Spirit In The Sky

Composed by Norman Greenbaum, at the end of the 60s, Spirit in the Sky got famous all around the world by lyrics, tune and cultural impact as well. The writer of Spirit in the Sky was inspired after listening to a gospel song on TV, and it took him no more than fifteen minutes to write the lyrics. It refers to the afterlife and the Christian experience in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Though, Greenbaum is Jewish and identifies himself as such, the Christian side of the song did not go unnoticed even if the author claimed that his intention was not that of imbuing the song with religious fervor.

Spirit In The Sky

Greenbaum had the intention of reaching broader audiences when he referred to sin in Spirit in the Sky, particularly since the concept of evil doing is found in all cultures and religions, and Christianity doesn’t have exclusive rights on it. When it comes to musicality, the guitar is the dominant note in the rhythm of the song. It seems that the producers used a Fender Telecaster with a fuzz box in order to generate the preponderance of the guitar sound.

The peculiarities of Spirit in the Sky are incredible by the new sound imprint: psychedelic rock music meets gospel in a combination of tambourines, hand clapping, great drum playing and distorted electric guitar. Though Spirit in the Sky became a hit, the start was rather small as the record company showed was skeptical about its success because of the unusual lyrics and the originality of the style. Spirit in the Sky actually came to the rescue of the album on which it was included, since it followed two other single releases which were rated as failures. Somehow, the producers needed to save the project, but even so they were far from anticipating the success of the song.

Spirit In The Sky

John Lennon, the famous Beatles member, expressed his great liking of Spirit in the Sky, while the Rolling Stones gave it only a 333rd place in the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Even so, the song was listened to everywhere in UK, Canada, US or Australia, and it had an impact for the foundation stone of glam rock evolution and the application of electronics in modern music making. Due to its content and sound uniqueness, Spirit in the Sky met the necessities of film making too, being performed in more than twenty films.