Songfacts®:

• Sister Rosetta Tharpe popularized "Up Above My Head," but the first group to record the song were The Southern Sons, who did it in 1941 with the title variant "Up Above My Head I Hear Music In The Air." They were led by William Langford, who came from the Golden Gate Quartet, which formed in 1934 and remains extant with an ever-changing lineup.
  
  The version that stands as the standard today is the one Tharpe recorded with Marie Knight on November 24, 1947 and released the following year. They were in New York City and recorded with Decca Records. Tharpe played guitar and sang in the call-and-response style that was popular with early African American music. In call-and-response songs, one vocalist sings a few words that a second vocalist immediately echoes. Tharpe and Knight follow the format for six verses, then join together in a duet for the seventh. The Sam Price Trio backed Tharpe and Knight, with George "Pops" Foster on bass, Sam Price on piano, and Wallace Bishop on drums. In live performances, Tharpe usually sang all parts herself.
  
  The Tharpe and Knight version hit #6 on the Billboard Race Records Chart, which was what they called the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart from 1945 to 1949.
• It's widely believed that "Up Above My Head" grew out of a spiritual titled "Over My Head," which goes back at least as far as the 19th century, but its precise origins are unknown. The two songs share a marked similarity in lyrics.
  
  The 1941 recording by The Southern Sons is credited as traditional, but on Tharpe's version she claimed the writer credit, and every subsequent version has her listed as the writer.
• Rod Stewart's recording debut came on a cover of "Up Above My Head." It was June 1964, and he was with Long John Baldry And The Hoochie Coochie Men. Stewart sang on the track but wasn't credited. Baldry released it as the B-side to a cover of Willie Dixon's "You'll Be Mine." At the same time Stewart was doing this song, he was also launching his solo career.
• In 1976, The Trammps alluded to this song in "Disco Inferno":
  
  Up above my head, I hear music in the air
  That makes me know there's a party somewhere
  
  It's the same general concept as Tharpe's original, except that in 1976, Heaven included mirror balls, sequin jackets, and pistol-fingered dancing.
• Frankie Lane and Johnnie Ray had a hit in the UK with their cover of this song in 1956. Released as a single with "Good Evening Friends" as the B-side, it reached #25 on the UK Singles Chart.
• Al Hirt covered the song on his 1964 album, Sugar Lips. His version hit #84 on the Hot 100 and #12 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. A year later he included a live version on Live at Carnegie Hall, which was produced by Chet Atkins, one of the three men credited with creating the "Nashville sound." Hirt was best known as a trumpet player, but he also sings on his rendition.
• Elvis Presley performed the song as part of a medley for a 1968 TV special Elvis. He wove it into "Saved" and "Where Could I Go But To The Lord."
• British reggae band Matumbi covered the song on their 1978 debut album, Seven Seals.
• Rhiannon Giddens, founding member of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, covered "Up Above My Head" on her 2015 solo album Tomorrow Is My Turn.