Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

For the children's hymn, see I'll Be a Sunbeam.

"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by the Scottish alternative band the Vaselines. It was later covered by American rock band Nirvana in 1993 who renamed it "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam".

"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam"
Song by The Vaselines
from the EP Dying for It
Released	1987
Genre	Indie pop
Length	3:31
Label	53rd & 3rd
Songwriter(s)	Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee

"Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam"
Song by Nirvana
from the album MTV Unplugged in New York
Released	1 November 1994
Recorded	18 November 1993
Venue	Sony Music Studios, New York City
Genre	Grunge
Length	4:37
Label	DGC
Songwriter(s)	Eugene Kelly, Frances McKee
Producer(s)	Alex Coletti, Scott Litt, Nirvana
MTV Unplugged in New York track listing
13 tracks "About a Girl" "Come as You Are" "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam" "The Man Who Sold the World" "Pennyroyal Tea" "Dumb" "Polly" "On a Plain" "Something in the Way" "Plateau" "Oh, Me" "Lake of Fire" "All Apologies" "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"

History

"Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" is a song originally recorded by the Scottish alternative band the Vaselines for their EP Dying for It.^[1] It is a parody on the Christian children's hymn "I'll Be a Sunbeam", which has the opening line "Jesus wants me for a sunbeam." The Vaselines re-released the song in 1992 on the compilation albums The Way of The Vaselines: A Complete History,^[2] and All the Stuff and More.

The song was little-known outside the indie-pop scene until Seattle grunge band Nirvana recorded the song in November 1993 for their live acoustic album MTV Unplugged in New York, re-titling it "Jesus Doesn't Want Me for a Sunbeam".^[3]

Two more versions were released by Nirvana on their 2004 box set With the Lights Out. These were an acoustic version recorded in Portugal in 1994, and a live electric performance on the DVD section of the box set that was recorded at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on 31 October 1991.^[4] This version was re-released in 2011 as a bonus track on the 20th anniversary edition of the Nevermind album and on the Live at the Paramount DVD and Blu-ray.^[5]

In the version featured on the MTV Unplugged in New York album, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain refers to the song as "a rendition of an old Christian song, I think. But we do it the Vaselines' way."^[6] At a Nirvana concert that took place on 30 December 1993, at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California, Cobain dedicated the song to the recently deceased River Phoenix.^[7]