There were two older but still cool songs played on the soundtrack of this week’s episode of Family Guy – Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys are Back in Town‘, and Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes’ ‘Up Where We Belong‘.
The former as Stewie finds his brother, and the latter being hilariously played towards the end of the episode as Meg and Chris video tape themselves sitting on cup cakes — Family Guy, Season 22, Episode 6, “Boston Stewie“.
Both yet again examples of what a superb job the show’s music supervisors do of choosing songs that compliment the comedy of the show perfectly.
Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes’ ‘Up Where We Belong‘
While Family Guy uses the song in a tongue-in-cheek way, the song was actually released in all seriousness back in 1982 for the hit movie An Officer and a Gentleman.
It was written the iconic writing team of Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings specifically for the film, and then recorded by Cocker and Warnes.
The track went on to not only be associated with one of the film’s most romantic scenes, but also to hit #1 in four countries, including on two charts in the United States and with a #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Up Where We Belong‘ also won Cocker and Warnes a Grammy Award the following year, as well as an Oscar for the writing team.
And while some radio stations quite spitefully refused to play the song (come on, a couple of spins won’t kill ya), even going as far as returning the record to the record label, the soft rock song still went on to be certified Platinum in the U.S.
Listen to Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes’ ‘Up Where We Belong‘ from the new episode of Family Guy in the video of a live performance the pair gave of the song in 1983, and via Spotify.
Sure, it might sound a little cheesy, especially to the more modern ear but, hell, it’s still so damned pretty.