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Up Where We Belong

"Up Where We Belong" is a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings that was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. Warnes was recommended to sing a song from the film because of her previous soundtrack successes, and she had the idea for the song to be a duet that she would perform with Cocker. Jennings selected various sections of the score by Nitzsche and Sainte-Marie in creating the structure of the song and added lyrics about the struggles of life and love and the obstacles that people attempt to dodge. It was released in July of that year to coincide with the release of the film.

"Up Where We Belong"

"Sweet Lil' Woman" (Cocker)

July 22, 1982 (1982-07-22)

Los Angeles, 1982

  • 4:00 (single)
  • 3:55 (album)

The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and topped the charts in several other countries. It also sold more than one million copies in the US and was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of the Songs of the Century. Cocker and Warnes were awarded the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Nitzsche, Sainte-Marie, and Jennings won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. Despite the song's success, some industry observers believed it took Cocker away from his musical roots.


In 1984, the gospel duo BeBe & CeCe Winans recorded a religious variation of the song that received airplay on Christian radio stations, and their remake in 1996 earned them a GMA Dove Award. Various versions of the song have also been used to parody the final scene of the film on television shows such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, and South Park.

Composition and lyrics[edit]

The last scene of the film brought the story to a happy ending, and Hackford wanted to have a song playing during the closing credits that would act as a reflection of the relationship portrayed and incorporate the score composed by Jack Nitzsche.[14] Nitzsche was having trouble writing a theme as he was scoring the film, and his longtime friend Buffy Sainte-Marie played him the melody for a song she had started working on called "Up Where We Belong".[16] Nitzsche wanted to have Sainte-Marie write the rest of the lyrics, but her background in folk music caused Sill and Hackford to look elsewhere.[9] Sill invited a lyricist whom he'd worked with before, Will Jennings, to the studio to view a rough cut of the film,[9] and that gave Jennings inspiration for the structure and lyrics of what became "Up Where We Belong". "And all through the film I was hearing these bits and pieces of music, and at the end of it I had it in my head, you know, how there was a song. I heard a chorus here and a verse here and a bridge there, and so when I finished, Joel was there, and I said, 'Joel, just give me all the music from it,' all of Nitzsche's music, ' 'cause I got an idea.'"[17] When Jennings presented Hackford with his demo, the director felt it was the perfect fit.[14]


According to Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing, "Up Where We Belong" is written in common time.[18] It is in the key of D major and sung in a vocal range from A3 to G5.[18] The lyrics "tell of the struggles of life and love and the obstacles in the way that we attempt to dodge."[11]

Reception[edit]

Some radio stations refused to play "Up Where We Belong", even going so far as to send their copies back to Island Records. Cocker said, "I remember going into their offices in New York. I walked in and I said, 'How's the single doing?' And this guy Mike Abrahams, who worked there, he said, 'This is how well it's doing'—and the office was piled with returns."[20] The single may have been recorded to promote the film, but Warnes pointed out that, in a sense, the success of the film was what sold the record.[15]


"Up Where We Belong" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated August 21 of that year and spent 3 weeks at number one during its 23 weeks there.[12] That same issue also marked its first appearance on the magazine's list of the 50 most popular Adult Contemporary songs in the US, where it stayed for 25 weeks, 6 of which were at its peak position at number three.[23] It also reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart in 1983[24] and received a Gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on January 6, 2023, for reaching sales and streams of 400,000 units.[25] The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the song both Gold and Platinum certification for achieving sales of 500,000 and one million copies, respectively, on January 17, 1989.[22]


Billboard reviewed the single at the time of its release in their July 31 issue. "This unlikely vocal pairing could prove less of a long shot than it sounds, given the recent gains made by other soundtrack associations. Add radio's ongoing affection for strong duets and a restrained performance by Cocker that matches him more sympathetically with Warnes's gentler style, and this track should find friends at A/C and mainstream pop stations."[1] Matthew Greenwald of AllMusic wrote, "A gospel-inspired piece of pop song craftsmanship, the song moves with an underlying grace and subtle beauty. Faith, virtue, and, yes, the power of love is at the lyrical core here, and [the songwriters] convey this with a literate and timeless style. Truly a modern-day pop standard."[26]

Awards and accolades[edit]

On January 29, 1983, Jennings, Nitzsche, and Sainte-Marie won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.[27] Cocker and Warnes won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals on February 23 of that year.[28] Two months later, on April 11, the songwriters won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[29] They also won the BAFTA film award for Best Original Song in 1984.[30] On the Songs of the Century list compiled by the RIAA in 2001, the song was listed at number 323.[12] In 2004, it finished at number 75 on AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema, and in 2016, one of the duo's live renditions of the song was listed at number 18 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 20 Greatest Best Song Oscar Performances.[31] In 2020, it was included on Billboard magazine's list of the 25 Greatest Love Song Duets.[32]

– lead vocals

Joe Cocker

– lead vocals

Jennifer Warnes

– producer

Stewart Levine

– bass

Abraham Laboriel

– drums

Leon "Ndugu" Chancler

– guitar

Louis Shelton

– keyboards

Bobby Lyle

Robbie Buchanan – keyboards

– percussion

Paulinho da Costa

Credits adapted from album liner notes for The Best of Joe Cocker.[43]

Notable cover versions and parodies[edit]

Televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker suggested that BeBe & CeCe Winans, two of the singers from The PTL Club, record "Up Where We Belong" after she heard the original duet in a record store, and Larnelle Harris helped BeBe make the lyrics more appealing to a Christian audience.[71] Their 1984 cover of the song from their album Lord Lift Us Up reached number 27 on the Christian Radio Hits chart[72] issued by SoundScan.[73] The duo rerecorded their gospel version in 1996 for their Greatest Hits album,[74] and their new version won the 1998 GMA Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Song of the Year.[72]


The part of the score of An Officer and a Gentleman that Jennings used in writing the chorus for "Up Where We Belong" can be heard in the final scene of the film in which Gere picks Winger up in his arms and carries her out of the factory past clapping co-workers. The last shot of the film freezes on their exit as the score comes to a big orchestral finish, and the credits start to roll as Cocker and Warnes begin singing the song at the chorus. Although the song itself is heard separately from the final scene, it has often taken the place of the score in send-ups of the grand finale over the years. Films and television shows that have used some variation of "Up Where We Belong" in doing so include Bridget Jones's Baby,[75] The Cleveland Show,[76] Everybody Hates Chris,[77] Family Guy,[78][79][80] Friends,[81] The Goldbergs,[82] The Office,[83] Sabrina the Teenage Witch,[84] Scrubs,[85] The Simpsons,[86] and South Park.[87]

List of number-one singles of 1982 (Canada)

List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1982

List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s

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