"I Have a Dream" | ||||
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Single by ABBA | ||||
from the album Voulez-Vous | ||||
B-side |
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Released | 7 December 1979 [1] | |||
Recorded | March 1979 | |||
Studio | Polar, Stockholm, Sweden | |||
Genre | Euro-pop [2] | |||
Length | 4:45 | |||
Label | Polar Music | |||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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ABBA singles chronology | ||||
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Lyric video | ||||
"ABBA - I Have A Dream (Official Lyric Video)" on YouTube |
"I Have a Dream" is a song by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in December 1979 as the fourth international and final single from the group's sixth studio album, Voulez-Vous . Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang lead vocals. It was a major hit, topping the charts in many countries and peaking at No. 2 in the UK over the Christmas week of 1979. The single was in fact released after the non-album single Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) and after the release of the compilation Greatest Hits Vol. 2 - which didn't include "I Have a Dream".
Twenty years later, Irish pop group Westlife released a version of "I Have a Dream" that reached No. 1 in the UK over the Christmas week of 1999.
"I Have a Dream" is included on the ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits album as well as in the Mamma Mia! musical.
"I Have a Dream" was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus circa March 1979 and was taken from the group's 1979 album, Voulez-Vous . Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang the lead vocals. The track was released as a single in December 1979 with a live version of "Take a Chance on Me" as the B-side.
The recording includes a final chorus by 28 children from Stockholm International School. The song was the only ABBA track to feature additional vocalists in addition to the members of ABBA, until "Little Things" in 2021. Also notable is the extensive use of electric sitar (played by Janne Schaffer), an unusual instrument in their recordings.
In the UK, the single was issued in a lavish gatefold sleeve, intended as a souvenir for UK fans who had attended the Wembley concerts. The back cover featured a message from ABBA themselves regarding the Wembley concerts, together with their signatures. The front cover used the same live photo of ABBA as the worldwide release, but the layout and fonts were different. This was only Epic's second picture sleeve for an ABBA single.
As of September 2021, "I Have a Dream" is ABBA's 12th-biggest song in the UK, including both physical sales and digital streams. [3]
The live version of "Take a Chance on Me" on the B-side was one of three mixes of the same recording to be issued. Released soon after the concerts, this version is thought to be the genuine recording. A very slightly extended version, featuring spoken introductions from the group, was used as the B-side in Australia. This extended version has been released internationally on the deluxe edition of ABBA: The Album . Finally, a third mix was included on ABBA Live issued in 1986.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Netherlands (NVPI) [20] | Gold | 100,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [21] | Gold | 500,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
"I Have a Dream" | ||||
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Single by Cristy Lane | ||||
from the album I Have a Dream | ||||
B-side | "Rio Grande" | |||
Released | December 1980 | |||
Recorded | October 1980 | |||
Studio | LSI Studio | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:52 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | ||||
Cristy Lane singles chronology | ||||
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American country and Christian artist Cristy Lane notably covered "I Have a Dream" in 1980. Lane had several years of commercial success in the country music market with songs like "Let Me Down Easy", "Penny Arcade" and "Simple Little Words". In 1980, she recorded the religious-themed "One Day at a Time", which became a number one hit and brought Lane to the attention of Christian music listeners. [23] With a similar theme, Lane recorded "I Have a Dream" in October 1980, shortly after the success of "One Day at a Time". The track was cut at LSI Studios and was produced by Jerry Gillespie, with assistance from executive producer Don Grierson. In the same recording session, the songs "Rio Grande" and "You Make It Easy" were also cut. [24]
Lane's cover was released as a single in December 1980 via Liberty Records and LS Records. It was backed by the B-side, "Rio Grande", and was released as a 7" vinyl record. [24] "I Have a Dream" spent multiple weeks on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between December 1980 and early 1981 before peaking at number 17. It was Lane's final top 20 hit single on the chart in her music career. [25] It also became her second single to chart in New Zealand, where it reached number 34 in 1981. [26] The song was later released on her 1981 studio album of the same name. The album included the original single's B-side as well. [22] Lane's cover received a positive review from Billboard magazine in their December 1980 issue. Reviewers described the track as having "a rich south of the border undercurrent" while praising its production, calling it "crystalline." [27]
