About The Song
“(Something Inside) So Strong” is Kenny Rogers’ version of Labi Siffre’s 1987 anti-apartheid anthem, recorded for Rogers’ twenty-first studio album Something Inside So Strong. The album was released on Reprise Records in 1989, with recording sessions taking place in 1988–1989 and production overseen mainly by Jim Ed Norman. Rogers’ cut of the song appears in the latter part of the ten-track album, which mixed contemporary country and country-pop and also generated singles such as “When You Put Your Heart in It,” “Planet Texas,” “The Vows Go Unbroken (Always True to You)” and “Maybe.”
The original “(Something Inside) So Strong” was written and first recorded by British singer-songwriter Labi Siffre, released as a single in 1987 from his album So Strong. Siffre has explained in interviews that he wrote it after seeing a television documentary on apartheid in South Africa, showing white soldiers firing on black civilians, and that his own experiences as a Black, gay man also fed into the lyric. The record became one of his biggest hits, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and winning an Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. Over time it has been widely recognised as a song of resistance and dignity and has been used in Amnesty International campaigns.
Rogers’ 1989 album brought the song into a late-1980s Nashville and Los Angeles studio context. Something Inside So Strong was recorded at a network of studios including 16th Avenue Sound, Audio Media, Digital Recorders and MasterMix in Nashville, as well as facilities in Huntsville, Hollywood and Toronto. Jim Ed Norman produced most of the tracks, with Steve Dorff handling one song; session players included pianists Matt Rollings and John Barlow Jarvis and a roster of Nashville rhythm-section musicians. The album has a total running time of about 45 minutes and sits stylistically between country and adult-contemporary pop.
On the Kenny Rogers version, the core lyric is retained almost verbatim. The song addresses an unnamed oppressor who builds “barriers,” takes rights away and hides behind “walls of Jericho,” while the narrator insists that each attempt at suppression only strengthens his determination: “The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become.” The chorus states that there is “something inside so strong” that allows him to endure injustice without losing pride. Later lines speak directly to “brothers and sisters,” urging people who are told they are “just not good enough” to answer, “We’re gonna do it anyway,” turning the song into a collective declaration of resilience.
Musically, Rogers’ recording frames the lyric in a smooth, late-1980s country-pop arrangement. Keyboards and electric piano provide the main harmonic bed, with electric guitars, bass and drums supplying a steady mid-tempo groove. Subtle string or synthesizer pads support the choruses, but there is little in the way of traditional country instrumentation such as fiddle or steel guitar. The production leaves space for Rogers’ voice to sit at the centre, delivering the lines in a measured, slightly rough tone that emphasises the song’s quiet determination rather than turning it into a showpiece ballad.
Within the album campaign, “(Something Inside) So Strong” was issued as one of several singles alongside “When You Put Your Heart in It,” “Planet Texas,” “The Vows Go Unbroken (Always True to You)” and “Maybe.” While it did not become the biggest chart single from the project, it helped define the album’s identity and title. Chart listings for the album itself show Something Inside So Strong reaching the Canadian Country Albums Top 20 and appearing on U.S. Top Country Albums year-end lists in both 1989 and 1990, indicating a solid reception for the project as a whole.
Rogers’ version also fits into a broader pattern of artists covering Siffre’s song across genres, including gospel, reggae and musical theatre. Commentators who discuss the track in the context of his catalogue often note that it brings him back toward the socially aware story-song territory of material like “The Gambler” and “Coward of the County,” but with a more explicitly political and human-rights-oriented text. For listeners exploring his late-1980s work, “(Something Inside) So Strong” stands out as a moment where mainstream country-pop production is used to carry a message about inner strength, resistance and solidarity that originated in the anti-apartheid struggle but speaks more generally to anyone facing discrimination or oppression.
Video
Lyric
The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become
The farther you take my rights away, the faster I will run
You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away
No matter ’cause theres
Something inside (so strong)
I know that I can make it
Though youre doin’ me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone, oh no
Theres something inside (so strong)
Something inside so strong
The more you refuse to hear my voice, the louder I will sing. You hide behind walls of Jericho, your lies will come tumbling. Deny my place and time, you squander wealth that’s mine.My light will shine so brightly it will blind you
Because theres
Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though youre doin’ me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone, oh no
Theres something inside so strong
Something inside so strong
Brothers and sisters, when they insist were just not good enough.Well, we know better, just look ’em in the eyes and say. “Were gonna do it anyway, were gonna do it anyway Were gonna do it anyway”
Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though youre doin’ me wrong, so wrong
You thought that my pride was gone, oh no
Theres something inside so strong
Theres something inside so strong
There’s something inside so strong
Something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
Though youre doing me wrong, so wrong