"What If Jesus Comes Back Like That" is a song written by

Pat Bunch Pat Bunch is an American country music songwriter. Much of her earlier chart hits resulted from collaborations with fellow songwriters Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose. Since 1995 Bunch has also had multiple chart successes co-writing with Doug Joh ...

and Doug Johnson, and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Collin Raye Floyd Elliot Wray (born August 22, 1960) is an American country music singer, known professionally as Collin Raye, and previously as Bubba Wray. Under the latter name, he recorded as a member of the band The Wrays between 1983 and 1987. He made ...

. It was released in November 1996 the fifth single from his album ''

I Think About You ''I Think About You'' is the fourth studio album by American country music artist Collin Raye. Released in 1995 on Epic Records, ''I Think About You'' was also Raye's fourth consecutive album to receive a platinum certification by the RIAA. The ...

''.

Content

The song is in E

mixolydian Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' or ''tonoi'', based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; or a modern musical mode or diatonic scal ...

(an E major scale with the seventh tone lowered by a half-step). Its main chord pattern is E-D/E-A/E. In the song, the narrator questions how people would react to

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religiou ...

returning in the modern day as a hobo or a child born of a drug-addicted parent.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of '' Billboard'' gave it a positive review, saying that it "may be his most risky venture yet."

Chart performance

The song entered the

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sa ...

chart dated November 25, 1995, peaking at No. 57 on the December 16, 1995, chart. It spent 11 weeks on the chart in this timespan, receiving unsolicited airplay alongside Raye's then-current single " Not That Different". Upon its official release as a single, it re-entered in November 1996, reaching a new peak of No. 21 on the January 4, 1997, chart. Overall, it spent 22 weeks on the charts between its two runs.

References

{{Collin Raye 1996 singles 1995 songs Collin Raye songs Songs written by Pat Bunch Songs written by Doug Johnson (record producer) Song recordings produced by Paul Worley Epic Records singles Songs about Jesus