(total playing time 3:17)

Song Facts: This can be found on shock/denial/anger/acceptance.� When performing this song in concert Rick has said "this could be about me, or it could be about someone else".

Footnote - background photo was taken in North Bend, OR on 9/16/04 by Renata Hearn during Jesus Saves.

According to US

When I first acquired the CD, I must admit that I really didn't like this song at all. Seeing Rick do this one live really changed my feelings!

First off, the whole "Will you spank my knees in a religious manner?" stuff at the beginning gives me the creeps. To find out that this man was talking to a phone solicitor doesn't really make me feel any better either. I mean, I hate telemarketing calls as much as the next person, but he sounds way too convincing that he might actually be a weirdo to me. That's what gives me the willies.

When I realized this was the "teaser" music we'd been hearing on RS.com for months, all I could say was "Wow!". If only those people looking for the teen idol who sang Jessie's Girl knew what the title of that was... I'm sure some people would have just clicked right on to another website. I'm phrasing that in a "judging a book by it's cover" type of assumption here. That was another thing that I'm sure was turning me off of this song - the whole white trash issue. Right out there in the title for the whole world to see. It kind of made me want to double check my wardrobe, my makeup, heck my whole neighborhood for that manner... in private, just to make sure he wasn't referring to me.

The version on the CD sounds to me like Rick is droning on in the chorus. There's no tone in his voice, really. The sarcastic part of my brain kept telling me that this was Rick trying to mimic a song off of the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album. Too many change ups in the way the music moves for me, it's flowing along just fine until it pounds into the chorus. Which drones on... (alright, I think you get my point).

Then I saw Rick perform this song live for the first time in March of this year in Harris, MI. Oh my f*uckin' God. I think those were my exact words. Let me say first that I really like when he's out in the crowd connecting with the audience. In all my years of fandom in the 80's, I think that would've been the thing I wished for the most, for him to come to me in my nosebleed seat so I could touch him. So when he went to start up this song at that show in the crowd, I kind of did a groan inside. Everyone around me just exploded, and for a bit I just watched the crowd singing at the top of their lungs with him. When it got to the chorus, I sneaked a peek at him. After that, someone could have plowed me over and I wouldn't have known it just then. His arms were spread out in a preacher pose, and his body was glistening all over with sweat and the spotlight was hitting him from behind showing him off as the God he is to all of us. The emotion in his voice when he was singing the words was just so different from the recorded version, I wish he had put that much effort into it to begin with. I think my jaw went slack for a bit, but then by the end of the song I was singing at the top of my lungs with everyone else. I was Saved!

Now when this song starts up on the CD, I don't tend to skip it (as much). After a summer of being saved, I've got lots of live memories to plug into this one to make it sound so much better to me. The lyrics themselves leave a lot to think about, such as whom he's referring to. (I don't believe it when he says it's him) There was quite the lesson learned for my children as well. Lots of questions arose from the backseat, from the basic "What's white trash Mom?" to the profound, "How does Rick know Jesus Saves White Trash?" That second one was harder to answer :-). I'm still pondering what the truth really is behind this one. If history repeats itself, it'll be another 20 years before I've got it figured out. - Michelle P.

This is another song that I know I'm not really getting. Maybe it's all the religious references that keep screwing me up, I'm not sure. This was definitely at the bottom of my list of songs in the ranking.......until I saw it live. It took on a whole life of it's own. I felt like I was at a revival, and you could feel yourself being swept in. It really didn't matter what the song meant at that point, the experience of being there watching it being performed was just....something else.
Rick says "the song kind of speaks for itself"....NO IT DOESN'T. I think this is the song I have the least sense of what he's saying. He also says the song could be about him, or it could be about someone else. Riddle me this.......grrrr.....
It's definitely got some really great lines in it, I think it's very poetic, I just can't tie the thoughts together into any cohesive meaning, for me. - rlh

I know exactly what you mean about this one. When the CD was first released, this was my "skip track" so to speak, I really didn't like it at all. It has a whole Beatlesque feeling to me, the way the music shifts up and around at the beginning, and the whole "will you spank my knees in a religious manner" at the beginning just creeped me out (still does). Don't get me wrong, I like the Beatles, I'm just not sure I like Rick emulating the Beatles. ( a cover, I'm okay with but this...I'm torn) Then, when I saw Rick do it live in Harris, MI - it did what you just said - took on a whole life of it's own. There was like some kind of transformation that took place - and you can tell when Rick is singing this one that he seems to be very proud of the song - but (again) agreeing with you - I just don't get it either. Then, listening in the car - the inevitable happened, my kids started asking me what Rick means in this song also. I just don't know what to tell them. We do listen to it more now, and I'll be darned (!) they like it... so I keep hoping that listening to it more will help me to understand it more. - Michelle P.

