End of my Journey (song)

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End Of My Journey is a song originally written under several different names and arrangements.

The core of the song was originally a traditional created in 1933 titled "He'll Understand and Say Well Done" and written by Lucie Campbell (full name Lucie Eddie Campbell), a well-known Baptist composer, educator and human rights activist from Tennessee.

This version has been covered by a number of artists for many decades, including The Rebels w/ Jim Hamill, Hank Snow, Johnny Cash, The Famous Davis Sisters of Philadelphia, Delores "Mom" Winans, Ferlin Husky, the duet of Donald Vails & Debbie Steele Hayden, and Ernest Tubb among many others.

In 1953, S.R. Crain (full name Roy Crain, or Senior Roy Crain), who was a first tenor in the soul group The Soul Stirrers, retitled and rearranged the song as "End Of My Journey". With Sam Cooke as the lead singer, they recorded the song on February 17th, 1953 by J.W. Alexander at Universal Recorders in Hollywood under the group name "Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers".

It is listed on the 45rpm record as Specialty 851, with the flipside as "He'll Welcome Me".

In 1990, the song was then rearranged again, with a totally different tempo and lyrics (and only using the chorus from the original song) for the 1990 US film "Cadence," starring Charlie Sheen, his brother Ramón Luis Estévez, Lawrence Fishburne and Martin Sheen (outside the United States the film is known as "Stockade").

In the film the song is featured two times: it is sung by the actual actor/singer Harry Stewart on a piano in a church and the entire song is used over the end credits, again with Harry as singer.

Since the soundtrack to the film was never released (and possibly due to legal issues) it is difficult to find a recorded version of this song that not has been burned from the audio portion of the DVD release by those who want the song for it's even more powerful lyrics. As the only instrument used is a piano in the film, the singer's voice evokes a deeper tone to the song itself and it is this version that is most valued among collectors.