The Lord’s Prayer

I adored Sister Janet Mead’s rock version of The Lord’s Prayer as a small child and just assumed I knew it because my parents are Christian and that Catholicism is in the ballpark when it comes to religious music. It wasn’t until adulthood that I realised it was actually huge, having reached Number 3 on the Australian Singles Chart and Number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974, as well as earning a Grammy Award nomination and Golden Gospel Award. But just to hear the slightly doom rock guitar opener it’s no wonder it caught people’s attention.

Sister Janet Mead was a Roman Catholic nun and Adelaide Conservatorium trained music teacher who strongly believed in the connection between popular music and religious engagement. In a radical approach to teaching children and young people, she brought rock music into church masses and her Catholic school programs.

I have it on good authority that she was the coolest of teachers. My librarian colleague had her in high school and to this day will rock out on the tambourine when the spirit–or Barossa Shiraz–moves her. For more reliable background reading into this amazing Adelaide woman, you’re probably best to start with www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Mead

I recorded my own version as part of the Twitter @coverschallenge God theme challenge.