March 2022 at Musical Cyberspace is all about songs with people’s names in the title.

I first thought about including “Simon Zealotes” from Jesus Christ Superstar in this series of posts when I posted “Tommy, Can You Hear Me?” earlier this month. The two songs are certainly varied in tone and content, but there is something that connects them in the way that the chrous of the lyric is structured.

Like “This Jesus Must Die” from the same show, this number offers more of the post-modern political reading that is one of the multiple perspectives of the Christ narrative as retold here by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd-Webber. The song offers a neat little cameo for the actor playing Simon and as he spurs the crowd into a frenzy of adoration for Jesus. The piece builds brilliantly out of “Hosanna” and makes for an effective contrast when “Poor Jerusalem” follows it.

Keen to share your thoughts on “Simon Zealotes”? Head on to the comment box at the end of this post.