Can anyone explain to me "Judas" by Lady Gaga?

I really don’t know the song—just read the lyrics. I can only offer two observations: “Diablo” is the Spanish word for devil. Judas was an apostle of Christ who betrayed him. My read on the lyrics is that the singer is in love with a bad boy (not the good boy, Christ). Someone four decades younger than I needs to answer this.

Lady Gaga is satan. Didn’t you know this already?

Yes, it means crapsong or something similar.

@noelleptc Heh. I was just kidding. I rock out to Lady Gaygay once in a while.

Yes, “diablo” does mean devil in Spanish but there are often many different ways to say one thing. Now that I know what @picante just told me I think there may be a connection between Judas and the devil? I don’t know it’s just a guess but thank you @picante !

@noelleptc PAPA, PAPA, PAPARAZZI. I love that song.

According to the bible Judas was an apostle that sold out Jesus. He was a bad guy.

The meaning of the song is really quite simple:

Lady Gaga (or the narrator) is in love with two men- one is a good, clean, stable guy (Jesus) and the other is your typical bad boy (Judas). Lady Gaga, following the trend of immature girls everywhere, prefers Judas, the paragon of “bad boys.”

Wow! thanks that really helped! I have another question. The song was released the week of passover. I heard a radio interview and a man was very upset because he felt Lady Gaga had the song released during that time on purpose. What about this song made the man think this and what is so bad about having the song released during passover? I am still a bit confused.

I think much of the “outrage” around the song lies with her use of religious imagery, etc. If you’ll go to Wikipedia and search for the song, there is a tremendous amount of background on the lyrics and her promotion of the song.

Some Christians and other thin-skinned folks are pissed off at Ms. Gaga because her use of imagery and her choice to release the song during the week of Passover can be interpreted as sacrilegious.

Thank you so much!

No problemo.

If it helps any, passover was when Christ was betrayed by Judas.

As much as I don’t usually like Gaga, Judas has one badass synth line.

The rest, meh.

She timed the release for the inevitable publicity it would bring. She (her publicist) is a master.
LGG: “I think I’ll attend the award ceremony in an egg.”
Pub: “No! That is so last year. This year come in wearing a flying jet-pack.”

Sadly, it works…

Judas is a METAPHOR, Gaga is using religion to create debate and discussion.

On face value this song is about Lady Gaga falling in love with the man who killed Jesus… is that the true meaning in her song? No! Gaga is not a satanist, She is a giant supporter of transgender and homosexual people and this is also controversial in some areas of the U.S.A.

Gaga is using ‘Judas’ instead of ‘Homosexuality’ here, she is fighting against the common opinion and in fact falling completely in love with ‘the devil’ that is Judas, whilst simultaneously offering hope to all those lonely, estranged gay teenagers in America today.

Gaga is a pop artist who puts huge undertones in each of her songs, she’s totally evangelical actually. Like many journalists have said… “the Madonna of our generation”

I’m not a fan of Lady Gaga’s music, it’s pretty annoying to me actually, but I do appreciate the shock factor here.

I can’t stand her—too many Madonna references. Judas…Like a Prayer…

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard Jesus is a stable guy. Love it

Your mother has no idea what she’s talking about. She needs a Spanish-English dictionary.

Gaga uses this song to create controversy, nothing more. Its a stupid song with a stupid premise and it was only created and released when it was to try and get people talking about one of the biggest attention whores of all time. She’s not even original, she’s a Madonna copycat. Her last big single was an “Express Yourself” knockoff, this is a “Like a Prayer” knockoff. From the beginning of her career, when she was a nobody and no one knew who she was, she tried to create a controversy with Christina Aguilera saying that Christina was jealous of her. Her whole thing is absurd, any talent she has is eclipsed by the fact that she makes such a spectacle of herself to get more and more attention just to have it.

@trickface While I respect the fact that you want to believe that this song, like other Gaga songs, is about homosexuality, this one is all about exploiting religion to garner attention for herself.

Its not about being a satanist either.

@klutzaroo my mother grew up in a Spanish speaking country so I think she knows what she is talking about. Have some respect and learn some manners.

@Julietxx3 “Judas” in no way, in no country, means “devil.” In any language. Therefore, your mother has no idea what she’s talking about. She’s attempting to manipulate your tastes in music to something she agrees with and can stand listening to. She is lying to you and you just can’t see it. Perhaps a 14 year old child who can’t see what her parents are up to would do better to figure stuff out, like the ways her parents are manipulating her, rather than trying to tell full grown adults about their manners when they’re merely speaking the truth. And you want to talk about respect? Seriously?

@klutzaroo All that about one song? Back off.

I’m sorry, but I don’t see it as that deep at all. Manipulation? Isn’t that a lot to assume about someone you don’t know?

@dverhey Not really, no. Telling a child that they shouldn’t eat that candy because monsters will get them and that’ll be bad is about on the same page. Or the other lies that people tell kids in order to get them to behave in a certain way. Its all manipulation. Some children figure things like this out. Some don’t. When someone tells a child that they shouldn’t do something and then make up a complete bullshit (and nonsense) lie as to why, they’re trying to manipulate that child. Its pretty simple.

My mother actually likes Lady Gaga more than I do. So no she’s not trying to manipulate me. She was just asking me what the song was about because Judas means devil in Spanish. @dverhey thanks for defending me ( :

@Julietxx3 Just to let you know, I just checked with my Cousin, who is the head of the Spanish department at a major California University, and my aunt who is a Native Spanish speaker from Ecuador, and the word Judas does not mean devil in Spanish. Sorry, but you’ve got it wrong.

As you can see here and here and here the word Diablo means devil in Spanish.

You can read all about who Judas was on this link. He’s not the devil, he’s one of the 12 apostles.

I know that Diablo means devil but I am just saying that all cultures have their own stories and maybe my mom’s culture associates Judas with the devil because he betrayed God.

And maybe the Devil had something to do with Judas betraying Jesus.

@Julietxx3 That makes sense, associating Judas with the devil.

I think @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard got the meaning of the lyrics correct by stating that Judas is a typical “bad boy” where Jesus is the embodiment of the perfect “good boy.”

It’s unfortunate that in our society that many young girls and women do chase after “bad boys” because they think those guys are cool, but in the end, those women up getting burned and the “good guys” end up alone (at best) or end up thinking that most females are evil idiots (at worst). It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone.