4Ever Songs: Joe Smooth ‘Promised Land’

Then, there’s “Promised Land.” Three decades after its release, and after countless late-night airings, the song is a house music staple that has lost little of its power to work its magic on even the most jaded of dancers and the most cynical of revelers. Coming out in 1987 on Chicago’s essential D.J. International label, the original version was credited to Joe Smooth Inc.; later versions shortened that credit to Joe Smooth. And in typically casual early-house nomenclature, it was titled both “The Promised Land” and simply “Promised Land” on the label, with the latter becoming the standard moniker.