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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jul 26, 2009 22:28:52 GMT -5
Tonight I had a two-hour phone conversation with yet another old bunkmate of mine form summer camp. Although we had been emailing eachother for the past 5 or 6 yeas, this was the first time we had spoken and we were really able to catch up.
It turns out that my friend, who grew up in Malden, MA was a close friend of Norman Greenbaum, the author and singer of "Spirit in the Sky" ( a #3 hit in 1970). What I didn't know was that Norman also was a member of Dr. West's Medicine Sow and Junk Band. They had a minor hit called "The Eggplant that Ate Chcago" in 1967. My friend told me that Norman has been basically living off the fairly substantial royalties from those two songs (he was smart enough to have held onto the royalties.) ever since!
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Post by Dawn on Jul 27, 2009 9:45:31 GMT -5
That's interesting about your friend from camp being friends with Norman, and also about his involvement with The Eggplant That Ate Chicago; I hadn't known that either. It is indeed a small world!
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Post by Ken on Jul 27, 2009 12:37:14 GMT -5
Hi Ed,
That is very cool!
I'm familiar with the song title "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago" but I've never actually heard the song.
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jul 27, 2009 14:42:18 GMT -5
Hi Ed, That is very cool! I'm familiar with the song title "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago" but I've never actually heard the song. ... and now you shall hear it!  |
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Post by Ken on Jul 27, 2009 18:51:37 GMT -5
Hi Ed, That is very cool! I'm familiar with the song title "The Eggplant that Ate Chicago" but I've never actually heard the song. ... and now you shall hear it! Excellent! Thanks, Ed!  |
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Post by edehl on Jul 27, 2009 22:18:25 GMT -5
You know who else was a friend of Norman Greenbaum's? The guy who recommended him to the spirit in the sky!  Okay, I'm corny....but you love me. :0) That's a great story, H2! That song was #1 the year I was born. |
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jul 27, 2009 22:30:00 GMT -5
You know who else was a friend of Norman Greenbaum's? The guy who recommended him to the spirit in the sky! Okay, I'm corny....but you love me. :0) That's a great story, H2! That song was #1 the year I was born. Actually, according to Wikipedia - which is NEVER wrong: He [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."
"Spirit in the Sky" contains lyrics about the afterlife, making several references to Jesus. However, Greenbaum, who identifies himself as Jewish, stated that he had no particular religious intentions with the song. My camp buddy confirms that Greenbaum is indeed Jewish. |
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Post by edehl on Jul 28, 2009 10:25:19 GMT -5
You know who else was a friend of Norman Greenbaum's? The guy who recommended him to the spirit in the sky! Okay, I'm corny....but you love me. :0) That's a great story, H2! That song was #1 the year I was born. Actually, according to Wikipedia - which is NEVER wrong: He [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."
"Spirit in the Sky" contains lyrics about the afterlife, making several references to Jesus. However, Greenbaum, who identifies himself as Jewish, stated that he had no particular religious intentions with the song. My camp buddy confirms that Greenbaum is indeed Jewish. Interesting! |
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Post by Railyn on Jul 30, 2009 9:51:44 GMT -5
I do love that song. And with that name, I often wondered if he was Jewish..... |
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Post by H2IZCOOL on Jul 30, 2009 10:05:51 GMT -5
I do love that song. And with that name, I often wondered if he was Jewish..... Yeah, I used to think that maybe he was German.  But that whole "If Porter Wagoner can do it, I can do it," thing was a bit bizarre. I think the thing that made the song a hit was the gospel message with the heavy rock undertones. I don't think there was a Christian Rock genre back then. If there was, I never heard of it. (Wikipedia mentions a 1967 group called "Mind Garage" as being the "first documented appearance of a rock band playing in church" - whatever that means, but there is not much in the way of recorded Christian Rock prior to Norman's 1970 hit). "Spirit In The Sky" would probably be among the first examples. So yeah, it is strange that a Jewish guy would record one of the first Christian Rock songs - for no better reason than that he could. |
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