Lots of music, including songs found in the classic rock genre, has been inspired by spirituality in some sense. The Beatles were heavily inspired by Transcendental Meditation while putting together The Beatles in 1968. Prog-rock outfit Gong was inspired by Buddhism on their album Angel’s Egg. And, unsurprisingly, Christianity and the Bible have been the inspirations behind a few classic rock albums through the years. Let’s take a look at just a few you might have missed.
“All Along The Watchtower” by Bob Dylan
If you didn’t listen closely, you might have missed the religious references in Bob Dylan’s 1968 song, later made even more famous by Jimi Hendrix, “All Along The Watchtower”. Originally released on John Wesley Harding, this song contains some references to the Book of Isaiah in the Bible, though it doesn’t look like Dylan himself has confirmed this. Still, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that “All Along The Watchtower” is a religious song, considering Dylan’s relationship with Christianity at different parts of his career.
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“40” by U2
Rock band U2 are no strangers to making Biblical references in their music, but the song “40” from the 1983 album War might be the most obvious. According to lore, the quotes from the Bible used in this song were inspired by a copy of the Good Book that was left in the studio at the time. The entirety of “40” is a modification of Psalm 40. This song would later be used to close out every single show on the band’s War Tour in 1983. U2 continued to use the song as their closer through most of the 1980s. As the song went on, each member of U2 would slowly leave the stage.
“Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley
Alright, this one’s very obviously inspired by Christianity based on the title alone. This actually might be the most obvious and well-loved classic rock song about Christianity, period. But it’s such a good song that I had to include it. Originally written by Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley turned this song into his very own. “Hallelujah” references the dark love story of Bathsheba and King David, found in the Book of Samuel in the Old Testament, which explores themes of abuse of power.
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