Behind the Songs: Imitation Of Christ

A selection of quotes from The Psychedelic Furs on the song "Imitation Of Christ".

Richard Butler: "Well, it's about people imitating Christ, I guess..." (ZigZag 1979)

Richard Butler: "Well, we're not new wave and we're not punk. I mean, we do three really slow songs – 'Sister Europe', 'Imitation Of Christ', and 'Sex' [an unreleased song]. We also do 'Mack The Knife' – that Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill song – that was written years ago. I don't think we can be classed as 'new wave.'" (Slash 1980)

John Ashton: "'Imitation Of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' are good live songs that came out well in the studio." (ZigZag 1980)

Richard Butler: "It was inspired by – There's a Thomas Kempis book called Imitation Of Christ and there's also an Andy Warhol movie called Imitation Of Christ which sparked off the idea. It's just about walls being made out of religion instead of opening things up and being as generous as they purport. It's just about how they're walls instead." (WCUT-FM Radio 1981)

Richard Butler: "It's about religion, generally. It's not about any aspect of it, specifically. When I heard the title I loved the title. The title was actually a book by a guy called Thomas à Kempis. It's like a... a mystical, Roman Catholic kind of book written years ago. And then I think Andy Warhol picked up on it and did a movie about it and I thought, 'I should do something like that, too [laughs]'. And that's where the title 'Imitation Of Christ' came from." (Interchords 1988)

Richard Butler: "It was one of the first songs the band ever wrote. It goes very much hand in hand with 'Sister Europe'. They're both very lyrical." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler: "The magic songs like 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' have is in their fragile nature. It's what I love about some Velvet Underground songs, or Prince's 'The Cross'. They're very fragile and only just hold together and I think that adds something." (Melody Maker 1988)

Richard Butler (on this song and "Sister Europe"): "I think they sound pretty good both going together. They're both from the first album that we did with Steve Lillywhite. They're both very moody songs." (MTV Europe 1988)

John Ashton: "I was experimenting with an early guitar synth, an Arp Avatar. The best thing about it was its Hex Fuzz." (Should God Forget liner notes, 1997)

Richard Butler: "Well there's a clothing company called Imitation of Christ now (laughs) - and they credited me as the inspiration. Whereas I stole it from a Catholic tract written by [Thomas à Kempis]." (iJamming! 2001)

Richard Butler: "We haven't finished rehearsing yet [for the 2002 tour]. So far, we've been rehearsing about twelve songs. I think we're going to be more 'moody' this time around. We're playing songs like 'Imitation Of Christ'… obviously, we've rehearsed 'The Ghost In You,' because we need to throw some old ones in there… 'Sometimes,' off of World Outside." (Ink 19 2002)

Tim Butler (on his brother Simon): "He was in [the band] for a while… Simon actually helped write 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'India.'" (Ink 19 2011)

John Ashton: "A lot of [The Psychedelic Furs] was pre-written by virtue of the fact that the band had been around a couple of years. So there were songs there. I joined the band in '78, and 'Sister Europe' was already a song, a version of 'Imitation Of Christ' was there, 'We Love You' was already there. And there were other songs that were coming along, like 'India,' that I brought to the band. 'Fall' was another, and 'Blacks/Radio,' which was just kind of a jam." (Popdose 2012)

Tim Butler: "The only time I really sang was in the early days when I used to do backing vocals on 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'We Love You' and it just got to where it was sounding like Richard in a harmonizer. I decided to give up." (Songfacts 2013)

Tim Butler (on The Furs' early years): "I think people may have latched on to us at the time because they were bored with the three-minute format of punk, and they could get lost in long songs like 'Imitation Of Christ' or 'India', you know?" (Tucson Weekly 2013)

Tim Butler: "For the first album we could barely play our instruments, but we had the attitude, and we'd go onstage and do a 20-minute jam around 'Imitation Of Christ.' Maybe after a few times of doing that, another song would come out of the jamming." (Music-Illuminati 2018)

Tim Butler: "I think originally when we got together none of us could really play very well, so we'd all pile in if someone came up with a chord sequence, trying to make ourselves heard and stick out in a sort of 'look at me' way. It became that wall of melody, or 'beautiful chaos' as someone dubbed it.

"But with later songs like 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'Sister Europe' I think Steve gave us more direction and took us more away from the punk area." (WriteWyattUK 2020)

Tim Butler (on his parents): "From the early days they were really proud of us though. Of course, in the early days there was talk of us getting proper jobs, and how we couldn't rely on this music, but Richard and I have stuck at it, while Simon dropped out and went to university. He was in the original band and co-wrote 'Imitation Of Christ' and 'India'. Yeah, they were always proud of us. When they had friends over they would bring out their scrapbook." (WriteWyattUK 2020)

Photo: Ebet Roberts