Jesus Was a Cross Maker

"Jesus Was a Cross Maker" was the single, sent to radio on October 1, 1971, and is on Judee Sill; it runs 3:30 on the song's page and 3:20 on the album. Nash produced it, playing organ, with Larry Cox engineering, Bagley and Harris orchestrating and Sill on piano. She began it while reading Kazantzakis's The Last Temptation of Christ, and tied it to a break-up with J.D. Souther; in 1972 she told Rolling Stone that she was able to forgive the guy for the horrible romantic bummer he'd put her on. Nick Lowe has said it influenced "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", and Cameron Crowe used it in Elizabethtown, calling it the black-sheep stepbrother of "Bridge over Troubled Water".

Cass Elliot recorded it in 1972, the Hollies in 1972, Judie Tzuke in 1991, Warren Zevon in 1995 on Mutineer, Linda Ronstadt in 1999 and Rachael Yamagata in 2006 for the Elizabethtown soundtrack. Sill sang it at the BBC Paris Theatre on March 23, 1972 and at Aeolian Hall on April 5, 1972; setlist.fm counts seven performances, the most of any of her songs. It has appeared in Letterkenny, Minx and Outer Range. Our upload is the label's audio, not a live version.