Spirit in the Sky
{{short description|1969 song by Norman Greenbaum}}
{{other uses|Spirit in the Sky (disambiguation)}}
{{for|a deity associated with the sky|Spirit of the sky}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Spirit in the Sky
| image = Norman_Greenbaum_Spirit_in_The_Sky_&_Cow.jpg
| alt = side-A label by Eric Records
| caption = Side A of the 1989 US reissue
| type = single
| artist = Norman Greenbaum
| album = Spirit in the Sky
| B-side = Milk Cow
| released = December 1969
| recorded =
| studio = Coast Recorders, San Francisco
| genre = * Boogie rock{{cite web| url = https://www.allmusic.com/song/boogie-chillen-mt0010580320| title = John Lee Hooker: Boogie Chillen' – Review| last = Koda| first = Cub| author-link = Cub Koda| website = AllMusic| access-date = December 12, 2020}}
- psychedelic rock{{cite web|url=http://musicremedy.com/j/jason-mraz/songs/spirit-in-the-sky-45877.html |title=Jason Mraz – Spirit In The Sky |last=Leeuwis |first=Jermy |publisher=MusicRemedy |access-date=June 24, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103202543/http://musicremedy.com/j/jason-mraz/songs/spirit-in-the-sky-45877.html |archive-date=November 3, 2014}} "Jason Mraz's new song is a bluesy, gospel-influenced version of Norman Greenbaum's 1970 psychedelic rock anthem 'Spirit in the Sky.'"{{cite web|last= Casalena|first= Em|title= 4 Hidden Gems From the World of One-Hit Rock Wonders|website= American Songwriter|date= November 1, 2024|url= https://americansongwriter.com/4-hidden-gems-from-the-world-of-one-hit-rock-wonders/|access-date= November 2, 2024}}
- {{nowrap|hard rock}}
- gospel{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/spirit-in-the-sky-mt0026937564 |title=Spirit in the Sky on Allmusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=Allmusic |publisher=Rovi Corporation |access-date=June 24, 2013}} "The handclaps and riffs ... simmered down a little to allow Greenbaum to sing a tune which really did sound like a genuine gospel song ..."
| length = 4:02
| label = Reprise
| writer = Norman Greenbaum
| producer = Erik Jacobsen
| prev_title =
| prev_year =
| next_title =
| next_year =
| misc = {{External music video|header=Official audio|{{YouTube|xi_3GtQN2IA|"Spirit in the Sky"}}}}
}}
{{Infobox song
| A-side = Spirit in the Sky
| image = Spirit in the sky by norman greenbaum 1989 US reissue side-A.png
}}
{{Infobox song
| B-side = Milk Cow
| image = Norman_Greenbaum_Spirit_in_The_Sky_&_Cow_Part_3.jpg
}}
"Spirit in the Sky" is a song by American singer-songwriter Norman Greenbaum, originally written and recorded by Greenbaum and released in December 1969 from his album Spirit in the Sky.{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9406E6D71131F937A15751C1A9609C8B63 |work=The New York Times |title=A 'Spirit' From the '60s That Won't Die |first=Tom |last=McNichol |date=December 24, 2006 |access-date=March 13, 2018}} The single became a gold record in the United States, selling two million copies from 1969 to 1970, and reached No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100{{Cite magazine|title=Spirit In The Sky by Norman Greenbaum {{!}} Billboard The Hot 100 Chart|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1970-04-18|access-date=October 6, 2021|magazine=Billboard}} where it lasted for 15 weeks in the Top 100. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 22 song of 1970.Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970 It also climbed to No. 1 on the UK, Australian and Canadian charts in 1970.
Rolling Stone ranked "Spirit in the Sky" No. 333 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Cover versions by Doctor and the Medics and Gareth Gates have also made the No. 1 spot in the UK. The song was voted one of the top ten one-hit wonders in a Rolling Stone reader's poll.{{Cite magazine|last=Greene|first=Andy|date=May 4, 2011|title=Poll: Top 10 One-Hit Wonders|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/rolling-stone-readers-pick-the-top-10-one-hit-wonders-of-all-time-14391/|access-date=October 6, 2021|magazine=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}
Original version by Norman Greenbaum
"Spirit in the Sky" makes several religious references to Jesus, though Greenbaum himself is Jewish. In a 2006 interview with The New York Times, Greenbaum told a reporter he was inspired to write the song after watching Porter Wagoner singing a gospel song on TV. Greenbaum said: "I thought, 'Yeah, I could do that,' knowing nothing about gospel music, so I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. It came easy. I wrote the words in 15 minutes." Greenbaum had previously been a member of psychedelic jug band Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band. When they split up, he won a solo contract with producer Erik Jacobsen for Reprise Records. Jacobsen had previously worked with the Lovin' Spoonful.
