"Spirit in the Sky" is a song written and originally recorded by Norman Greenbaum and released in late 1969. The single became a gold record, selling two million copies from 1969 to 1970 and reached number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (April 18, 1970), where it lasted for 15 weeks in the Top 100. Billboard ranked the record as the No. 22 song of 1970. It also climbed to number one on the UK, Australian and Canadian charts in 1970. Rolling Stone ranked "Spirit in the Sky" No. 333 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song was featured on the 1969 album of the same name. Cover versions by Doctor and the Medics and Gareth Gates have also made the number 1 spot in the UK.

Greenbaum had previously been a member of psychedelic jug band Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band. When they split up he won a solo contract with producer Erik Jacobsen, who had previously worked successfully with The Lovin' Spoonful. He 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, 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). Greenbaum recorded his first solo album with Jacobsen for Reprise Records. The song's arrangement came together in the studio in San Francisco where lead guitarist Russell DaShiell, bass player Doug Killmer from the band Crowfoot and drummer Norman Mayell worked with Greenbaum. According to one source and to DaShiell, Greenbaum used a Fender Telecaster with a fuzz box built into the body to generate the song's characteristic guitar sound. Moreover, DaShiell explained how he created the song's distinctive "beeping" fills:

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