I really love this one�(so does my 5 yr. old daughter)! Hearing this one live makes it even better. It has a definite head banging appeal to it, almost a heavy metal vibe. I read that some people noted Rick says that this song is about him. Well, I can interpret it to be in some ways. "You let me read your pretty poetry" yeah, his songs are poetry to me! "I held you so close I couldn't see, while you had the grander view" Well, maybe he is saying we chose to see the good in him, while he was actually seeing the worst parts. I could be way wrong on this, but if and only if he wrote this about himself, that is how I would see it. Without getting too deep here (religiously and meaningfully) I will just say this one is awesome and oh my gosh does it "ROCK"!!!! - Amy L.

Ahhhh�.Jesus Saves! This is a bold song, one in which I would not want to be the subject of!!! It has a religious title, but it's an angry, in-your-face song. "Perfect" placement of this tune on the CD. I like how it comes after IDWAFY. The opening voices are rather strange�"come here please and spank my knees in a religious manner." Very interesting�Rick and his "religious" themes & words. This song has a kick-ass beat, hard-driving, rockin` sound. It's another one of Rick's songs I can bounce up and down to�jam to�head-bang!

"You let me read your pretty poetry and I fell for your trailer park majesty" ( I love how he says "and" like he is stunned�shocked, that he fell for her crap!) She came across like someone she was not. Interesting analogy�trailer park majesty, that`s a good one! I want to chuckle when I hear that. I love the sound of Rick's voice in this song. It's very different from what I was used to. A nice change of pace. 

WOW! What a classic line: (this whole collection is full of classic, amazing ly-ricks) "And I, when I said I'd die for you, for you�I didn't mean for you to write the eulogy." Did she kill the love? Sounds like she took his love for her and stomped all over it! "You betrayed yourself, and me too." In my opinion, this sounds like infidelity, but I'm not sure. One can betray oneself & others in many ways�.trust, honesty, etc�and it not necessarily mean infidelity. The "I know's" are powerful & raw, almost a growling sound! "I know�sometimes it's true, Jesus saves white trash baby like you." The first time I heard this song, despite the title "Jesus Saves" (and call me crazy if you will), but I swear I thought he was saying "Jesus is white trash." I was a little taken back for a second. I went straight to the lyrics and learned otherwise. "Jesus Saves white trash" makes perfect sense. This is another angry song, but also contains shock. (Those two seem to go hand in hand). He feels that whatever she did, cannot be resolved by him or her alone. "It's too late, for you to undo�Jesus Saves white trash, baby like you." She needs to ask for forgiveness from her higher power. 

I really like that sound before the 2nd verse that sounds like an orchestra. Not sure if it's keyboards or what! "I should appreciate the irony, cause I led us both to my Gethsemane�" I feel he's saying that he shouldn't feel so angry, that he did something to cause the betrayal. Has it come back to bite him? Turnabout? More POWERFUL ly-ricks�"And I, I don't hate you I hate love, it's true, and I held you so close I couldn't see." That is almost bone-chilling to me! Damn the love�he was totally blinded by it. "While you had the grander view�" she was playing him, using him. She had it all figured out.

Oh, one of my favorite things�I get so excited when I hear his Aussie accent coming through, as with the word "make." How cool is that?! In the second verse "we make, what we can't undo�Jesus saves white trash baby like you." Am I hearing a bit of accent also when he says, "it's too late?" 

I adore the killer guitars & keyboards during the break in the song. Those drawn out "you's" in the chorus toward the end are tremendous! Man, it's such a gift for Rick as a vocalist to be able to wrap us up in the emotion he felt when he wrote a song. It pulls me in, and I can really feel the pain, the anger, the disbelief. The musical ending is a great wrap for this tune. When the next song, Beautiful You kicks in, the soundclip�"yeah buddy" just seems to seal the deal with Jesus Saves. He moves on to a happier state of mind, as if to say "ok�now that THAT is out in the open�we can move on." - Kelley Pearson