"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" is an
R&B song written by Gary Jackson, Raynard Miner, and Carl Smith. It was recorded by
Jackie Wilson for his album
''
Higher and Higher'' (1967), produced by
Carl Davis, and became a Top 10 pop and number one R&B hit.
Overview

The backing track was recorded on July 6, 1967 at
Columbia's studios in Chicago. Produced by
Carl Davis, the session, arranged by
Sonny Sanders, featured bassist
James Jamerson
James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases un ...
, drummer
Richard "Pistol" Allen, guitarist
Robert White, and keyboardist
Johnny Griffith; these four musicians were all members of the
Motown Records
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
house band
The Funk Brothers
The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...
who often moonlighted on sessions for Davis to augment the wages paid by Motown.
According to Carl Davis, the Funk Brothers "used to come over on the weekends from Detroit. They'd load up in the van and come over to Chicago, and I would pay 'em double scale, and I'd pay 'em in cash."
Similarly, two members of Motown's house session singers
The Andantes
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by M ...
, Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow, along with
Pat Lewis (who was filling in for Andantes member Louvain Demps), performed on the session for "Higher and Higher".
Drummer
Maurice White
Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American musician, best known as the founder, leader, main songwriter and chief producer of the band Earth, Wind & Fire, also serving as the band's co-lead singer with Philip Bailey. ...
(better known as a singer for
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling ba ...
) also played on the recording. Motown's
Mike Terry played the baritone saxophone.
The song was originally written by Chess Records' in-house writers and producers Carl Smith and Raynard Miner, and initially recorded by The Dells for the label, but not released. Another writer, Gary Jackson, made some changes to the song and pitched it to Davis at Brunswick. When the singer recorded his vocal track, Davis recalls, Wilson originally sang the song "like a soul ballad. I said that's totally wrong. You have to jump and go with the percussion... If he didn't want to sing it that way, I would put my voice on the record and sell millions." After hearing Davis's advice, Wilson cut the lead vocal for "Higher and Higher" in a single take.
A publishing deal for the song was reached with Brunswick after Chess producer/A&R head, Billy Davis, intervened. Writing credits were agreed, with Smith, Miner, Jackson and Billy Davis all named. Later, Davis removed his credit and BMI now lists the song as by the three other writers. The Dells' version appeared on their album, ''There Is'', for Chess subsidiary Cadet the same year.
Release
Released in August 1967, the song reached number one on the US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
R&B chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...
and, in November, peaked on the ''Billboard''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...
at No. 6. Wilson's version also rose to number 11 and 15 upon the
UK Singles Chart during 1969 and 1987 respectively.
Brunswick Records then released an album titled ''Higher and Higher'' in November 1967. Its chart peak was No. 163 (
''Billboard'' 200) and No. 28 (''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
R&B Albums chart.)
The track was ranked No. 246 on ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' list of
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...
, and was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame
The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...
in 1999.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
In popular culture
Film and television
Wilson's original version and a cover version by singer
Howard Huntsberry were both used in the 1989 comedy film ''
Ghostbusters II
''GhostbustersII'' is a 1989 American Supernatural fiction, supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Ramis, Rick Moranis, Ernie Hudson ...
'', with Huntsberry's version also appearing on
the soundtrack. Wilson's original version was also used in the end credits of the films ''
For Love or Money'', ''
The Bachelor'', ''
The Kid'', ''
Death to Smoochy'', and ''
Date Night'', as well as the
third season of the
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
series ''
Stranger Things
''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...
'' (specifically the episode "
Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt").
Politics
An instrumental version of the song was played for then-Vice President
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
at both the
2012
2012 was designated as:
*International Year of Cooperatives
*International Year of Sustainable Energy for All
Events January
*January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins.
* January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...
and
2016 Democratic National Conventions during his address to the delegates. The song was later played after Biden's first speech as President-elect during the
2020 United States Presidential Election
United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 3, 2020. The Democratic Party (United States), Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and California junior senator Kamala H ...
and his again for his closing address on the opening night of the
2024 Democratic National Convention
The 2024 Democratic National Convention was a United States presidential nominating convention, presidential nominating convention in which delegates of the Democratic Party (United States), United States Democratic Party
voted on their party ...
.
Rita Coolidge version
Rita Coolidge
Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on ''Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...
remade the song as "(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher" for her album ''
Anytime...Anywhere'' (1977). Her version has a more moderate tempo than that of the uptempo original, and largely omits the chorus which is evidenced only in the background vocals sung under the repetition of the first verse with which she closes the song. Coolidge and her sister
Priscilla Coolidge had sung background on a version of the song for a prospective album by Priscilla's husband
Booker T. Jones; when that album was shelved, Coolidge asked him if she could cut the song using his arrangement.
[
]
Released as a single, Coolidge's version became her first major hit in nine years of recording: the track peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' ranked it at No. 1.
"Higher and Higher" also reached No. 1 in Canada. Both the song and a subsequent release, "
We're All Alone", earned Coolidge
gold record
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
s for each selling a million copies.
In the UK it was released as the follow-up single after "We're All Alone" which had reached No. 6, but it only achieved a peak of No. 48 there.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Kevin Borg version
In 2008,
Kevin Borg performed the song, still known as "Higher and Higher", and became the winner of season eight of Sweden's version of ''
Idol''. The version charted in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
, peaking at number twenty-nine.
See also
*
List of ''Cash Box'' Top 100 number-one singles of 1977
References
External links
Lyrics of this song
{{DEFAULTSORT:Higher And Higher
1967 singles
2007 singles
1977 singles
Jackie Wilson songs
Otis Redding songs
Rita Coolidge songs
Bette Midler songs
Cashbox number-one singles
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
The Flying Pickets songs
1967 songs
Brunswick Records singles
A&M Records singles
Northern soul songs
Political party songs
Presidential campaign songs