ROXETTE - IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE

IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE

ROXETTE

SONGWRITERS:  פורר טל & GESSLE,PER HAKAN

COUNTRY: SWEDEN

ALBUM: IT MUST HAVE BEEN LOVE

LABEL: EMI

GENRE: POP

YEAR: 1987

 

        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 album Look Sharp! Their third album Joyride, 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, Australia 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.

        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.

          It Must Have Been Love", originally "It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)", is a song written by Per Gessle and performed by the Swedish pop duo Roxette. The power ballad became the duo's third number one hit in the United States, and is one of their best selling releases, being certified gold or platinum in a number of countries.

       Four different versions of the song have been officially released. The original song was released in 1987, which was followed by the most successful incarnation, a slightly edited version, omitting the Christmas references, created for the soundtrack to the 1990 film Pretty Woman. During the "Join the Joyride! World Tour" in 1991, the band recorded a country music version in Los Angeles, included on their 1992 album Tourism. A Spanish-language version of the Pretty Woman recording was released on their 1996 compilation Baladas en Español. Finally, an orchestral live performance from the band's 2009 concert at Night of the Proms was included on their 2012 studio album, Travelling.

Must have been love

But it's over now

 

Lay a whisper on my pillow

Leave the winter on the ground

I wake up lonely, this air of silence

In the bedroom and all around

 

Touch me now, I close my eyes

And dream away

 

It must have been love, but it's over now

It must have been good, but I lost it somehow

It must have been love, but it's over now

From the moment we touched, 'til the time had run out

 

Make-believing we're together

That I'm sheltered by your heart

But in and outside I turn to water

Like a teardrop in your palm

And it's a hard winter's day

I dream away

 

It must have been love, but it's over now

It was all that I wanted, now I'm living without

It must have been love, but it's over now

It's where the water flows

It's where the wind blows

 

It must have been love, but it's over now

It must have been good, but I lost it somehow

It must have been love, but it's over now

From the moment we touched, 'til the time had run out

 

Yeah, it must have been love, but it's over now

It was all that I wanted, now I'm living without

It must have been love, but it's over now

It's where the water flows

It's where the wind blows

 

but it's over now

No, no, no

(It must have been love)

(But it's over now) but it's over now

No, no, no.