The Healing Journey

November 30, 2023

You would hardly expect a song about dying and going to Heaven by a musician who was in a psychedelic California band in the 60s would rocket to #1 all over the world. And yet the song “Spirit in the Sky,” written and performed by Norman Greenbaum in 1969, struck a chord and sold 2 million copies in one year.

It has been ranked 333 on Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” Greenbaum, an Orthodox Jew who attended Hebrew school, also included the lyrics, “I got a friend in Jesus, so you know that when I die, He’s gonna set me up with the spirit in the sky.”

In 2006, Greenbaum told a New York Times reporter that he wrote the song after watching country music star Porter Wagoner singing a Gospel song, and “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.”

Unfortunately, a Rolling Stone poll also ranked “Spirit in the Sky” as one of the top ten “one hit wonders” of all time, which means to say Greenbaum’s career never achieved such success again, and within ten years, he was working as a sous-chef.

Greenbaum once said funeral directors wrote him and said “Spirit in the Sky” was the second most popular song at memorial services after “Danny Boy.”

The Spirit in the Sky

When I die and they lay me to rest
Gonna go to the place that’s the best
When I lay me down to die
Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky
Goin’ up to the spirit in the sky (spirit in the sky)
That’s where I’m gonna go when I die (when I die)
When I die and they lay me to rest
I’m gonna go to the place that’s the best
Prepare yourself you know it’s a must
Gotta have a friend in Jesus
So you know that when you die
He’s gonna recommend you
To the spirit in the sky (spirit in the sky)
Oh he’ll recommend you to the spirit in the sky
That’s where you’re gonna go when you die (when you die)
When you die and they lay you to rest
You’re gonna go to the place that’s the best
Never been a sinner, I never sinned
I got a friend in Jesus
So you know that when I die
He’s gonna set me up
with the spirit in the sky
Oh set me up with the spirit in the sky (spirit in the sky)
That’s where I’m gonna go when I die (when I die)
When I die and they lay me to rest
I’m gonna go to the place that’s the best
Go to the place that’s the best

Songwriters: Norman Greenbaum
Spirit in the Sky lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC
To hear Norman Greenbaum sing “Spirit in the Sky,” go to:
(https://youtu.be/xi_3GtQN2IA?si=ukFPUAShDoZQFgcc)