"Born to Be Alive" | |
---|---|
Single by Patrick Hernandez | |
from the album Born to Be Alive | |
B-side | "I Give You Rendez-Vous" (UK) "Born to Be Alive (Instrumental)" (various European countries) "It Comes So Easy" (Japan) "Too Many People" (elsewhere) |
Released | November 1978 |
Genre | Disco [1] |
Length | 3:05 (European Single Version) 3:23 (Single version) 5:55 (Album Version) 7:42 (Extended Version) |
Label | Aquarius (most European countries) Gem (UK) Philips (Japan) Columbia/CBS (elsewhere) |
Songwriter(s) | Patrick Hernandez |
Producer(s) | Jean Vanloo |
"Born to Be Alive" is a song written by French singer Patrick Hernandez. It became a worldwide hit and reached number one on the US Billboard National Disco Action chart in early 1979. The song achieved gold status in the United States.
Original version
| Born to Be Alive (re-mix '88)
Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [40] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil) [41] | Gold | 200,000 [41] |
Canada (Music Canada) [42] | Platinum | 150,000^ |
France | — | 1,400,000 [43] |
Germany (BVMI) [44] | Gold | 950,000 [45] |
Italy | — | 300,000 [46] |
Netherlands | — | 100,000 [47] |
United Kingdom (BPI) [48] | Silver | 250,000^ |
United States (RIAA) [49] | Gold | 1,000,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Disco Kings covered the song in 2005. Their version reached number seven in Finland, number 43 in France, number 66 in Austria and number 78 in Germany. [50] A music video set to the song using footage from Adolf Hitler's many rallies and speeches became a viral hit on the Internet. [51]
Elisapie featured an Inuktitut translation of the song, "Inuuniaravit," on her 2023 album Inuktitut . [52]
An up and coming jamband quartet named "Off World Vehicle" covered the song during a show in Atlanta Georgia at Aisle 5 on May 26th 2023. Their rendition lasted over 10 minutes and included all parts of the original extended single release of the track from 1979 OWVband . [53]
"Funkytown" is a song by American disco-funk group Lipps Inc., written and produced by Steven Greenberg and released by Casablanca Records in March 1980 as the second single from the group's 1979 debut studio album Mouth to Mouth.
"I Shot the Sheriff" is a song written by Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and released in 1973 with his band the Wailers.
"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a song recorded by American vocal quartet Four Tops from their fourth studio album, Reach Out (1967). Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most widely-known Motown hits of the 1960s and is today considered the Four Tops' signature song.
"Venus" is a song by Dutch rock band Shocking Blue, released as a single in the Netherlands in the summer of 1969. Written by Robbie van Leeuwen, the song topped the charts in nine countries.
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in December 1977 by RSO Records as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The band co-produced the song with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004, "Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 by Rolling Stone on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004, it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song.
"Tears in Heaven" is a song by English guitarist, singer, and songwriter Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, written about the death of Clapton's four-year-old son, Conor. It appeared on the 1991 Rush film soundtrack. In January 1992, Clapton performed the song in front of an audience at Bray Studios, Berkshire, England for MTV Unplugged, with the recording appearing on his Unplugged album.
"In the Summertime" is the debut single by British rock band Mungo Jerry, released in 1970. It reached number one in charts around the world, including seven weeks on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks on one of the Canadian charts, and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US. It became one of the best-selling singles of all-time, eventually selling 30 million copies. Written and composed by the band's lead singer, Ray Dorset, while working in a lab for Timex, the lyrics of the song celebrate the carefree days of summer. The track was included on the second album by the band, Electronically Tested, issued in March 1971.
"Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It was featured on the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.
"Run to You" is a song performed by American singer and actress Whitney Houston, released on June 21, 1993, by Arista Records as the fourth single from The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (1992). It was written by Jud Friedman and Allan Rich, and produced by David Foster. Originally intended to be a break-up song, it was approved by the production and stars. However, a month later, the director of The Bodyguard called, saying he liked the song so much, but he'd rather have it to be a love song so the entire song was rewritten, except for the title.
