J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.
Here are the stories behind the songs on our 22nd single of 2025:
SAUL’S SHOOK UP
"All Shook Up" was #1 for nine weeks, making it Elvis Presley's second-biggest single. It trailed only the double-sided "Don't Be Cruel / Hound Dog" (11 weeks at #1), and just beat out "Heartbreak Hotel" (eight weeks) and "Jailhouse Rock" (seven weeks).
ApologetiX had already spoofed those other tunes, but I never considered this one until October 24, 2025, when I got the idea for "Saul's Shook Up." Thirteen days later, on November 6, all the other guys had already completed their parts, and I was recording the vocals.
As you know, "I love Apostle Paul," and we've put out a plethora of parodies about "the artist formerly known as Saul of Tarsus." A few of them alluded to his conversion, but only two went into detail about it. The one most ApX fans would recognize is "Born in the Jewish Faith" from 2017, but we had another called "Bye Bye Law" that we used to play in concerts during our formative years.
Two different live renditions were included on early ApX cassettes in 1992 and 1996, but nothing more than that. It was a spoof of another golden oldie, "Bye Bye Love" by The Everly Brothers, which peaked at #2 for four weeks.
It didn't dawn on me till I wrote this entry that both "All Shook Up" and "Bye Bye Love" were hits in 1957. In fact, they both were in the Top 10 simultaneously for four weeks, and the week of June 10, 1957, they occupied adjacent positions: "Bye Bye Love" was on its way up at #5 while "All Shook Up" was on its way down at #6.
"Saul's Shook Up" features J. Jackson on lead and backing vocals, Rich Mannion on keyboards, Tom Tincha on guitars, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
HMM …
If I told you that two parodies on an ApologetiX single were written 30 years apart and spoofed hits that charted 37 years apart, you'd probably presume that the one spoofing the older song came first. However, I wrote "Saul's Shook Up," a parody of the 1957 hit "All Shook Up," in 2025; I wrote "Hmm ...," a parody of the 1994 hit "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" in 1995.
Well, most of it, at least. I did compose a complete set of lyrics back then, but in 2025 I modified a couple lines in each of the first two verses and then rewrote the entire third verse. The bridge, the chorus, and the overall theme are the same, though. The first verse is based on a parable Jesus told in Luke 19. He set the scene in verses 12-15:
"A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. So he called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas. ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’ But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.' He was made king, however, and returned home.”
You can read the rest of the story in verses 16-27. Our lyrics also refer to Jesus' appearance in Revelation 1:9-19, especially verse 14, which says, "The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow.”
I think this recording has the deepest overall vocals of any tune ApX has ever attempted. We've done other songs that probably went lower in certain spots, but this one starts and stays low.
"Hmm ..." features J. Jackson on lead vocals, Rich Mannion on keyboards and backing vocals, Tom Tincha on guitars, Keith Haynie on bass, and Jimmy "Vegas" Tanner on drums and percussion.
Special thanks to Cheri Herron for taking the photo of yours truly on the cover of this single.