7" vinyl single [24]
Chart (1980–81) | Peak position |
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New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) [27] | 34 |
US Hot Country Singles ( Billboard ) [25] | 17 |
"I Have a Dream" | ||||
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Single by Westlife | ||||
from the album Coast to Coast and ABBAmania | ||||
A-side |
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Released | 13 December 1999 [28] | |||
Studio | PWL Studios (London) | |||
Length | 4:06 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) |
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Westlife singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"I Have a Dream" on YouTube |
Irish boy band Westlife released a cover of "I Have a Dream" in December 1999, 20 years after ABBA's original release. The song became the group's fourth UK number-one single. The release was a double A-side with "Seasons in the Sun" in the UK and Ireland and "Flying Without Wings" in the Netherlands, and a triple A-side in Australia with both "Seasons in the Sun" and "Flying Without Wings" included. [29] The release became the UK's Christmas number-one single of 1999, beating Cliff Richard's charity single "The Millennium Prayer" into the No. 2 spot. Westlife's remix version of "I Have a Dream" was later included on their second studio album Coast to Coast in 2000. It then extended its peak into January 2000, spending a total of 17 weeks on the UK chart. [30] The song was the 26th best-selling single of 1999 in the UK and it was also the final number one single of the 1990s.
In 2001, as part of a UNICEF fund-raising campaign, the song was re-recorded with additional vocals by Indonesian child singer, Sinna Sherina Munaf. The song has received a platinum sales certification in the UK for over 707,000 copies (as of 30 November 2021) sold across physical, digital, and streaming equivalent sales. It is the band's second-best-selling single for both paid-for and combined sales. [31]
The music video for the Westlife version of "I Have a Dream" features the band exiting out of a car and into a dark street where a group of children are. The children start singing with the band members and play with toys lying nearby before the band head back to the car and drive away.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
New Zealand (RMNZ) [47] | Gold | 5,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [48] | Platinum | 600,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2014) |
ABBA were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the best-selling music acts in the history of popular music.
Seasons in the Sun is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 Belgian song Le Moribond by singer-songwriter Jacques Brel, with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by singer-poet Rod McKuen, depicting a dying man's farewell to his loved ones. It became a worldwide hit in 1974 for singer Terry Jacks and reached Christmas number one in the UK in 1999 for Westlife.
"Flying Without Wings" is a song by Irish boy band Westlife, released on 18 October 1999 as the third single from their self-titled debut studio album (1999). It is the band's fourth-best-selling single on both paid-for and combined sales in the United Kingdom as of January 2019.
The discography of Swedish pop music group ABBA consists of nine studio albums, two live albums, seven compilation albums, four box sets, five video albums, 50 singles, and 43 music videos. To date, ABBA have sold more than 150 million records worldwide becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history. They have scored 9 No. 1 singles and 10 No. 1 albums in the UK, becoming the most successful Swedish act of all time on the Official Charts.
"Super Trouper" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA, and the title track from their 1980 studio album of the same name, written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It was released in November 1980 as the album's third single, reaching number 1 in several countries. It was the group's ninth and final no.1 on the UK Singles Chart and the fourth best-selling single in the UK that year, selling over 700 000 copies in that country alone.
"Fernando" is a song written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, from the Swedish musical group ABBA. The song was written for their fellow group member Anni-Frid Lyngstad and was included on her 1975 album Frida ensam.
"The Name of the Game" is a 1977 song by Swedish pop group ABBA, released as the first single from the group's fifth studio album, ABBA: The Album (1977). It became a UK number one, topping the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in November 1977.
"Chiquitita" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in January 1979 as the first single from Voulez-Vous (1979), the group's sixth album. Agnetha Fältskog performs the lead vocals. Originally, the track "If It Wasn't for the Nights" was going to be the album's lead single, but after "Chiquitita" was completed these plans were abandoned, and it remained an album track.
