If You Wanna Get to Heaven

1973 single by Ozark Mountain Daredevils

"If You Wanna Get to Heaven"

Single by Ozark Mountain Daredevils

from the album The Ozark Mountain Daredevils

B-side

"Spaceship Orion"

Released

1973

Genre

Southern rock^[1]

Length

3:04

Label

A&M

Songwriter(s)

Steve Cash/John Dillon^[2]

Producer(s)

David Anderle, Glyn Johns

Ozark Mountain Daredevils singles chronology

"If You Wanna Get to Heaven"
(1973)

"Look Away"
(1973)

"If You Wanna Get To Heaven" is a single by the Ozark Mountain Daredevils from their 1973 album The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. This was the band's debut single and also the first of their two Top 40 hits reaching #25 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[3] The song sold about 500,000 copies.^[4]

Track listing

"If You Wanna Get to Heaven" 3:04
"Spaceship Orion" 3:11

Background

Cover versions

Hank Williams, Jr. covered the song on his 1982 album, High Notes.
The song was covered by Jeff Carson on his 1997 album Butterfly Kisses.
In 2007, the song was covered by Saliva lead singer Josey Scott for the movie The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning. It is heard in the background when The General Lee is being pulled out of the water and being restored.

Popular culture

Included in Grand Theft Auto V on the radio station Rebel Radio, the song also served as the opening music to the 1991 PBS documentary "Dancing Outlaw", which profiled the life of legendary West Virginia "Mountain Dancer" Jesco White.

References

Granda, Michael Supe (2008). It Shined: The Saga of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. AuthorHouse. ISBN 978-1-4343-9166-7.

^ Breithaupt, Don; Breithaupt, Jeff (October 15, 1996). "Planet of the Apes: Hard Rock". Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s. St. Martin's Griffin. p. 106. ISBN 031214704X.
^ "discogs.com". discogs.com. 1973. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 638.
^ The Robesian 30 April 1975 "Group Sticks to Missouri Roots" by Mary Campbell p.17