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'." Ībout the song, Greenbaum has been quoted as saying, "It sounds as fresh today as when it was recorded. There is a music video with Greenbaum singing the song. "Spirit in the Sky" became a worldwide hit, and was at the time the best-selling single ever for the Reprise label. 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. The production team brought in the Stovall Sisters, an Oakland-based gospel trio, to sing backing vocals. The resulting sound was an "oddly compelling" combination of gospel and hard rock music, with loud drums, distorted electric guitar, clapping hands, and tambourines. According to The New York Times article, Greenbaum used a Fender Telecaster guitar with a fuzz box built into the body to generate the song's characteristic guitar sound. 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 from the band Sopwith Camel worked with Greenbaum. Jacobsen had previously worked with The Lovin' Spoonful and the song was included on Greenbaum's first solo album.
When they split up he won a solo contract with producer Erik Jacobsen for Reprise Records. Greenbaum had previously been a member of psychedelic jug band Dr. Greenbaum said: "I thought, 'Yeah, I could do that,' knowing nothing about gospel music, so I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. 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. "Spirit in the Sky" makes several religious references to Jesus, although Greenbaum himself is Jewish.
5 Gareth Gates (with the Kumars) version.
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