Lyrics New Christ Cardiac Hero - Janis Ian

New Christ Cardiac Hero

Yesterday’s preacher, today’s bikini beacher
They’ve stolen your clerical robes and your bible’s been thrown
Your virgin red crown of thorns has turned to ivory horns
And your corner throne, it has become a coroner’s stone
Your crucifix you prayed on turned to jail-house bars
Silver chain you left out in the rain to glow with dust
And turned to seaweed tangled in your heart
Now how does it feel to pull out the nails
And find you still can walk?
Oh, you can’t feel it all from your self imposed rack on the wall
The tighter you drive the nails the harder you fall
So come on down, come off it sir you’re gonna get hurt
The holy water you bathe in mingles with the sewer
All your disciples have reclaimed their rifles and taken the cure
Your lectures of ways are only today’s pool room jokes
Remaining scrawled on the walls of tenement halls and bathroom bowls
As jingle bells cry «Pay us well or you’ll go to hell»
Freedom’s chains bind your pain and tie you well
But how could you know the gallows you hold weighs you down?
Now isn’t it boss you don’t need a cross to get around
Oh, you can’t feel it all from your self imposed rack on the wall
The tighter you drive the nails, the harder you’ll fall
So come on down, come off it sir you’re gonna get hurt
Oh your eyes that cried for mankind’s pride are covered with shades
As the children of God trample unshod past your mindly grave
New Christ, hipster, cardiac hero of 2000 years past your mind
He spits at your feet crying
«We have no need of a god, each of us is his own»
Yesterday’s preacher, today’s bikini beacher
They’ve stolen your clerical robes and your bible’s been thrown
Ah, you must have a cross but they’ve taken your God
And shot you filled with dead
So following new Christ, pick up on a cycle instead
Oh, you can’t feel it all from your self imposed rack on the wall
And the tighter you drive the nails, the harder you’ll fall
So come on down, come off it sir before you get hurt