"You Raise Me Up" is a song composed by Rolf Løvland and written by Brendan Graham. It was first recorded by Secret Garden, in collaboration with Brian Kennedy. Although the original version was not a major hit, the song has since been recorded by more than a hundred other artists, most notably American singer Josh Groban in 2003 and Irish group Westlife in 2005.
"The Winner Takes It All" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. Released as the first single from the group's seventh studio album, Super Trouper (1980), it is a ballad in the key of G-flat major, reflecting on the end of a relationship. The single's B-side was the non-album track "Elaine". The song peaked at No.1 in several countries, including the UK, where it became their eighth chart-topper. It was also the group's final top 10 hit in the United States. It was written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, with Agnetha Fältskog singing the lead vocal.
"Lay All Your Love on Me" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA for their seventh studio album, Super Trouper (1980). The song was not intended to be a single but after a remixed version gained popularity in nightclubs, the song was released as the album's sixth and final single in the summer of 1981, eight months after the album's release. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at No. 7.
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! " is a song by Swedish band ABBA. It was recorded in August 1979 to help promote their North American and European tour of that year, and was released on ABBA's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 album as a brand new track.
"Honey, Honey" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released as the second single from their second studio album, Waterloo, after the success of the title track at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.
American country and Christian music artist Cristy Lane has released 18 studio albums, 23 compilation albums, one video album, one music video, 33 singles and appeared on one album. Lane first recorded for various labels in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Lane's husband formed his own label titled LS Records and she recorded exclusively for the company. In 1977, Lane had her first charting singles on the Billboard country songs chart. This was followed by 1977's "Let Me Down Easy," which reached the top ten and became her first major country hit. She had further top ten country hits that year with "I'm Gonna Love You Anyway" and "Penny Arcade". Her first LS album was released in 1978 titled Cristy Lane Is the Name and featured her major hits from the year. In 1978, she had a top five hit with the single "I Just Can't Stay Married to You" and it appeared on her next studio album titled Love Lies. The album was her first to reach the Billboard country albums chart. In 1979, Lane switched to United Artists Records and had three more hits, including the top ten country single "Simple Little Words".
"Miss You" is a popular song written by Jake Schulze and Rami Yacoub. It was originally recorded as a ballad, by the Irish boy band Westlife, but was never released as a single. In 2008, it was remade as a dance track by Swedish musician Basshunter becoming a hit single for him as "I Miss You" in 2008, notably in the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden.
"Andante, Andante" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA for the album Super Trouper. It was released as a single in only two countries, El Salvador and Argentina. It was written by members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus on 9 April 1980 at Polar Music studios. Initially, this song was called "Hold Me Close". Anni-Frid Lyngstad handles the lead vocals.
"Miss You Nights" is a song written by Dave Townsend and made famous worldwide by Cliff Richard. The song has been recorded by numerous other artists, most notably Westlife, who released it as the second track on a double A-side single in 2003. The Westlife single reached number 3 in the UK singles chart.
"Love to Love You" is a song written by David Heavener that was originally recorded by American Christian and country singer Cristy Lane. In 1981, it was released as a single on Liberty Records and became a top 30 charting hit on the North American country charts. "Love to Love You" was released on Lane's corresponding album titled I Have a Dream.
I Have a Dream is a studio album by American Christian and country singer Cristy Lane. It was released in February 1981 via Liberty and LS Records and contained ten tracks. It was the sixth studio effort of Lane's recording career and the first to be issued with the Liberty Records. The project's title track became a top 20 hit on the American country chart in 1981 and the album also reached charting positions itself.
One Day at a Time is a studio album by American Christian and country music singer Cristy Lane. It was first released in December 1981 via LS Records. It was Lane's eighth studio project in her music career and her first album of entirely Christian material. Included on the album was Lane's number one single, "One Day at a Time", along with covers of various gospel hymns. The record charted in various countries following its 1981 release.
...a pair of soft, lyrical Europop-style ballads, "I Have a Dream" and "Chiquitita," both of which proved as popular...