In the Spirit
When Natalie introduced this prompt, she referred to a
female empowerment song that she saw had relevance in her life. Boy, this sure
wasn’t the case in the year I turned fourteen. The main songs that had female
singers were part of an ensemble that included men. For example, the big hit (which
I loved) was “Wedding Bell Blues” by the Fifth Dimension. Yes, it featured a
female singer, but she was begging one of the other singers to propose. Another
case in point: Peter, Paul, and Mary. Mary took the lead on “Leaving on a Jet
Plane,” the song that introduced John Denver’s songwriting skills to the world.
She sang, When I come back, I’ll wear
your wedding ring, which was a change from the original When I come back, I’ll bring your wedding
ring. Either way, it ended up being about marriage. In fact, the statement
Mary sang sounded odd – like a promise made for a little bit of freedom. Female
empowerment was not on the radar, even with the women’s movement getting into
full swing. Diana Ross was leaving The Supremes do go solo, but even that was
backed by the big man of Motown, Berry Gordy, who also saw to crediting her
with discovering the Jackson Five, even though she had nothing to do with it.
Anything to boost her in the eyes of world. Women just weren’t making it on
their own in any way, shape, or form in the music world.
I knew that “In the Year 2525” was the number one song when
I had my fourteenth birthday in August 1969 because I was an absolute music
freak. I followed the top songs religiously, and have very specific memories
related to songs and their place in my life. As we went into the fall and
winter months, there were a lot of songs I loved: “I Can’t Get Next to You” by
the Temptations, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” by Steam, and “Something” by
the Beatles, just to name a few. The linchpin here is that although I loved so
many songs, I was not relating personally to them. They were just songs I
either liked or I didn’t. I purchased them if I loved them, and I ignored the
rest.
This led me into early 1970 to see what I could find that
might work for this prompt. What I saw was a changing culture and contrasts in
what was coming at us artistically. I was reminded about the breakthrough of
the Jackson Five, the demise of the Beatles, and the release of the all time
classic “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” I remembered there was rise in songs that
had some kind of spiritual component: John Lennon’s “Instant Karma,” (not that
I had any idea what karma was – I just liked the We all shine on chorus), “Let it Be,” and the release of the
cast album Jesus Christ Superstar
ahead of the Broadway opening. Anyone who knows me knows that this stuff would
speak to me, even at my tender age of 14.
As I thought about these songs, and thought about their
contexts, I realized that they don’t have a strong place in my personal
narrative. However, I did find a song that I was surprised to realize did have
relevance.
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| Side note: I laugh at the title of the B side. Becky and I made up a dance called Milk Cow. |
Although this song was not number one on the Billboard chart
nationwide, it was a number one song in Cleveland (the charts I followed.) It did come in number 22 for the year
on the Billboard Hot 100 for the year.
First, let me mention here that I actually don’t know how
much I like this song, so I was pretty surprised that it probably had an
influence in me. I mean, in all these years have I ever mentioned it? No. Not a
song I think about or talk about.
What probably made “Spirit of the Sky” the song of choice
was the bluntness. How many hit
songs begin with talking about dying and being buried?
When I die and they
lay me to rest
Going to go to the
place that’s the best
When I lay me down to
die
Going up to the spirit
in the sky.
I’m sure this caught the imagination of my young self. After
all, it is said we are closer to death in our teen years than any other time. I
was drawn in by the directness of the lyric. I’m going to die. This is where
I’m going. This is why. No lovey-dovey stuff, or people talking to us from the other
side or mentions of karma. No bouncy “ABC” or raindrops falling on heads or
everyone is beautiful in their own way. And should we talk about the fact that
this is a CLAP ALONG song? I mean
– seriously. When I die…clap clap. It’s insane.
Yet… it has survived. It really has. Somehow it has survived
within me, although in all these years I never noticed it residing inside.
So, let’s talk context. I looked up background information
on the song, since I didn’t know a thing about where it came from. Norman
Greenbaum was into southern blues and gospel and wanted to create a song that
had that sound. It was engineered for our weak car sound systems which made it
stand out when it came on the radio, and he added Jesus to the song to make it
more commercially acceptable, even though he was Jewish.
Upon reflection on the lyrics of this song, I can see how
the pieces fit for me as time went on.
First, although I never think I have “a friend in Jesus,” through my
studies I’ve come to see Jesus as an older brother and guide. He was a rebel
with a revolutionary message of love, which has been sadly skewered and
destroyed in many ways. But I like to think I’m hanging on to my understanding
of it as much as I can. In a friendly way, not that he is saving me somehow.
Another part of the song, I’ve never been a sinner, I’ve never sinned, was confusing to me as
a young person, even as I myself secretly rejected the ideas of sin and
hell. I didn’t know why. It would take studies with Unity, A Course in Miracles, and Buddhism – all
spiritual paths that don’t have a concept of sin – to realize that those lines
apply to me. I’ve made errors –sometimes really bad errors. Unskilled behavior
at times for sure. But it does not make me a candidate for hell or some kind of
bad person. It makes me a person in need of the redemptive power of love
and forgiveness. But I’m not a
sinner in the traditional sense. I
haven’t “sinned.”
And speaking further on the Buddhist connection, and its
main teaching on the nature of impermanence, as part of my practice every day I
say the Five Remembrances, one of which is:
I am of the nature to
die. There is no way to escape death.
So, kind of reluctantly, but less so as I’ve thought this
through, I accept “Spirit in the Sky” as a song with strong personal meaning to
me for the last 48 years. And heck
--to state the obvious -- you all know how much I love the sky!!! I suppose it should have been obvious
all along.
The changing culture and musical contrasts would continue
into the summer of 1970, when we would have the beginnings of soft rock with
the Carpenter’s “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and Bread’s “Make it With
You,” played against darker themes like “War” by Edwin Starr, “Ball of
Confusion” by the Temptations, and “Mama Told Me Not To Come” by Three Dog
Night. Late that summer James
Taylor would arrive, capturing my heart and soul. But it would be another year
before the airwaves were filled with songs that were about leaving husbands or
taking multiple lovers or even questioning the whole idea of marriage. The
likes of Carole King, Carly Simon, and Joni Mitchell would give a voice to
women, literally for the first time, and those voices would carry me gently through
the darker days of adolescence, and into the ever-changing female terrain.
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| Blowing out the candles on my 14th birthday |
Lots of beautiful sky pics on this video!
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