I Have a Dream (song)


"I Have a Dream" is a song by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was featured on side one of the group's sixth studio album Voulez-Vous and released as a single in December 1979. The single became a big hit, topping the charts in many countries and peaking at No. 2 in the UK over the Christmas week of 1979. Twenty years later, Irish pop group Westlife released a version of the song which reached No. 1 in the UK over the Christmas week of 1999.

Overview

The song was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus in 1976 and was taken from the group's 1979 album, Voulez-Vous. Anni-Frid Lyngstad sang the lead vocals. It was released as a single in December 1979 with a live version of "Take a Chance on Me" as the B-side. The recording is notable for being the only ABBA song to include vocalists other than the four band members; the final chorus features a children's choir from the International School of Stockholm. In the UK, "I Have a Dream" was held off the No. 1 spot by Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall", which also features a children's choir. "I Have a Dream" is included on the ' album as well as in the Mamma Mia! musical.
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 inner gatefold made use of the pyramid/mountain/iceberg designs similar to those used in the inner sleeve of Greatest Hits Vol. 2. The inner gatefold was effectively an advert for ABBA's existing albums released in the UK, but 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 artwork and fonts were different. This was only Epic's second picture sleeve for an ABBA single.
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 '. Finally, a third mix was included on ABBA Live issued in 1986.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Westlife version

Irish boy band Westlife released a cover of "I Have a Dream" in December 1999, twenty 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 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. 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 and spending seventeen weeks in the UK chart. 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 680,000 copies sold across physical, digital, and streaming equivalent sales. It is the band's second best selling single of all-time on both paid-for and combined sales categories.

Tours performed at

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.
As of 2019, the video has reached 34 million views on YouTube.

Track listing

  1. "I Have a Dream" – 4:06
  2. "Seasons in the Sun" – 4:10
  3. "On the Wings of Love" – 3:22
  1. "Flying Without Wings" - 3:35
  2. "I Have a Dream" - 4:06
  3. "Seasons in the Sun" - 4:10
  4. "Flying Without Wings" - 3:40
  1. "Flying Without Wings" - 3:35
  2. "I Have a Dream" - 4:06

    Chart performance

Weekly charts

Country Peak
position
Danish Airplay Chart4

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Other cover versions