You hear a song on the radio and when you’re alone in the car, OF COURSE, you turn it up and sing to it.  And in the comfort of your car – you sound good don’t you?

OF COURSE YOU DO !!!

Like, you know you sing with Larry Blackmon.

Yup, statistics say that his song is in the top 10 of songs most often sung to in the car with the radio turned up loud.

*Side Note 1 – did you know that 87.7% of statistics are made up.

But we’ll get back to Larry.

But first I want to talk about Norman Greenbaum.

I had heard about Norman and his story and I found it fascinating.  As far as One-Hit Wonders go, his tale is pretty cool.

Norman was born in Massachusetts in 1942 and while raised in an observant Jewish household developed an interest in folk music.  He moved to Los Angelos in 1965 formed “Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band”.  They actually had a minor hit in 1966 with a novelty song, ‘The Eggplant That Ate Chicago’.  But the band broke up and Norman moved to San Francisco to begin his solo career.

Norman liked watching a show on TV with Porter Wagner, a country singer.  It was while watching Porter sing a song about a preacher, Norman thought writing about preachers and religion was gonna be difficult, he thought he’d give it a try.

In 15 minutes Norman had the lyrics written to what would become one of the top selling One-Hit Wonders of all time.  The lyrics might have only taken 15 minutes, but the music took much longer.  Norman thinks it might have taken 6 months, or longer, to compose the music as he kept changing everything musically with the song.

When Norman got into the studio, he wanted something different on guitar.  Rather than using pedals to alter the sound, Norman knew this guy that was good with electronics and he put this “little transmittal thing” right into the guitar with an on/off switch.  And that sound has never been duplicated.  He’s had bands tell him that they’ve played that song for years, but couldn’t even come close to duplicating the sound.

The song was “Spirit in the Sky”.  And it was a big success.  In the studio he used The Stoval Singers, from Oakland, CA for the gospel harmonies.  It was released late in 1969 and went to #3 on the charts in April 1970 selling 2 million copies.  Remember, it was 1969, so selling 2,000,000 copies was HUGE. 

From the success of “Spirit in the Sky”, Reprise Records thought he’d have more in the coffer, but Norman did not.  His other albums and singles failed to get any traction.  Reprise Records dropped Norman and other labels passed on him because he was unwilling to return to the distinctive sound of “Spirit in the Sky”.

Norman assumed he was finished in the music industry.  Frustrated and broke because he had lost all his money, he went to work as a cook in Northern California.  He started cooking burgers then became a sous chef, then a kitchen manager where he also wrote menus and cut meat.

Then in 1986, magic happened.  A movie wanted to use his song.  So Norman allowed the movie “Maid to Order” to use “Spirit in the Sky”.  That movie came out in 1987 and since then, it’s been used in over 30 movies, including most recently Guardians of the Galaxy and also Ocean’s 11.  With every use in movies, Norman receives at least $10,000 which allows him to live in his 2-Bedroom apartment in Santa Rosa, CA.

Norman enjoys his comfortable life in Santa Rosa.  “Spirit in the Sky” didn’t make him rich, but it allows him to live comfortably off the royalties.

Okay – enough about Norman Greenbaum, lets get back to Larry Blackmon.

And don’t tell me you don’t know who he is.  Well, maybe you don’t know him by name, but you do know one of his songs, and even now, when his song comes on and you’re driving in your car, and you’re by yourself ….. you turn it up and you belt it out.

Larry Blackmon along with band member Tomi Jenkins of Cameo wrote “Word Up”.  One of the iconic songs of the 80s.

Do I turn it up and belt it out?

That’s a firm. “HELL YEAH I DO!!!”

But only – ONLY – when I’m alone.

• Seriously