Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Atheists & Agnostics

onager

(9,356 posts)

3. Some funny stuff about that song...

Reply to awoke_in_2003 (Reply #2)

Thu Apr 28, 2016, 07:22 AM

Apr 2016

(Greenbaum) 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."[4]

"Spirit in the Sky" contains lyrics about the afterlife, making several references to Jesus, although Greenbaum is Jewish. (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).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirit_in_the_Sky

The guitarist on that was Russell Dashiell, and the Wiki article has some interesting technical info on how he got that sound.

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

An atheist with a guilty pleasure [View all] awoke_in_2003 Apr 2016 OP

I do play the Nina Hagen version every now and then... nt uriel1972 Apr 2016 #1

Haven't heard that awoke_in_2003 Apr 2016 #2

Some funny stuff about that song... onager Apr 2016 #3

Some of my favorite music is church music Binkie The Clown Apr 2016 #4

"I live at 1985 Ecstasy Drive!" AlbertCat Apr 2016 #5

With your own, personal, Jesus? progressoid May 2016 #6