| "(Something Inside) So Strong" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Labi Siffre | ||||
| from the album So Strong | ||||
| B-side | "I'm Alright" | |||
| Released | February 1987 | |||
| Genre | R&B, gospel | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | China | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Labi Siffre | |||
| Producer(s) | Glyn Johns | |||
| Labi Siffre singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"(Something Inside) So Strong" is a song written and recorded by British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre. Released as a single in 1987, it was one of the biggest successes of his career, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart.[1]
The song was written in 1984, inspired by a television documentary on apartheid in South Africa seen by Siffre in which white soldiers were filmed shooting at black civilians in the street.[2] He told the BBC's Soul Music programme in 2014 that the song was also influenced by his experience as a homosexual child, adolescent, and adult.[3] Siffre originally intended to give the song to another artist to sing, but could find no one suitable and was persuaded to release it himself.[2]
The song has remained enduringly popular and is an example of the political and sociological thread running through much of Siffre's lyrics and poetry. It won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically,[4] and has been used in Amnesty International campaigns.[5]
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 498. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b Mathur, Paul (August 1989). "So Strong". Spin: 32. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved 2015-05-23.
- ^ "Soul Music, Series 18, Something Inside So Strong". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
Labi Siffre wrote Something Inside So Strong in 1984. Widely believed to have been inspired by seeing film footage from South Africa, of young blacks being shot at by white policeman, he now reveals that the lyrics were also informed by the oppression he had experienced as a homosexual.
- ^ "The Ivors 1988". The Ivors. Archived from the original on March 8, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
- ^ "The power of our voices: List of Additional Human Rights Songs" (PDF). Amnesty.org.UK. Amnesty International. Retrieved June 1, 2024.