Genesis - Jesus He Knows Me - Lyrics Meaning

Written by band members Tony Banks, Phil Collins and Mike Rutherford, this track was a hit for Genesis in 1992.

The lyrics take a pop at TV evangelism and were inspired by real events in the news at that time. Several well known TV evangelists found themselves under investigation over allegations of fraud and false promises made.

The song, in effect, takes a look at life through the eyes of a particularly unscrupulous evangelist who is living a life of luxury at the expensive of vulnerable people. The lyrics create an image of the evangelist being a glorified salesman, pitching his product on television, on billboards and in magazines; his product just happens to be God.

In his pitch he promises that buying into his product will guarantee them everything they could ever need or want with the line, `If you wanna get to heaven, I'll see you right,' speaking volumes!

We then learn he's a total hypocrite with his behavior mirroring media revelations about the private lives of those hitting the headlines. He's cheating on his wife and certainly not practicing what he preaches by living the highlife on the millions of dollars worth of donations being sent in. He knows he'll get away with it because people want to believe in every word he says and he repeats the line, `Jesus he knows me and he knows I'm right,' often enough to actually start believing it himself!