A guy at my job asked me a couple weeks ago, "Hey, you know that song 'Spirit In The Sky,' right?" I stared at him blankly. Three YouTube seconds later, I realized that yeah, duh, of course I know "Spirit In The Sky." It's right up there with the birthday song and the Tomahawk chop. Who the hell hasn't heard "Spirit In The Sky"? I felt dumb for a minute, but it passed.
Then I did some research on Norman Greenbaum, the song's writer and performer. I chatted with him on the phone-- for work, not for fun-- and he was friendly and eccentric. I asked him to send me some photos of himself c. 1969, the year his song reached #1. And guess what, y'all, Greenbaum was a hottie.
His look was as iconic as the song, and it persists to this day-- from Portland, OR, to Brattleboro, VT, to Richmond, VA. Where Katerina and I went to school in Western Mass (c 2002-2007), this was The Look for men. Women have their own version, too, but there's something so effortlessly sexy about men who pull this off.
I became a little obsessed with Norman Greenbaum, c. 1969. Can you blame me?
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