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Searching for the Face of Jesus

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 2002
Original album - Format
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Release 2017 reissue Further Listening 2001-2004 bonus disc
Other releases - bonus track with single "I Get Along"

Boasting one of the most intriguing titles in the PSB corpus, this midtempo outtake from the Release sessions began life, according to Neil, "as an acoustic-y thing," but it later grew more elaborate. It was seriously considered for the album, but didn't make the final cut. With regard to its subject matter, Neil has confirmed that this song concerns Elvis Presley—hence the references to "downtown Memphis, Tennessee" (Elvis was that city's most famous resident). It's a documented fact that Presley was reading Frank O. Adams's 1972 book about the Shroud of Turin, A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus, when he unceremoniously dropped dead while sitting on his toilet at Graceland. This song might be alluding to the contemporary quasi-religion of "Presleyism" (aka "Elvisianty" or "Elvislam").

Working at additional levels, it seems in many ways a companion piece to "Birthday Boy." As in that Release track, recorded around the same time, the lyrics suggest that Jesus, a martyred exemplar of faith and love, continues to suffer in the modern world in the form of those who are hurt, abused, and abandoned. Amidst all the suffering, people are searching for meaning and guidance on how they should live their lives: "Looking for the light we need." Could it be that at least certain aspects of Neil's Catholic upbringing are resurfacing after years of apparent neglect? As he sings in one of the most chilling lines he has ever written, Jesus's face is "painted in the blood we bleed" (a possible reference to the Veil of Veronica, a Christian relic that is alleged to have been used to wipe Jesus's bloody face and to which its image was miraculously transferred—which itself harkens to the Shroud of Turin). The song's arrangement is also quite remarkable, especially the instrumental bridge with its slightly (and delightfully) cheesy accordion and/or harmonium (or, more likely, synth/sampler replication).

Annotations

Jesus is, of course, Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Jesus Christ, the ancient Jewish teacher, philosopher, and martyr on whose teachings the Christian religion is based, regarded as the "Son of God," the living incarnation of God on earth, by roughly a billion people around the world.*

*I rarely discuss my personal religious beliefs online but, in case you're interested, I'm one of them. But please don't jump to the stereotype-based conclusion that because I'm a Christian I therefore believe that all "non-believers" are bound for hell. I don't adhere to that particular belief. Nor am I a fundamentalist, a biblical literalist, or a right-winger. If I had to categorize myself, I'd say I'm a gay moderate Christian existentialist with agnostic-libertarian inclinations—sort of.

"He believed if you had a little faith you could stop the rain" – A reference to Jesus's many recounted testimonies to the power of faith, perhaps most strikingly stated in the biblical book of Matthew 17:20: "Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you" (New International Version). The idea of stopping the rain almost certainly stems from the incident described in all four Gospels (Matthew 8:23–27; Mark 4:36–41; Luke 8:22–25; and John 6:16–21) of Jesus calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
"Still he's suffering" – An allusion to the belief among many if not most Christians that the living spirit of Christ continues to suffer in sympathy with the plight of a sinful, hurting world—particularly with its poorest, most oppressed and abused inhabitants. With this line at the end of the first verse, which clearly refers to Jesus, and with a similar line referring to Elvis at the end of the second verse ("But look he's suffering" despite his lavish, self-indulgent lifestyle), Neil seems to be drawing a curious, even somewhat comical compare-and-contrast parallel between Jesus and Elvis.
"Looking for the light we need" – References throughout human cultures to the positivity and necessity of light are so commonplace that it's hardly inevitable that this line of the song be derived from biblical references to Jesus. Yet Jesus did indeed refer to himself as "the light of the world" in John 8:12, and scriptures record a number of other instances in which he refers to light in other contexts and where other writers refer to him being "the light." The fact that just two lines later in the song Neil refers to blood ("Painted in the blood we bleed"), which is also commonly associated with Jesus (such as in Matthew 26:28) strongly suggests that Neil in fact derived these lines directly from biblical references to Jesus.

"Fat as King Farouk" – King Farouk of Egypt (1920-1965), who ruled from 1936 until his overthrow and abdication in 1952, was notorious for his corrupt and lavish lifestyle, which included overeating to the point that he became morbidly obese. At one point he weighed nearly 300 pounds. Even after he was deposed and forced into exile, he had sufficient wealth to continue indulging his profligate tastes. The person being described with this "fat as" simile, however, is none other than Elvis Presley. In One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, Neil notes that "the source of the details" in this song is the 1999 book Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick.
"Sometimes there's a close shave" – Also in One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, Neil writes that this line refers to the near-fatal drug overdoses that Presley experienced on more than on occasion on account of his dependence on prescription drugs.
"Keeps the flowers fresh at his mom's grave and talks to her as though…" – Presley was notoriously close to his mother, Gladys. After she died of a heart attack in 1958, he was inconsolable and physically almost incapacitated at her funeral. He later said, "It broke my heart. She was always my best girl." Curiously, Neil leaves the phrase "talks to her as though…" incomplete. As though what? Presumably it's "as though she were still alive" or something to that effect.
As noted above, this song largely concerns Elvis Presley, the "King of Rock and Roll." Hence the references to "downtown Memphis, Tennessee," where Presley lived in his famed mansion Graceland. It was there that Presley died in 1977 while reading Frank O. Adams's 1972 book about the Shroud of Turin, A Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus, while sitting on his toilet. Needless to say, the song's title is clearly inspired by the title of that book. In fact, it's very likely this same book that the song is referring to in its statement about Presley "By the side of a giant swimming pool with a mystic book."

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Michael Brauer

Album/b-side version (3:26)
- Also on one of the "Further Listening" bonus discs accompanying the 2017 Release reissue

Official but unreleased

Mixer: [unknown at this time]
- Demo (3:35)

List cross-references

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