"Wish I Could Fly" | ||||
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Single by Roxette | ||||
from the album Have a Nice Day | ||||
B-side | "Happy Together" | |||
Released | 1 February 1999 | |||
Format | ||||
Recorded | January; March 1998 | |||
Studio | El Cortijo Studios, Marbella Polar Studios, |
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Genre | ||||
Length | 4:40 | |||
Label |
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Songwriter(s) | Per Gessle | |||
Producer(s) |
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Roxette singles chronology | ||||
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Alternative Cover | ||||
Artwork for the 2000 US version of the single
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Music video | ||||
"Wish I Could Fly" on YouTube |
"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. An 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.
"Wish I Could Fly" is an orchestral pop ballad which contains elements of electronica. According to the liner notes of the duo's 2002 compilation The Ballad Hits, the song was written by Per Gessle as an experiment to "see how a drum machine loop would fit with a big orchestra, but it quickly evolved into something more substantial." Vocalist Marie Fredriksson has described it as a "very special song to me. One of my all-time favourite Roxette songs. I never get tired of this." A Spanish-language version of the song, titled "Quisiera volar", was included as a bonus track on deluxe edition versions of Have a Nice Day.
According to Ultimate Guitar, "Wish I Could Fly" has a moderately slow tempo of 80 beats per minute. The song is composed around a complex, orchestra-performed chord progression, however, its basic chord structure consists of four repetitions of an A♯–F–Gm–A♯–C sequence during the introduction. Each verse is composed of four repetitions of a Gm–A♯–C sequence, followed by a chorus consisting of F–Dm–Gm–C–F–D♯–A♯–C. The bridge is made up of three progressions of G–C–G–D, followed by two short progressions of a Dm–F–G sequence, while the outro is based around three elongated bars of Cm–D♯–F.