Spirit in the Sky
| Spirit in the Sky | |
|---|---|
| Norman Greenbaum | |
| publication | 1969 |
| length | 3:57 |
| Genre (s) | Psychedelic rock , gospel music |
| Author (s) | Norman Greenbaum |
| album | Spirit in the Sky |
| Cover versions | |
| 1986 | Doctor & the Medics |
| 2003 | Gareth Gates |
Spirit in the Sky ( English for spirit in the sky is) a song by the American musician Norman Greenbaum , published 1969th It reached high international chart positions in the spring of 1970 and became a worldwide hit. The album on which the one-hit wonder was released had the same name.
Emergence
After the American psychedelic quartet Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band , of which Greenbaum was a member, signed a contract with the then already quite successful producer Erik Jacobsen. Then he began work on his first solo album.
The idea for the song came to him when he saw Porter Wagoner , an American country singer, on television that evening . He sang a moving gospel song about forgiveness and redemption. Although Greenbaum had no experience with gospel songs, the lyrics of the song came easily from the hand, which he wrote in 15 minutes according to his own account.
It was different with the music for the song: first he tried it musically in a jug band version, then with Delta Blues and with Folk , but he did not get the right sound that he had imagined. During the studio recording, the producer hired The Stovall Sisters , a gospel trio, to do the backing vocals. Greenbaum himself put his acoustic guitar aside and used an aggressive-sounding Fender Telecaster electric guitar with an integrated distortion . The result was a combination of hard rock and gospel with a consistent clapping rhythm.
Initially, two other songs from Greenbaum's solo album were released, but with moderate success. Spirit in the Sky followed as the third single . Greenbaum stated that initially there was resistance to the song because it was too long at around four minutes. In addition, the song was eerie: He, as a musician with Jewish-Orthodox roots, who sings about Jesus, and a distorted tone that you can't get out of your head.
Music style and content
| Spirit in the Sky cover of the single |
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| , 1969 |
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Link to the picture |
The song is a mixture of psychedelic rock , which reached its peak in the late 1960s, and gospel music from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Greenbaum denied a religious intention, but the content of the piece is religious, which is clear from the lyrics. There it says, for example:
"Prepare yourself you know it's a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He's gonna recommend you to the spirit in the sky"
Successes and reception
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Spirit in the Sky reached number 1 in the charts in Germany, Great Britain, Canada and Australia. In the US, the song reached number 3 on the charts as the best position. In total, it stayed in the American Top 40 for over 14 weeks. The single sold over two million copies worldwide in 1969 and 1970, including one million copies in May 1970 alone.
From 1987 the work experienced a kind of renaissance: First it was used as the soundtrack for the film Die Traumfrau von Beverly Hills (Maid to Order) , later also for Apollo 13 (1995) and Contact (1997). In total, the song served as the soundtrack in 32 movies and as a recognition or background melody in over a dozen American TV advertisements (including in commercials for the sporting goods manufacturer Nike and the car manufacturer Toyota ).
The song can be found on over 50 compilation albums and has been covered frequently, including 1985 by Nina Hagen and 1994 by Elton John . The cover versions of Doctor & the Medics in 1986 and Gareth Gates in 2003 were successful . Both cover versions made it to number 1 in the British charts. Spirit in the Sky was thus at the top of the hit lists for a few weeks in Great Britain in three different decades with three different interpreters.
In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine put the song at 333rd place in its 500 best songs of all time, and in 2011 the song was at 341th place.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biography of Norman Greenbaum in musicline.de ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Rock-Lexikon Volume 1 + 2 , edited by Siegfried Schmidt-Joos and Wolf Kampmann
- ↑ a b c The New York Times , Article A 'Spirit' From the '60s That Won't Die, December 24, 2006
- ↑ a b Scott R. Benarde: Stars of David: Rock'n'Roll Jewish Stories , 2003, p 186, ISBN 1-58465-303-5
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ Spirit in the Sky in the Official UK Charts (English)
- ↑ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ( Memento from June 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time , Rolling Stone
Web links
- Original by Norman Greenbaum on DailyMotion.com