My dear friend Sandra put up an interesting post with some music, and among the three vids here was Tom Waits celebrating Chocolate Jesus.
Sometimes when I hear music it sends ripples of joy through my body – it almost feels like my veigns are bubbling champagne – or should I say the sweetness of a chocolate fountain? Anyway, that is what happened when I saw this video.
If you find a bit hard to understand, as I did, here is the text:
Tom Waits (introducing Chocolate Jesus): “This is a eh… a song for
those of you in the audience who have trouble getting up on Sunday
morning and going to church… I’ve discovered something, ehm… it’s a
candy item. It’s actually kind of an immaculate confection. It’s eh…
there’s a cross on one side and there’s a bible inscription on the
other, and eh… you put it in your mouth and when it’s gone you can… get
up and leave. So… This is something for the kids on eh Easter. This is
called eh the ‘Chocolate Jesus’.”
Well, I don’t go to church on Sunday
Don’t get on my knees to pray
Don’t memorize the books of the bible
I got my own special way
I know Jesus loves me
maybe just a little bit more
I fall down on my knees every Sunday
at Zerelda Lee’s candy store
Well, I’ve got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Well, I don’t want no Abba Zabba [1]
Don’t want no Almond Joy [2]
There ain’t nothing better
suitable for this boy
Well, it’s the only thing that can pick me up
It’s better than a cup of gold
See, only a chocolate Jesus
can satisfy my soul
When the weather gets rough and it’s whiskey in the shade
it’s best to wrap your savior up in cellophane
He flows like the big muddy but that’s okay
pour him over ice cream for a nice parfait
Well, it’s got to be a chocolate Jesus
Good enough for me
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
It’s good enough for me
And it’s got to be a chocolate Jesus
Make me feel so good inside
Got to be a chocolate Jesus
Keep me satisfied
Written by: Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan-Waits
(1) Abba-Zabba: American candy bar manufactured by Annabelle Candy Co.
(2) Almond Joy: American chocolate snack manufactured by Hershey Foods
Corporation.
A guy named Larry had this to say about this video (source):
The Rev. Tom Waits
Most hoarsely states
That we shouldn’t be wary
Of the Lord Jesus culinary.
I prefer a Jesus who’s
Tasting chocolatey sweet
To a bloody, sweaty Jesus
Who’s just dead meat.
Yep, if you Christians have
Got to be cannibals
You may as well like the taste
Of your Lord the divine animal
Don’t let his body go to waste.
Jesus he is chocolate
Be he dark or white,
Jesus he is tasty
Won’t you eat him up tonight?
This makes a whole different story out of “My Sweet Lord”. And on that count I wasn’t really amazed to hear that the Catholic artist, Cosimo Cavallaro, had created a nude sculpture of Jesus out of chocolate.
Under the headline “Blessed Be Thy Chocolate” it says:
Artist Cosimo Cavallaro has created a confectionary Christ made from more than 200 pounds of chocolate (entitled “My Sweet Lord“). The folks at Esquire have even broken down the nutrition facts for the anatomically correct chocolate Jesus. The sculpture will be revealed to the public on April 1st (which, by the way, made me think it was a joke when I first read it) at the Lab gallery in the Roger Smith Hotel in New York.
Sure this got one of these Christian Fanatics (a man named William Donahue) going who didn’t turn the other cheek like his Sweet Saviour exhorts his followers to do but rather he says, “you’re lucky I’m not as mean as the Taliban because you might lose more than your head.” Surely a great example of Christianity.
Anyway you can see for yourself how such encounters go (I think Cavallaro responds very well given the venom that is thrown at him).
If Mister Donehue would care to do his homework he would discover that Christians love their Saviour sweet:
On Valentine’s Day, you might get a box of chocolates. On Easter, expect chocolate bunnies. But, what confectionary delight is appropriate for the Christmas giving season? Forget candy canes. We’ve got chocolate Jesus (a.k.a. Cocoa Christ).
But just so that you don’t think this is a Christian only pleasure – the Star of David is available in brown and white chocolate too.
And since we’re in these regions right now here is a girl with the Torah for all you feminist Kabalists out there!
But sucking chocolate out of their sweet divinities or spiritual heroes is not only a monotheistic pleasure, Buddhists love it too.
And with these words about the “Chocolate Deities” website I’ll finish my Sweet Spirituality blog…
Jeanne Fleming of Chocolate Deities, who is into world religions, is well aware of the reservations some Hindus might have, but says she has many Hindu customers:
“Everyone realizes you don’t have to eat them. You can keep them as just a beautiful object with the spirit attached to them, that’s OK. Many put them on their altars, and some make them as an offering and later put them in a body of water. Still others grate the thick chocolate into coffee or dessert, keeping the veneer of the image intact and that they later place on their home shrine.”
One Hindu woman ordered 400 hand painted chocolate Oms in pink and white as keepsakes for the guests who attended her child’s naming ceremony. The deities have also been bought by the Chopra Center and Kripalu Institute. Recently the devotees of Amma, the spiritual mother for many, ordered a large chocolate oval inscribed with the108 names of the Divine Mother for her birthday. Amma, famous for her loving hugs, broke the chocolate into pieces and distributed it amongst her devotees.
_______________________
Today (Oct. 27) I found this:
Chocolate Jesus exhibit cancelled
 |
The sculpture was to have been exhibited over Easter |
Chocolate Jesus A New York art gallery has decided to cancel an exhibit of a chocolate sculpture of Jesus Christ after protests by a US Catholic group. The six-foot (1.8m) sculpture, entitled “My Sweet Lord”, depicts a naked Jesus Christ with his arms outspread.
The sculpture, by artist Cosimo Cavallaro, was to have been displayed from Monday at Manhattan’s Lab Gallery.
The timing, over Easter Holy Week – the most important part of the Christian year – provoked an outcry.
The Roger Smith Hotel housing the Lab gallery decided to cancel the exhibition after the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called for a boycott.