Originally released in December 1979, ‘I Have a Dream’ became a worldwide hit at the end of that decade for ABBA. 20 years later, Westlife repeated worldwide success with a new version produced by Pete Waterman and Dan Frampton*.
Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the single was the fourth and final single off Voulez-Vous, ABBA’s sixth studio album. The b-side was a live version of ’Take a Chance on Me’ recorded at Wembley.
ABBA – I Have a Dream (Live Version Wembley Arena 1979)
Peak positions for ‘I Have a Dream’ (ABBA):
- Australia: 64
- Austria: 1
- Canada: 1
- The Netherlands: 1
- Ireland: 2
- Switzerland: 1
- UK: 2
Westlife – I Have a Dream
In December 1999, the track returned in a new version by Westlife. The new version was produced by Pete Waterman – one third of the hugely successful production team Stock, Aitken & Waterman – together with David Foster. The latter has produced artists such as Will Young, Rick Astley and Five.
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Read everything about Westlife
Westlife’s version reached No.1, becoming the boy band’s fourth chart-topper in the UK. It was a double A-side single, also including a cover of Jacques Brel’s 1961 hit ‘Seasons in the Sun’ which was made famous by Terry Jacks in 1973.
The 1999 version was the UK Christmas No.1, continuing its chart-run into 2000 – a new millennium. In total, it spent 17 weeks on the chart becoming the 26th biggest selling single of 1999. The hit was succeeded by Bob the Builder’s novelty hit ‘Can We Fix It?’
Peak positions for ‘I Have a Dream’ (Westlife):
- Denmark: 11
- Europe: 7
- Finland: 10
- Germany: 24
- Ireland: 1
- New Zealand: 10
- Norway: 10
- Scotland: 1
- Sweden: 15
- Switzerland: 18
- UK: 1
*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of this blog post, David Foster was pointed out as the producer of the Westlife track. Apologies for that.
