Also alluded to as "Jesus Done Left Chicago," this track follows on from "Waitin' for the Bus" on the Tres Hombres album - radio stations often play the songs together. In an interview with Jeb Wright of Classic Rock Revisited, lead guitarist Billy Gibbons explained: "The two songs ["Waitin' For The Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago"] were written separately during sessions that were not too far apart. We were in the process of compiling the tracks for the album Tres Hombres, and that segue was a fortunate miscalculation by the engineer. He had been attempting to splice out some blank tape, and the result is that the two come off as a single work. It just seemed to work."
The Deep South is noted for its Christian roots, and in spite of the hostile reception rock 'n' roll received from the Bible Belt when it first reared its head, many contemporary musicians began their musical careers in or around the church. The most famous white rock 'n' roller from the Deep South to combine the two was of course Elvis Presley, who recorded the odd religious song. Although "Jesus Just Left Chicago" isn't exactly a hymn, it does have a spiritual dimension, and is written more in the style of Black Christian music, adhering to a strict blues format. And Gibbons is actually known as Reverend Billy Gibbons!
According to Billy Gibbons, he got the idea for this song when he was a teenager. He was talking on the phone to a friend who was known as "R&B Jr," who had lots of strange sayings in his lexicon. One day Billy was talking to him on the phone when he blurted out, "Jesus Just Left Chicago!"
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