Greenbaum first arranged the song for an acoustic jug band; then he tried a folk version and then a Delta blues style, but none of these were satisfactory. Under Jacobsen's direction, the song started to gel at Coast Recorders studio on Bush Street in San Francisco,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JidVEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |page=40 |title=One-Hit Wonders: An Oblique History of Popular Music |editor=Sarah Hill |date=2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=9781501368431}} with Jacobsen's chosen session players Russell DaShiell on guitar, Doug Killmer from the band Crowfoot on bass, and drummer Norman Mayell from the band Sopwith Camel.{{cite magazine |first=Michael |last=Goldberg |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/sopwith-camel-19870910 |title=Sopwith Camel: Where Are They Now? |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=September 10, 1987 |access-date=February 5, 2018}} Greenbaum used a Fender Telecaster guitar with a fuzz-tone circuit built into the body to generate the song's characteristic guitar sound. Jacobsen finally brought in the Stovall Sisters (Joyce, Lillian, and Netta) from Oakland to support the song with gospel hand percussion and vocal stylings, joined by additional singers.
The resulting sound was an "oddly good and compelling" combination of boogie rock (of which genre the song is considered one of the first examples),{{cite web| url = https://www.allmusic.com/song/boogie-chillen-mt0010580320| title = John Lee Hooker: Boogie Chillen' – Review| last = Koda| first = Cub| author-link = Cub Koda| website = AllMusic| access-date = December 12, 2020}} blues, gospel and hard rock music, with loud drums, distorted electric guitar, clapping hands, and tambourines. Because of the song's length and lyrics, the record company was initially reluctant to issue it, but it was finally released as a single after two other singles from the album had poor sales. "Spirit in the Sky" became a worldwide hit and was the best-selling single for the Reprise label. In his famous 1970 Lennon Remembers interview for Rolling Stone, John Lennon stated that he liked the song.{{cite book |last1=Wenner |first1=Jann |title=Lennon Remembers: New Edition |date=2000 |publisher=Verso |location=London |isbn=978-1859846001 |page=10}} Music historian Simon Reynolds has referred to the sound of "Spirit in the Sky" as "proto-glam".{{cite book |last1=Reynolds |first1=Simon |title=Shock and Awe: Glam Rock and Its Legacy |date=2016 |publisher=Faber & Faber |location=London |isbn=978-0-571-30171-3 |chapter=Boogie Poet: Mark Bolan and T. Rex |page=51}}
The song received criticism from some Christians for including the lines, "Never been a sinner/I've never sinned/I got a friend in Jesus", as most Christian views on sin state that "there is no one who has never sinned".Philip Auslander, "Norman Greenbaum, 'Spirit in the Sky' (1969)", in {{cite book |editor1-last=Hill |editor1-first=Sarah |title=One-Hit Wonders: An Oblique History of Popular Music |date=February 24, 2022 |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |location=New York |isbn=9781501368400 |pages=44–45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCdVEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22never+been+a+sinner%22+greenbaum&pg=PA44 |access-date=May 21, 2024}} Greenbaum had explained that because he was not a Christian, he had been unaware of that when he wrote the song. In an interview with American Songwriter, he said, "I did flub it I guess, cause if I was a Christian and was writing from that mindset, I would have said, 'I've been a sinner' .... But since I didn't have that upbringing, it never occurred to me that it was wrong."{{cite web |last1=Britt |first1=Grant |title=Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit In The Sky" |url=https://americansongwriter.com/behind-song-norman-greenbaum-spirit-sky/ |website=American Songwriter |access-date=May 21, 2024 |date=2013}} While some Christian artists have recorded the song using Greenbaum's original lyrics, others have changed those lines, such as DC Talk, who instead sang, "You know I've been a sinner/We've all sinned".
