It's a pretty fascinating story about how that song came together & well worth digging into. Briefly, the execs at Paramount wanted to release a single to promote the film but didn't have any money. The director, Taylor Hackford,got involved, which led to him consulting a friend who used to work @ Warner Bros records & at the time had just begun managing Jennifer Warnes. Jennifer immediately said she wanted to perform a duet w/ Joe Cocker. They convinced Hackford & others that the contrast of their smooth/rough voices would parallel the characters Winger & Gere were portraying. The music was already there as part of the score that had been written. They spliced the song together from existing parts, added some lyrics & there it was. Cocker had to be coaxed to record the song in the studio w/ Warnes. He was terrified at first, but they nailed it in a couple takes. Hackford loved it & and knew it was the perfect song for the ending of his film. The studio execs thought it was garbage & tried to force Hackford to use 'On the Wings of Love' by Jeffrey Osborne. It was only because they were out of money & time that Hackford was allowed to get his way.