Praise The Lord and Pass The Ammunition - Later Recurrences

Later Recurrences

In later years the expression has often been used in a satirical manner.

• In the Larry Peerce movie The Incident the character played by Brock Peters reminiscing about his army days quotes the phrase to his fiancée Ruby Dee (a black woman involved in the non-violent civil rights movement) to advocate the more militant attitude he claims would be a better way to assert the rights of African-Americans.

• An episode from the TV series "Hogan's Heroes" is named "Praise the Fuhrer and Pass the Ammunition."

• The 1969 comedy recording "Forward into the Past" by The Firesign Theatre begins with the group singing "Pass the Lord and praise the ammunition."

• Used in the 1976 movie Tracks starring Dennis Hopper

• In Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle a Christian character named "Freakshow" who fixes their car and gives them a ride uses the expression.

• In the Spike Lee film Malcolm X, Malcolm X answers the question "should all blacks be armed?" from one of the white news reporters, by saying "One of your most famous men said - praise the lord and pass the ammunition - and that is the way you think."

• The alternative metal band System of a Down has used the phrase as a criticism of war. At the beginning of their music video for the demo version of "War?" in 1997, lead vocalist Serj Tankian says "Praise the lord and pass the ammunition. God wants you to go to war." On Tankian's album Elect the Dead, the tenth track is titled "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition".

• (Young) Pioneers covered Impatient Youth's "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" on their 1998 final album Free the (Young) Pioneers Now!

• In the 2003 film The Singing Detective, Robert Downey Jr.'s character uses the expression just before the final scene.

• In Clive Barker's 2007 video game Jericho, a character named Father Paul Rawlings utters the expression when he is running low on ammunition.

• Irish Musician Jacknife Lee recorded a remix of the gospel under the name "Pass the ammunition" for his 2007 album "To Hell With You I'll Make My Own People", released under the name of 'Jack Planck'

• Lines "Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition" is repeated twice within the book "Code Talkers" by Joseph Bruchac

• In 2008 sound collage artist Conceptual Drudgery produced a mashup of the song entitled "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition (George W. Mashup)"' included samples from speeches given by George W. Bush concerning the Iraq war.

• Dixie Chicks used the expression in their song "Sin Wagon".

• The thrash metal band Exodus used the term in their song "War Is My Shepherd" from the album Tempo of the Damned.

• In the miniature wargame Warhammer 40K it is used in the form of "Praise the Emperor and pass the ammunition" in reference to the game's fictional god-emperor. The adjective "what one does not solve, the other will" is often then added.

• Rapper Tech N9ne uses it in his song "Hope for a Higher Power" which is the 12th track on his album "Killer".

• The band Rush uses it as "pray, and pass the ammunition" in the song "The Way the Wind Blows" from their album Snakes & Arrows.

• Forms the last line but one of the chorus in the song "Ready or Not (So Ripe)" by Loudon Wainwright III on his Album "One Man Guy: The Best of Loudon Wainwright III 1982-1986".

• The song is played on phonographs in the 2010 video game BioShock 2

• The song is played on the car radio in the 2010 video game Mafia II

• The phrase is referenced in the The The song "Heartland": "The ammunition's been passed and the Lord's been praised, but the wars on the televisions will never be explained."

• In season five, episode twelve ("Progeny") of the television show Law & Order, Detective Logan uses the phrase after discovering a gun in the apartment of a fanatical Christian who is a suspected murderer of an abortionist.