Artist:Norman GreenbaumSong:Spirit In The Sky
Album:Instant Party: 70s Rockadelic
Spirit In The Sky is another very memorable one hit wonder from 1970. Norman Greenbaum wrote and performed the song. He was born Nov. 20, 1942 In Malden, MA. He was leader of the jug band Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band. They had a minor hit in 1966 with The Eggplant That Ate Chicago. After they split up, Greenbaum signed with Reprise Records and Lovin' Spoonful producer Erik Jacobsen. Greenbaum wrote Spirit In The Sky after watching Porter Wagoner sing a gospel song on TV. Though Greenbaum is Jewish, many folks interpret Spirit In The Sky as a Christian song. Considering his background in a goofy jug band, It's more likely that Greenbaum wrote it as a gag. The fuzz box guitar effects were created by session guitarist Russell DaShiell and gospel singers The Stovall Sisters were brought in to sing backup vocals. Reprise thought the song was weird and was reluctant to release it as a single. But they changed their minds after the first two singles failed. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified gold. Greenbaum's subsequent recordings went nowhere and he retired from music in 1973 to become a dairy farmer in Petaluma, CA. Spirit In The Sky is still a very popular song so it's not surprising that Greenbaum lives off the royalties. Varese Sarabande has released a Norman Greenbaum comp but you might want to get Spirit In The Sky on a various artists comp like this one from Rhino. It's also been in several films, most significantly Ron Howard's 1995 film Apollo 13. I recommend that soundtrack to fans of the film only because there's a lot of dialogue on the CD. Here's the video for Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum. Yes, there was a video.
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