Later albums and singles by Greenbaum were not embraced by the market. By the 1980s, Greenbaum had abandoned his music career and worked as a sous-chef and restaurant kitchen manager.
The song was reworked by Doctor and the Medics in June 1986, achieving chart success in the UK.{{cite book |last=Davis |first=Sharon |date=2012 |title=Every Chart Topper Tells a Story: The Seventies |chapter=May 1970: Norman Greenbaum – Spirit in the Sky |publisher=Random House |isbn=9781780574103}} This cover version was heard in the 1987 film Maid to Order, catalyzing renewed media interest in the original song. The original version is heard in the films Miami Blues (1990), Wayne's World 2 (1993), Apollo 13 (1995), Remember the Titans (2000), Ocean's Eleven (2001), The Sandlot 2 (2005), Katie and Orbie, Lovelace (2013), Suicide Squad, and The Founder (2016). Kellogg's cereal tapped the song for a television advertisement in 1997, and it was the highlight of a lengthy television commercial for Nike shoes in 2005. Greenbaum reflected on the song in 2011, saying, "It sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded. I've gotten letters from funeral directors telling me that it's their second-most-requested song to play at memorial services, next to 'Danny Boy'."{{cite web|url=https://christianorder.com/editorials/editorial_2011-02.html |title=Christian Order - Read - Editorials - February 2011|publisher=Christianorder.com |access-date=July 18, 2013}}
Charts
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
=Weekly charts=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Chart (2021–2022)
!Peak |
|---|
| Canada Digital Song Sales (Billboard){{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/norman-greenbaum/chart-history/cns/|title=Norman Greenbaum Chart History (Canadian Digital Song Sales)|magazine=Billboard|access-date=July 18, 2022}}
|align="center"|8 |
| US Digital Song Sales (Billboard){{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/norman-greenbaum/chart-history/hds/|title=Norman Greenbaum Chart History (Digital Song Sales)|magazine=Billboard|access-date=July 16, 2022}}
|align="center"|14 |
| {{single chart|Billboardrocksongs|21|artist=Norman Greenbaum|access-date=April 13, 2021}} |
{{col-2}}
=Year-end charts=
{{col-end}}
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Norman Greenbaum|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1970|certyear=2023|source=radioscope|access-date=January 13, 2025}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Norman Greenbaum|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Platinum|relyear=2011|certyear=2023|id=6205-5565-1|access-date=August 25, 2023}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Norman Greenbaum|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1970|certyear=2025|access-date=January 9, 2025}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
Doctor and the Medics version
{{Infobox song
| name = Spirit in the Sky
| cover = Doctor and the Medics - Spirit in the Sky.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Doctor and the Medics
| album = Laughing at the Pieces
| B-side = Laughing at the Pieces
| released = {{start date|1986|4|28}}{{cite magazine|title=New Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=21|date=April 26, 1986}}
| recorded =
| studio =
| genre = * Glam rock
- neo-psychedelia{{cite web|url= http://www.allmusic.com/album/laughing-at-the-pieces-mw0000691587 |title= Laughing at the Pieces review on Allmusic |first= Ted|last= Mills |work= Allmusic |publisher= Rovi Corporation |access-date= June 24, 2013}}
- new wave{{cite web|url= http://www.allmusic.com/artist/doctor-the-medics-mn0000794190 |title= Doctor & the Medics biography on Allmusic |first= Michael|last= Sutton |work= Allmusic |publisher= Rovi Corporation |access-date= June 24, 2013}} "new wave remake of Norman Greenbaum's 'Spirit in the Sky'"
| length = 3:28
| label = I.R.S.
| writer = Norman Greenbaum
| producer = Craig Leon assisted by Cassell Webb
| prev_title = The Miracle of the Age
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Burn
| next_year = 1986
}}
In June 1986, Doctor and the Medics reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart with their version of "Spirit in the Sky", spending three weeks at the top. In New Zealand, the song reached No. 2 on the RIANZ Singles Chart, while in Canada, it peaked at No. 1 for a week and was the fifth-highest-selling single of 1986. The song has been certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA).
