I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today

by

The Crusaders

Album: Standing Tall      Released: 1980

US Chart: 97     UK Chart: 61

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The Crusaders were a Jazz/Soul group led by Joe Sample, a piano player who wrote this song with Will Jennings. The Crusaders used many guest vocalists, and Joe Cocker sang lead on this (it appears on his album Ultimate Collection). The message of hope after overcoming difficult times was a good fit for Cocker, who battled alcohol addiction in the '70s. Will Jennings explains:

Joe and I wrote quite a few worthy songs over the years, for guest vocalists for various Crusaders albums, for B.B. and for others. Among them was 'I'm So Glad I'm Standing Here Today' which we wrote - at Mammoth Lakes - for Joe Cocker, who had agreed to guest on the Crusaders Standing Tall album. It seemed like everybody in the music business had written Cocker off - everybody except us - so we wrote a song about survival and triumph, which, I think, helped him survive and triumph."

Jennings, who wrote the lyrics, is grounded in church music, resulting in songs that often allude to a deeper meaning and a higher power. Says Jennings, "My mother and father's families were from Arkansas and the generations before were from the Deep South. My father's father was a Methodist preacher, a circuit rider, in Arkansas. My earliest memories are of the music in church and of my aunts and uncles singing the beautiful old hymns."

This was nominated for a Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance, and Cocker performed a stirring rendition with The Crusaders at the 1981 awards. Says Jennings, "When they performed at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, they brought the people up and the house down. Taylor Hackford was knocked out by the performance and asked me to write a song for An Officer And A Gentleman and Joe Cocker to sing it. All this was greatly facilitated by Joel Sill, the very hip head of the Paramount Music Department. 'I'm So Glad...' started Joe's return and 'Up Where We Belong' completed it. I was very happy to be part of all that and to be working with such great talents. (Thanks to Will Jennings for speaking with us about this song. Read his full interview in the songwriter interviews.)

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