B-side "Burch Magic" Format 7" vinyl Genre Pop | Released October 1976 Recorded 1976 | |
Length 3:20 (single version)
3:43 (album version) | ||
"Stand Tall" is the title of an international hit single by Burton Cummings, taken from his eponymous debut album. The song was released less than two years after "Dancin' Fool", the final hit single by the group for which Cummings had been lead singer, The Guess Who.
The recording was issued as the album's lead single in the fall of 1976, spending 21 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 and reaching number 10. The song reached number five on the US Cash Box Top 100, and spent four weeks at number four in Canada. The song became a Gold record.
"Stand Tall" was an even bigger Adult Contemporary hit, reaching number two in the US and spending one week at number one in Canada. It was kept from the number-one position on the US AC chart by the Captain and Tennille's hit, "Muskrat Love".
While the song was climbing the charts, Casey Kasem reported on American Top 40 that shortly following Cummings' departure from The Guess Who to pursue a solo career, his girlfriend of 12 years left him for another man. "Stand Tall" was born from him taking his frustration, challenges and despondency to the piano and forging the melody there.
In his native Canada, Burton Cummings was nominated for the Juno Award for 1977 Composer of the Year for "Stand Tall".