ROXETTE - WISH I COULD FLY

WISH I COULD FLY

ROXETTE

SONGWRITER: PER GESSLE

COUNTRY: SWEDEN

ALBUM: HAVE A NICE DAY

LABEL: ROXETE RECORDINGS

GENRE: ELETRONIC

YEAR: 1999

 

        Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson (vocals and keyboards) and Per Gessle (vocals and guitar). Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second álbum Look Sharp! Their third album Joyride, which was released in 1991, became just as successful as its predecessor. Roxette went on to achieve nineteen UK Top 40 hits and several US Hot 100 hits, including four US number-ones with "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love", featured on the soundtrack of Pretty Woman, and "Joyride". Their other hits include "Dressed for Success", "Dangerous", and "Fading Like a Flower".

   Before coming together to form the duo, Fredriksson and Gessle were already established artists in Sweden, she having released a number of solo albums and he being the lead singer and songwriter of Gyllene Tider, a band that had three Nº. 1 albums. On the advice of the managing director of their record label, the two came together to record "Neverending Love", which became a hit single in Sweden.

       After the release of Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus!, a greatest hits record, the duo took a hiatus before returning with the albums Have a Nice Day (1999) and Room Service(2001). They continued to chart in other territories, mainly in Europe and Latin America, where they earned various Gold and Platinum awards until the beginning of the new millennium. In 2002, the duo took a break from recording and touring when Fredriksson was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Gessle went on to release solo albums and reunited with Gyllene Tider before Roxette took to the stage together again for the first time in eight years, in 2009, during Gessle's European Party Crasher tour. In 2011, they released Charm School, their first studio album in ten years, which was followed by Travelling in 2012. Their final studio album, Good Karma, was released in 2016. Marie Fredriksson died on 9 December 2019, at the age of 61, following a long battle with a brain tumour, and the group was disbanded shortly after Fredriksson's death.

        Their songs "It Must Have Been Love" and "Listen to Your Heart" continue to receive wide radio airplay, with both singles receiving awards from BMI in 2014 for achieving five million radio plays. They have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide, with over 10 million in certified units from Germany, the US and the UK, achieving gold and platinum certifications for Joyride and Look Sharp! in all three regions. They are Sweden's second-best-selling music act after ABBA.

          "Wish I Could Fly" is a song by Swedish pop music duo Roxette, released on 1 February 1999 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Have a Nice Day. Na orchestral pop ballad containing elements of electronica, the song was written as an experiment by Per Gessle, who was attempting to establish if a prominently-placed drum loop would fit alongside a large orchestra. The track became a sizable hit for the duo, peaking inside the top twenty of Billboard's European Hot 100 Singles, and was the most-played song on European radio of 1999. It would also become their final top 40 hit on the UK Singles Chart.

Halfway through the night

I wake up in a dream

Echoes in my head

Make every whisper turn into a scream

 

I dreamed I could fly

Out in the blue

Over this town

Followin' you

Over the trees

Subways and cars

I'd try to find out

Who you really are

 

In the middle of the night

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

Cool sweatin' in my bed

Got the windows open wide

Thinkin' about all the things you said

 

I wish I could fly

Out in the blue

Over this town

Followin' you

I'd fly over rooftops

The great boulevards

To try to find out

Who you really are

Who you really are

 

I wish I could fly now

I wish I could fly now

I wish I could fly now

 

I wish I could fly

Around and around

Over this town

The dirt on the ground

I'd follow your course

Of doors left ajar

To try to find out

Who you really are

Who you really are

 

Fly, fly, fly

I wish I could fly

Oh, oh, ah

 

I wake up in a dream

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

I wish I could fly.

 

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

(In the middle of the night, in the middle of the night)

I wish I could fly.