Songs About Churches

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This is a reader request, and I had a quick look and worked out that I could come up with a decent length list of songs with various places of worship in the titles. Interestingly, not all of these are religious in nature; the idea of a church or chapel tends to lend itself to marriage or death.

They are also not all slower songs. It is interesting to see just how the theme of "church" has been used in music over the years.

With that in mind, here are Songs About Churches!



The rules: the word "church", "chapel", "temple" or similar must be in the title; one version of each song; one song per artist; I need to like the song. They are listed in chronological order, the date of first release, either as a single or the home album. These are not just charting singles, but songs from my collection that fulfil the requirement and that I like.

Here are fifteen songs about CHURCHES!

'Chapel Of Love' by The Dixie Cups (1964)

Let's start this with one of those glorious 'girl groups' of the 1960s and a song that is a celebration of the joy of being in love with someone.

'Crying In The Chapel' by Elvis Presley (1965)

I have a few versions of this, and while not my favourite Elvis song, he delivers it so well, proving that he was a genuine singer. Sweet song.

'La Cathedrale De Strasbourg' by Focus (1974)

Dutch prog rock/modern classical... This piece is one of many from this time period that people have forgotten about, when classical music and rock meshed so well.

'Cathedral' by Crosby, Still & Nash (1977)

Again, not a personal favourite from the trio, but a great example of the harmonies they could deliver when they were on song.

'Church Of The Poison Mind' by Culture Club (1983)

I was never a big fan of Culture Club, but some of their songs were really strong, and this one was one of those. This was a staple at Blue Light Discos for a little while there.

'Church Not Made With Hands' by The Waterboys (1984)

The Waterboys are a footnote in 1980s pop-rock today, which is a shame because they produced some of the finest music of that decade.

'Temple Of The Lord' by The Saints (1986)

Once The Saints gained their confidence, they became one of Australia's finest bands, with some amazing song-writing, as on display here in a song that should have charted better than it did.

'Crying In The Chapel' by Peter Blakely (1990)

This is the only song I know by Peter Blakely, and it is one that has certainly stuck with me for decades now. He had such a great voice.

'Thieves In The Temple' by Prince (1990)

Graffiti Bridge was not a great film, but some of the songs on the soundtrack were stunning, and this is one of the better ones.

'Church Of Your Heart' by Roxette (1991)

Roxette had so many good songs, and even minor charting mid-tempo ones like this were full of fun and sung so well.

'Church On Sunday' by Green Day (2000)

Considering this was year 2000 Green Day, this song is not as full-on as many of their songs from that era, and is one of my favourites from Warning.

'The Cathedral Of The Sky' by Rick Wakeman (2003)

More prog rock/modern classical, this time by Rick Wakeman, who is probably one of the finest keyboard players to ever grace vinyl (or CD).

'Blue Sky Cathedral' by Adam Brand (2009)

Australian country (you knew there had to be a country song here, didn't you?) and a great song about a man who found his religion in nature. Beautiful track as well.

'Take Me To Church' by Hozier (2014)

I have heard a few songs by Hozier, but none had come close to this one, in my opinion. I really like the singer's voice; it is powerful and unique.

'Small Town Temple' by Ella Hooper (2022)

And we'll finish with some more Australian country, this from one of my favourite singers, who started her life in a rock band as a teenager.

And that was fifteen songs about various places of worship, covering the decades from the 1960s to 2020s. And we covered a lot of genres as well. This is that sort of theme, I guess. Anyway, as always, I hope you found something in this list to enjoy.


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