This song, written by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, has an interesting and touching etiology.  The two wrote the song after Kenny’s father had a serious heart problem and didn’t’ know what to do about it. So they came up with this song about a man who is suffering terrible pain, looks to find his miracle and needs to “stand up and fight.”

After Loggins won a Grammy for the song in 1980 (Best Male Pop Vocal) he played it for his father, who lived 4 more years.  Says Kenny Loggins of this song …

“The best musical statements are usually the ones that aren’t calculated and the ones that come out in the largest chunks. Michael McDonald and I must have written ‘This Is It’ four times. The first three times it was a love song, ‘Baby I this, baby I that…,’ and we both said, ‘Eh! This is boring. This song is not working as a love song.’

Then I had a fight with my dad when he was going into the hospital because he gave me the feeling that he was ready to check out. He’d given up, he wasn’t thinking in terms of the future, and I was so pissed at him. It was real emotional. That afternoon, I was meeting with Michael to work on new tunes and I walked in and said, ‘Man, I got it. It’s “This Is It”.’ And Michael said, ‘This is it?’ I said, ‘Trust me. This is it.’ But that one took a while.

And then one review said it was your average boy-girl song and the writer didn’t understand why people were making such a big deal out of it. The fact of the matter was, he didn’t understand the song and it didn’t move him because he wasn’t in a situation to be moved. But immediately after that, I got a letter from a girl who had just recently gotten out of the hospital from a life-and-death situation and that was her anthem. She was holding onto it. That means so much more to me. She hadn’t read the press about my father or anything. All she knew was that the song was on the nose for her, exactly what Michael and I intended. That makes you feel like you’re doing something important.”

This Is It
Kenny Loggins

There’ve been times in my life
I’ve been wonderin’ why
Still, somehow I believed we’d always survive
Now, I’m not so sure
You’re waiting here, one good reason to try
But, what more can I say? what’s left to provide?

Are you gonna wait for a sign, your miracle?
Stand up and fight

Make no mistake where you are
(This is it)
You back’s to the corner
(This is it)
Don’t be a fool anymore
(This is it)

The waiting is over, no where to run
No where to hide
No time for wonderin’ why
It’s here, the moment is now, about to decide
Let ’em believe
Leave ’em behind
But keep me near in your heart
Know whatever you do, I’m here by your side

For once in your life, here’s your miracle
Stand up and fight

Make no mistake where you are.
(This is it)
You’re goin’ no further
(This is it)
Until it’s over and done.
(No one can tell what the future holds)
Oh oh oh oh.
(Who makes the choice of how it goes?)
It’s not up to me this time.
(You know)
Comes a day in every life
(This is it)

Make no mistake where you are
(This is it)
You’re goin’ no further
(This is it)
Until it’s over and done
(This is it)
One way or another
(This is it)
(No one can tell what the future holds)
(This is it)
Your back’s to the corner
(This is it)
(You make the choice of how it goes)
(This is it)
(No one can tell what the future holds)
(This is it)
One way or another

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Loggins Kenneth Clark / Mc Donald Michael H
This Is It lyrics © Milk Money Music, Tauripin Tunes