Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky (1970)

in GEMS11 months ago


Screenshot_24.png
source
I was a very young person, not a musician, when Spirit In The Sky was released. We are talking about the spring of 1970; Assuming it all came to my world in due time, let's just say I'd hear it for the first time in the fall. Or, if you don't mind, in the fall of the following year. A mystical back and forth hangman landing with a catchy guitar riff and gospel claps to remind me how long my road to rock'n'roll liberation was going to be, as if going back to school wasn't enough. bad (Hubble's constant is nothing compared to Fiouck's constant when it comes to going/returning/entering/entering school).

I assure you that while I write this post my body is beginning to move only to the rhythm of the music

One of my earliest memories of music is this. Although I couldn't pin down the location or time precisely, I do remember what it sounded like. We still lacked a record player in 1970, so it wouldn't be at home. Not me, since it is evident that the march of the world had already irritated me; I only listened to the radio at noon to hear the news. Television entered my life when I was ten years old, which was even less welcome.

Probably on the beach, during that infamous audio blackout at noon, when the lady from the council hung up the microphone after wishing us a "bon appetit" and blasted music for everyone on the beach.

I owe a large part of my musical training to this woman, as she commented in this entry from a year ago about Eloise, by Barry Ryan. When you're five or six years old and you're building sand castles, listening to Paint In Black by the Rolling Stones doesn't leave you unscathed; rather, it sets you up for the big rock'n'roll reveal. juas. So I guess the beach where I spent my formative years was where I first heard Norman Greenbaum hide Judaism from him behind a gospel rock-infused Catholic prayer.

Despite being Jewish by birth and upbringing, Norman Greenbaum was an American. At his neighborhood synagogue and school, Congregation Beth Israel, in Malden, Massachusetts, identification of the Chosen People was taken seriously. not even Amy, Elvis, Sid, Kurt, Bob, John or Kurt. Rather Dor, Yod, Avi, Izak or Yehudi. Norman entered the world of music, initially blues and folk, and traveled to Los Angeles to try something despite this indoctrination (note, the word is valid for all the "bearded" on the planet).

Little is known of him prior to Spirit In The Sky. Actually, not from the later era either. All that matters is the song that made Norman Greenbaum famous; Like any other one-hit-wonder writer, he has a very limited past and present. This invitation to meet the Almighty beyond the clouds has been distributed in the US in two million copies. Catholic song lyrics for a keen Hebrew. These appear to be Chinese, but how effective are they in making money? However, the song was so good that you can still enjoy listening to it forty years later.