"Those Were the Days" is a song composed by Boris Fomin (1900–1948) but credited to Gene Raskin, who put a new English lyric to Fomin's Russian romance song "Dorogoi dlinnoyu", with words by the poet Konstantin Podrevsky. It deals with reminiscence upon youth and romantic idealism. It also deals with tavern activities, which include drinking, singing and dancing.
"All for Love" is a song written by Bryan Adams, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, and Michael Kamen for the soundtrack The Three Musketeers: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. It is performed by Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting. The power ballad was released as a CD single in the United States on November 16, 1993, by A&M and Hollywood. It was a worldwide hit, reaching number one across Europe, in Australia and in North America.
"Ring My Bell" is a 1979 disco song written by Frederick Knight. The song was originally written for eleven-year-old Stacy Lattisaw as a teenybopper song about children talking on the telephone. When Lattisaw signed with a different label, American singer and musician Anita Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became her only major hit.
"Addicted to Love" is a song by English rock singer Robert Palmer released in 1986. It is the third song on Palmer's eighth studio album Riptide (1985) and was released as its second single. The single version is a shorter edit of the full-length album version.
"Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" is a song recorded by Meco, taken from the album Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 1, 1977, holding on to the spot for two weeks and peaked at no. 7 on the UK Singles Chart, remaining in the charts for nine weeks. The single was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold a million units.
"Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)", initially released as "European Queen (No More Love on the Run)", is a 1984 song by Trinidadian-British singer Billy Ocean. Co-written and produced by Keith Diamond, it climbed to number one on both the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Billboard Black Singles chart, and number six on the UK Singles Chart. The song won Ocean the 1985 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, making him the first British artist to win in that category.
"Hold On Tight" is a song written and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). The song is track twelve on the band's 1981 album Time and was the first song released as a single. The song went top ten in most countries, hitting the top spot in Spain and Switzerland, number two in Germany, number four in the UK, and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's seventh and last top 10 hit, as well as number two on the US Billboard Top Tracks chart the week of 12 September 1981. A verse sung in French, which is a reprise of the first verse, translates as "Hold on to your dream, Hold on to your dream, When you see your ship leaving, When you feel your heart breaking, Hold on to your dream".
"September" is a song by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire released as a single in 1978 on ARC/Columbia Records. Initially included as a track for The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1, "September" was very successful commercially and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot R&B Songs chart, No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The song remains a staple of the band's body of work and has been sampled, covered, remixed, and re-recorded numerous times.
"Bailando" is a song by Belgian group Paradisio. It was released in 1996 as the lead single from their debut album, Paradisio. The song is produced by Patrick Samoy and Luc Rigaux and reached number-one in Italy, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. It peaked at number 2 in Belgium. In Sweden, it was the best selling single by being triple platinum. The song was a hit in most countries across Europe during the summer of 1997.
"And the Beat Goes On" is a 1979 single by the American music group The Whispers. The song was their first of two number-one singles on the Soul chart, and their first Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 19. "And the Beat Goes On" was the group's only number-one song on the dance chart. It was also their first and biggest hit in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The song also peaked at number 27 on the Canadian RPM chart.
American singer Whitney Houston, known as "The Voice", released 57 singles as a leading artist and 4 as a featured artist. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with over 220 million records sold worldwide. In the United States, Houston amassed 11 Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, all of whom have been certified either gold, platinum, multi-platinum or diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America and was one of a selected group of artists to have a top ten single in the Billboard Hot 100 in four different decades. She is currently ranked in seventh place of the artists with the most number one singles in the history of the Billboard Hot 100. Prior to the introduction of digital singles, Houston sold 16.5 million physical singles in the country, the most ever by a female recording artist. In October 2012, the Official Charts Company claimed Houston was the fourth biggest-selling female singles artist of all time with a sales total of 8.5 million singles in that country.