Billy Graham

Album: Outdoor Elvis (1989)
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Songfacts®:

  • Some notable preachers were behaving badly in the '80s, and when Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart both got caught up in sex scandals, Terry Taylor of The Swirling Eddies wrote this song about another famous preacher. Taylor told us: "I always felt that Billy was the real deal. At heart he's a simple country preacher who has always been willing to admit he's made some mistakes and doesn't have all the theological answers. I have to go elsewhere for more weighty stuff, but Graham is The Man when it comes to a powerful, no frills presentation of the simple gospel message. Considering Swaggart's undoing, I thought at the time that a little salute to Billy was in order."

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