Abba - I Have A Dream

Abba visited Madrid in Spain on May 27-28 1979 to record 2 tv shows at the Roma Studios. The first show was "300 Millones" introduced by Spanish actress Paca Gabaldon in which they performed I Have A Dream (this video), Does Your Mother Know, Voulez-Vous and Chiquitita (in Spanish). The second show was "Aplauso" introduced by Silvia Tortosa in which they performed Does Your Mother Know, Chiquitita (in Spanish) and Voulez-Vous. The two programs were shown in Spain and Spanish speaking countries in South America in June.
The release of I Have A Dream coincided with the International Year Of The Child in 1979, and fittingly Abba decided to use 40 pupils from the children's choir of the International School of Stockholm to enhance the chorus. Benny recalls: "We sang it on tour in the States that autumn, and arranged for a children's choir to take part in the show in every city we performed in. They were sent the song in advance, they rehearsed and they came on stage singing it. I Have A Dream is as bit more folky, it's a song which marks a bit of a move back towards the schlager tradtion. There is a sitar playing which gives the song a very Greek feel, it sounds like a bouzouki. It's a sitar guitar being played by Janne Schaffer, the guitarist who worked with us from the beginning. The electric sitar looks like a guitar but there is something about the way that the strings are mounted that gives it that distinctive biting noise. It's wonderful to have good instruments to hand because when it comes to creating sounds you don't want to use the same sounds everybody else is using. We had 32 tracks in later years, we needed extra space for all the backing vocals and the synthesizer stuff that I wanted to add."
Bjorn says: "I Have A Dream was an attempt to modernise folklore with that kids choir. There were many who thought the choir was a bit over the top, but I don't agree - it felt right to have them there and it did work somehow. The choir goes well with the Italian-like melody and the lyrics sound positive. The choirs were of varying qualities. In some cities they had interpreted the children concept a bit generously, they were just as tall as we were! I've encountered a few people in America since who come up and say 'I was in that choir that year in that place'. 'Good' I always say 'I remember you...'.
I had forgotten where we had found the children's choir for the recording of I Have A Dream. Many years later I sent my two daughters Emma and Anna to the International School of Stockholm where they could be taught in English, because we had been living in England. The first time I went into the school I saw a large picture on the wall of Abba with a bunch of kids and it dawned on me that this school was where we had found the children's choir back in 1979. We had specifically wanted British and American children, so that they had the right pronounciation. On the tour of the States, my 6 year old daughter Linda first came out to sing with the local choir when we played Las Vegas. And 20 years later she appeared as Elin in our musical Kristina. She had told me that working in the theatre was the only thing she could contemplate doing."
I Have A Dream was recorded on March 27 1979 and had the working title "I Know A Song". It was released on the album Voulez-Vous on April 23 1979 and as the 4th single from it on December 5 1979 as a commemorative follow-up to Abba's concert tour of North America and Europe, with a live version of Take A Chance On Me from Wembley as the B-side. Top 10 positions were: Austria 1, Belgium 1, Cyprus 1, Holland 1, Ireland 2, South Afica 3, Switzerland 1, UK 2, West Germany 4 and Zimbabwe 7. A Spanish version called Estoy Soñando was recorded in September 1979 and also released as a single, reaching the top 5 in Argentine and Mexico and #9 in Spain. The final verse was sung in Japanese by a guest choir on the concert tour of Japan in March 1980.

Featuring: International School of Stockholm Children's Choir

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a fantasy
To help me through reality
And my destination makes it worth the while
Pushing through the darkness still another mile
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of a fairy tale
You can take the future even if you fail
I believe in angels
Something good in everything I see
I believe in angels
When I know the time is right for me
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream
I'll cross the stream - I have a dream

Category:

Music

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• Abba

[nurbee77]

Its an amazing song...i love it so much

[abbafanglosuk]

Yes its beautiful and inspirational, and gives us all hope when we need it!

[missbeauty58]

Wow this was amazing and you have done a good job.

I love this song so much.

5 stars*

Love Carina XXX

[abbafanglosuk]

Thanks Carina - I spent a bit more time on the video to simplify the opening and enhance the impact, reducing the credits from 30 secs to 5 secs, but the song and performance were great already! - love from John xxx

[jennysparkspink]

Thanks very much for posting this video nd sharing itwith everyone on YouTube. Their music is still really great today!!

[abbafanglosuk]

Thanks Kyndal - and Mamma Mia has helped bring it to a whole new generation to discover - hopefully Faith as well!

[faeloiza]

Nossa, linda demais essa musica.

[Camelea7]

Very nice video, I love Abba. Your channel is precious. Now I can become to your channel to hear Abba songs. Congratulations, to you!!!!

[abbafanglosuk]

Thanks Wiesiek, yes this is often a suitable song for sad events like that. I had been sitting on this one for a while, and finally decided to do it last weekend. I think there was an angel telling me it was needed for someone special. I'm sure Dallas would love it too, he was often among the first to comment and made some dreams come true and will be sorely missed by us all - cheers from John.

[WIESIEK58]

Masterpiece John. I think its may be for memory to our common friend - Dallas Holm. Cheers wiesiek