Up Where We Belong 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 Nitsche and Sainte-Marie in creating the structure of the song and added lyrics about the struggles of life and love
Up Where We Belong Jennings presented Hackford with his demo, the director felt it was the perfect fit. According to Musicnotes.com by Alfred Music Publishing, "Up Where We Belong" is written in common time. It is in the key of D major and sung in a vocal range from A to G. The lyrics "tell of the struggles of life and love and the obstacles in the way that we attempt to dodge." Sill described Stewart Levine as the "record producer who we felt would give us the right interpretation of the song, add some soulfulness to it and also make it a hit