=Charts=
==Weekly charts==
==Year-end charts==
=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=single|artist=Doctor and the Medics|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Platinum|relyear=1986|certyear=1986|access-date=June 23, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Doctor & the Medics|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Silver|relyear=1986|certyear=1986|id=6205-783-1|access-date=June 23, 2022|refname="medicsbpi"}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
Gareth Gates version
{{Infobox song
| name = Spirit in the Sky
| cover = Gareth Gates - Spirit in the Sky.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Gareth Gates with the Kumars
| album = Go Your Own Way
| B-side =
- "Dance Again"
- "Will You Wait for Me?"
| released = {{start date|2003|3|10}}
| recorded = 2003
| studio =
| genre =
| length = 3:29
| label =
| writer = Norman Greenbaum
| producer = Steve Mac
| chronology = Gareth Gates
| prev_title = What My Heart Wants to Say
| prev_year = 2002
| next_title = Sunshine
| next_year = 2003
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|LDgs7ERjC7A|"Spirit in the Sky" by Gareth Gates featuring The Kumars}}}}
}}
"Spirit in the Sky" served as the first single from Pop Idol runner-up Gareth Gates's second studio album, Go Your Own Way. The single was released on March 10, 2003,{{cite magazine|title=New Releases – For Week Starting 10 March 2003: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=21|date=March 8, 2003}} and was the official Comic Relief charity single for 2003. The song features guest vocals from the Kumars. The song peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Gates' fourth number-one single. Gates' version has been certified platinum by BPI in the UK.
=Track listings=
UK CD1{{cite AV media notes|title=Spirit in the Sky|others=Gareth Gates, the Kumars|year=2003|type=UK CD1 liner notes|publisher=19 Recordings, S Records, RCA Records, BMG|id=82876 51119 2}}
- "Spirit in the Sky" (with the Kumars)
- "Dance Again"
- "Spirit in the Sky"
- "Spirit in the Sky" (video)
- "Spirit in the Sky" (with the Kumars)
- "Will You Wait for Me?"
- Interview with Gareth Gates
- "Spirit in the Sky" (with the Kumars)
- "Dance Again"
- "Will You Wait for Me?"
- "Spirit in the Sky" (video)
- Making of "Spirit in the Sky" (video)
- "Dance Again" (video)
- Interview with the Kumars (video)
=Charts=
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
==Weekly charts==
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Chart (2003)
!Peak |
|---|
| {{single chart|Austria|10|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| {{single chart|Flanders|33|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| {{single chart|Wallonia Tip|9|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100){{cite magazine|title=Eurochart Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=21|issue=15|page=13|date=April 5, 2003}}
|align="center"|5 |
| {{single chart|Germany|13|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky|songid=5743}} |
| {{single chart|Hungary|3|year=2003|week=45|access-date=March 16, 2022}} |
| {{single chart|Ireland2|2|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch40|14|year=2003|week=43}} |
| {{single chart|Dutch100|11|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| {{single chart|Scotland|1|date=20030322}} |
| {{single chart|Switzerland|30|artist=Gareth Gates with the Kumars|song=Spirit in the Sky}} |
| {{single chart|UK|1|date=20030322|refname="gates"}} |
{{col-2}}
==Year-end charts==
{{col-end}}
=Certifications=
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Gareth Gates|title=Spirit in the Sky|award=Platinum|relyear=2003|certyear=2003|id=6205-3503-1|access-date=March 16, 2022}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
Other versions
A version by Dorothy Combs Morrison reached No. 99 on Billboard
In popular culture
Since the 1970s, Manchester United fans have used the song as the base for a chant to support George Best.{{Citation |title=On The Piss With Georgie Best! {{!}} Southampton 2-3 Manchester United {{!}} #RedArmyCam | date=September 20, 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6y2SCSrz2M |access-date=November 29, 2023}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Gareth Gates}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Norman Greenbaum songs
Category:Cashbox number-one singles
Category:UK singles chart number-one singles
Category:Number-one singles in Scotland
Category:Number-one singles in Germany
Category:Number-one singles in Australia
Category:Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Category:19 Recordings singles
Category:Bertelsmann Music Group singles
Category:I.R.S. Records singles
Category:Reprise Records singles
Category:Song recordings produced by Erik Jacobsen
Category:American psychedelic rock songs
Category:American hard rock songs
Category:Religious controversies in music
Category:Christianity-related mass media and entertainment controversies