE!
Upon listening to this cd about 10 times I’ve come to the conclusion that “if I was a priest” is the most likely to be the hit single..whatever that means in this era..would be on AOR if there was such a thing still…
Such great imagery exposing religion hypocrisy in a western setting. Too many outlaws trying to work the same line can be interpreted as too many religions, preachers, too many charlatans. And of course my religion is the true religion so we are needed in Dodge City.
Jesus standing in the doorway in western gear getting ready to fan. What a great image.
Bruce figures the religion con by the scabs on his knees from kneeling way too long.
I was that prisoner and like Bruce I made my stand.
Magnificent song.
Love the song Love all the comments! But would really love if Bruce would tell us
I wish I could take credit for writing this but it was written by Mia Gavrieli a person who is on the Bruce Springsteen FB group. I thought her analysis was brilliant so I thought to share it.
One man, one book, two songs.
“If I Was the Priest”
“There’s a girl over by the water fountain
And she’s asking to be mine…
If my lady was an heiress and my Mama was a thief”
Who, what, where? These lines seem to make no sense.
When Bruce wrote this song, fifty years ago, he was about 21. He hadn’t had much of an education. His childhood had been both family oriented and warm, but tough. His personality had been shaped by a dysfunctional father and a hard-working, dedicated and loving mother. He was heavily influenced by the Catholic Church. At school he had far from excelled. He hadn’t been to college, and had hardly read a single book. But there was one book that had been drummed into him, the Bible.
“If my lady was an heiress and my Mama was a thief”
I think these lines were inspired by the story of Jacob and Esau in the book of Genesis.
Jacob’s mother, “Mama”, Rebecca, was the “thief”. It was her idea that Jacob disguise himself as his brother Esau, and cheat him out of his inheritance. His Mama, directed him what to do.
Of course, when Esau realised what had happened he was angry. Rebecca feared for Jacob’s life. She instructed her son to run away to her brother, Laban, who had flocks and fortunes. There he would find work and safety.
Jacob travelled a great distance to find Laban. He stopped to drink at the water-well.
“There’s a girl over by the water fountain
And she’s asking to be mine”
It seems that Bruce took his inspiration for this line in “If I Was The Priest” from the love story of Jacob and Rachel.
It was love at first sight, when Jacob laid eyes on Rachel at the water-well. He was exhausted after a long journey and she poured him a drink. Her beauty, her sparkling eyes, and her tender charms captivated him. When Rachel was near, his heart pounded faster and a wonderful feeling swept over him. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, and he felt that life without her would be worthless.
When he kissed her, he cried out and his eyes were full of tears. He wanted her badly.
He later discovered that Rachel was his maternal cousin, Laban’s daughter, and that:
“his lady was an heiress”.
Many years later Bruce wrote the album “Magic”.
The song “I’ll Work For Your Love” seems inspired by the Biblical story of Jacob and Rachel too.
Unfortunately, Jacob had no dowry to offer Rachel’s father in return for her hand in marriage. Instead, he promised to work for him for no pay for seven years. Only at the end of this period would they be able to marry.
Perhaps Jacob said to Rachel:
“Whatever the deal’s going down, to this one I’m sworn. I’ll work for your love dear, I’ll work for your love. What others may want for free, I’ll work for your love”
“So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her”.
At the wedding, his father-in-law, Laban, tricked him into a marrying her plain, unattractive, “tender eyed” older sister, Leah.
When Jacob awoke the next morning and realized that he had spent the whole night with the wrong woman, he agreed to work unpaid for another seven years:
“I’ll work for your love dear, I’ll work for your love. What others may want for free, I’ll work for your love”.
“I’ll Work For Your Love”:
Bruce goes into a bar, Theresa is his Rachel, the attraction is physical, she does not speak:
“Pour me a drink Theresa”,
that line from “I’ll work for your Love”, is like Rachel at the water fountain. It’s his first encounter with her.
But Bruce had already noticed his lady, his heiress, many years earlier:
“There’s a girl over by the water fountain
And she’s asking to be mine”.
I cannot think of who Big Bad Bobby is. Ideas?
Gina
The devil, evil, denial, lies, greed
For those readers who are wondering who the heck Allan Clarke is who covered this back in 1974, he was the lead singer in the British band, The Hollies and Graham Nash’s (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) best friend and songwriting partner and someone with a superb voice. His version is a patch on Bruce’s though!
Isn’t a patch I mean !
Since no one has met Jesus, who’s to say he’s not standing in the doorway right now in a buckskin jacket, boots and spurs? And I think the main theme is that we imagine a world where the unworthy (us) were the priest while the true priest (Jesus) was tasked with upholding the decrees crafted by the flawed. A brilliant song – both in meaning and melody…
Is Mary definitely not Mary Magnalene
I really do like all of the deep interpretation but I think this song is a perfect summary of something my dad always says, “how do you know that you haven’t met Jesus?” Not God, but Jesus – He is everywhere…
Similar to “Devils and Dust” in some respects…
Interesting interpretation and I agree with most of it’s tenants. What strikes me as odd is the comments about how the song is somehow disrespectful of Christianity. If you understand the bible at all, Jesus was a rebel opposed to Roman and Jewish law. He was as the bible purports a man of compassion and understanding, accepting of all including beggars, whores and thieves. Too many evangelicals today have hijacked this faith to pervert it to their will and then try to impose that will on others and that fundamentally is not the true teachings of Christ. I think this song is fantastic and I would love to see Jesus in a buckskin jacket!!!!