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, who had previously worked successfully with The Lovin' Spoonful.
He was inspired to write the song after watching Porter Wagoner on TV singing a gospel song. Greenbaum later 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. In a VH1 episode about famous one-hit wonders, Alice Cooper said that he was surprised to hear someone with a Jewish-sounding last name performing a song that seemed to be about Jesus. Greenbaum recorded his first solo album with Jacobsen for Reprise Records.
The song's arrangement came together in the studio in San Francisco where lead guitarist Russell DaShiell , bass player Doug Killmer from the band Crowfoot and drummer Norman Mayell worked with Greenbaum. According to one source [4] and to DaShiell, Greenbaum used a Fender Telecaster with a fuzz box built into the body to generate the song's characteristic guitar sound. Moreover, DaShiell [6] explained how he created the song's distinctive "beeping" fills:.
The resulting sound was an innovative and compelling combination of gospel and psychedelic rock music, with loud drums, distorted electric guitar, clapping hands, and tambourines. The production team brought in the Stovall Sisters , an Oakland-based gospel trio, to sing backing vocals. Because of its unusual lyrics and style, the record company was initially reluctant to issue it, but was finally released as a single after two other singles from the album had poor sales.
Of the song, Greenbaum observed: "It sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded. Wenner , while highly critical of the recent work of many of his peers, including Bob Dylan and ex-band mate Paul McCartney , Lennon professed to liking the then-current radio single, "Spirit in the Sky", stating that he "always liked simple rock and nothing else".
It was included on the list of songs deemed "questionable" by Clear Channel following the September 11, attacks. The song is used to introduce the starting lineup of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for home games at Angel Stadium. The song appears in the second trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy , [10] as well as the soundtrack album , but is not heard in the film.
Greenbaum's version of the song is heard in another TV commercial, for Adobe Systems. Elton John covered "Spirit in the Sky" in The Alan Caddy Orchestra and Singers.
Top of the Pops. ABC Company. Dorothy Morrison. Barbara Ray and The 5th Association. The God Squad featuring Leonard Caston. Carl Wayne. Lee Patterson Singers.
Larry Norman. The Cheaters [GB]. Nina Hagen. The Barron Knights. New Age Urban Squirrels. It would have done better, but again, it was a really good piece of work.
When I performed it, they liked it. So then I was in a quagmire. Usually bands just keep playing, and I did that for a few years, and then it just kind of fizzled out. This was about I had just moved back to Northern California from L. Come and work for me and see what happens. And all of a sudden the record was covered by a group from England called Doctor and the Medics. And it became Number One all over Europe.
That was a big thing: It had gone from the back room of the one-hit wonders to all this interest in this song. And so at the same time, someone decided it would fit in a movie. And that just started everything. In , you were seriously injured in a car accident. That pushed me back a lot. I was, as they put it, T-boned. I was in a coma for three and a half weeks and in rehab for weeks and weeks.
How has that been going? And now it makes a lot of sense to do it. It involves my girlfriend and the band. They put up a three-story mural on a building downtown. That was quite a nice affair.
It brought tears to my eyes. Newswire Powered by. Close the menu. Rolling Stone. Log In. To help keep your account secure, please log-in again. You are no longer onsite at your organization. Please log in. With its handclaps, Russell DaShiell's lead guitar and the gospel harmonies from the Oakland-based Stovall Sisters, "Spirit in the Sky" resonated with music fans.
Released in late , it peaked at No. But Greenbaum's other singles and albums failed on the charts. He eventually got dropped from Reprise Records, and attempts to find a new label failed because he was unwilling to return to the distinctive sound of "Spirit. What else could I do? I worked my way up from cooking hamburgers to being a sous chef to being a kitchen manager writing menus and cutting meat.
I was okay with it. His fortunes changed in when he allowed "Spirit" to be used in the film Maid to Order.
0コメント