Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes carried this duet up where the eagles cry on a mountain high, where it belonged. 'Up Where We Belong' was written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Will Jennings for the soundtrack to 'An Officer And A Gentleman'. Nitzsche and Saint-Marie wrote the score for the movie and the music for this song and Jennings wrote the lyrics. Jennings recalls: "Joel Sill, who was head of the music department of Paramount, asked me to consider writing a song for this film. I watched a rough cut, loved the film and I heard enough parts to make up a song. I asked Joel to send me the work track and I stitched together the verse, chorus, and bridge of the song and wrote the lyrics... Joel sent it to Stewart Levine, a fine music producer, and Stewart and I talked the song over on the phone and he went in to the studio and cut the hit track with Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes."
Cocker was on tour and flew into Los Angeles for a day to record the song and then resumed his tour. Director Taylor Hackford used the song for the iconic final scene in the film in which Richard Gere arrives at the factory where Debra Winger works in his white naval dress uniform and carries her out. Producer Don Simpson fought to get the song cut from the movie because he thought it wasn't a hit.
He couldn't have been more wrong. 'Up Where We Belong' went to thirty-two in Belgium; fourteen in Austria; seven in Switzerland and the UK; six in Germany; three in Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and on the US adult contemporary chart; two in Spain and on the Canadian adult contemporary chart; and number one in Australia, Canada, and the US. The song won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by Duo or Group With Vocal for Cocker and Warnes; and the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and the BAFTA Film Award for Best Original Song for Nitzsche, Sainte-Marie, and Jennings. Nitzsche and Saint-Marie got married the following year.
Who knows what tomorrow brings
In a world where few hearts survive
All I know is the way I feel
When it's real
I keep it alive
The road is long
There are mountains in the way
But we climb a step every day
Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry
On a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know
Up where the clear winds blow
Some hang on to used to be
Live their lives looking behind
When all we have is here and now
All our lives
Out there to find
The road is long
There are mountains in the way
But we climb a step every day
Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry
On a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know
Up where the clear winds blow
Time goes by
No time to cry
Life's you and I
Alive, today
Love lift us up where we belong
Where the eagles cry
On a mountain high
Love lift us up where we belong
Far from the world we know
Up where the clear winds blow
Buffy Sainte-Marie doing her own version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLCk066o9sU
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