Before "Spirit In the Sky" with its fuzz bass, Norman Greenbaum was part of Dr. West's Medicine Show and composed this half-psychedelic, half-Roaring 20s novelty hit.
Believers noted "Spirit in the Sky" was theologically weak right from the start. No Christian would say "Never been a sinner, I never sinned." It seemed to be one of those California Jesus Freak things. People now know Greenbaum grew up in an observant Jewish family - big surprise, I know. But still...California or maybe Colorado or something.
Well, there is even more to the story than that. He was from Malden, MA, and was obsessed with Westerns as a boy. What he was picturing was being inspired by a cowboy "dying with his boots on." Looked at from that perspective, a vague, general I've been a good person would be about what an average Jewish boy might think of Cowboy Christianity.
2 comments:
That brings back weird memories. During my youth, I spent a summer in Spain, staying in a monastery and visiting regional castles and churches. While I was at the top of the Alcázar of Segovia, someone there played two songs on his portable tape machine, "American Woman" and "Spirit in the Sky," over and over and over.
Greenbaum's follow-up, "Canned Ham," was an odd subject for someone raised an Orthodox Jew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c0VXs0UoKM
Sounds like the opening scene to an Italian movie
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