Sarah McLachlan composes Vancouver 2010 "One Dream" theme song

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Waders

By using different music instruments or create a symphony instrumental version and sing it in a more forceful and upbeat manner, the song can delivery a very different emotion and effect.

Now that you mentioned it, Sarah Mclauchlan actually has a few songs remixed, where the beat is much faster than the original one.

[Yume-sama]

It's a pleasant song, perhaps not for our "main" song. She lacks the starpower, anyways.

Don't be shocked when Celine Dion comes out with our REAL song!

[nova9]

Celine Dion is pregnant with her second child slated for a May 2010 delivery. Will this perhaps limit her involvement with Vanoc? By February, she'll be 6 months pregnant.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by nova9

Celine Dion is pregnant with her second child slated for a May 2010 delivery. Will this perhaps limit her involvement with Vanoc? By February, she'll be 6 months pregnant.

I doubt it.

[mr.x]

She'll be even more emotive when she sings.

[vansky]

beijing's executive director zhang canceled the plan, the guy was very critical on details. the composer and zhang had a fight about it. anyways, doesn't really matter, the song was good itself.

[Spoolmak]

Boo what the hell

[mr.x]

Vancouver 2010 has another "theme song", albeit not the official one. It's dedicated to Canada's athletes in Own the Podium 2010:


• Video Link

[PROSTSHOCKER]

Eh.
I don't know how to feel with aging soft rock icons singing the theme for a young, growing, aspirational city hosting the Winter Olympics. When I heard the organizers were going to commission Celine Dion, I let out a huge sigh. It says a lot about our city. To me it reads "home of the retiring baby boomers".

If you want energy and emotive power, get someone young and energetic.

Such as the earlier suggestion of Nelly Furtado. She's way more local than Malachlin or Dion and has the attention of not just listeners of QMFM but of the likes of the Beat, and Virgin radio also. Plus I loved Forca. ahaha

[nova9]

I would disagree about Nelly Furtado being more local than McLachlan. Nelly went from Victoria to Toronto where she lives whereas Sarah McLachlan has always lived in Vancouver, even at her most successful.

But I would agree on dynamism and excitement for Furtado over Sarah.

But in terms of having a world-reknown singer, you're going to only get the celines, sarahs, bryan adams from generations before. canadian acts are famous but mostly in trendy, indie circles - few new sound from canada has that world acclaim...yet.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by nova9

But in terms of having a world-reknown singer, you're going to only get the celines, sarahs, bryan adams from generations before. canadian acts are famous but mostly in trendy, indie circles - few new sound from canada has that world acclaim...yet.

i do not know about that....

some canadian musicians that have won international awards are:

Neil Young (He rocks my free world)
Michael Bublé (gross)
Leonard Cohen (best canadian poet ever!)
Holly Cole (we can get all jazzy)
Corey Hart (we would all be wearing our sun glasses at night!)
Diana Krall (she do something with her husband, it would be awesome)
Avril Lavigne (newly single and ready to rock)
Shania Twain (its a long flight from new zealand... but she is a cutie)
Alanis Morissette (i find it ironic that she is on this list...don't you think)

I was going to add Bif Naked but I do not know if she has an audience below thew 49th parallel. Nonetheless, she rocks.

[trofirhen]

Sarah McLachlin's Olympic song is nice, but to my ear, it has a "generic" quality to it. By that I mean that
there are many other songs out there with the same harmonics and melodic structural patterns. It goes well enough with the Olympics, and it's nicer than what we had during EXPO 86 . . . . ("Somethin's Happenin' Here")


Just as an example, I repeat, EXAMPLE, of a totally different song structure, here's the immortal hommage, "Toulouse" by the late Claude Nougaro. Forget that it's sung in French; it's just the altogether different harmonics and structure that make it interesting. And NO, I'm not recommending using it, or any derivative of it, for the 2010 Olympics ! ! This for people's interest only, for those who like music.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLhIdow75ks

[dreambrother808]

Sarah's done a fine job IMO... Quite beautiful, moving, subtle, well as subtle as cheesy olympic themes can be...

Perhaps the great sport for the denizens of an olympic host city is the joy they take in complaining about everything

[johnjimbc]

For anyone who isn't quite sure they like this song, I encourage you to give it a few listens first. Then just let it distill a bit in your head. Then listen to it again later.

It's a really excellent Olympic Theme Song.

The best thing about it is Sarah did what she does best, in my opinion, which is to write to an individual. This is an athlete's song. If you listen to the lyrics, she is writing to a person who is an athlete who made it to the Olympics, like a gift to them. It's inclusive. And while it's common these days to put off such sentiments as cheesy, which is sad, she talks about how it doesn't matter where the person is from they share a common dream which is what led them to the moment.

As normal, she has fun with the words. "At peace with gravity" is a great line to include in a song related to winter sports. I can almost imagine her talking to winter sport athletes to get a sense of what they love about it, and what feels right when things are going well.

As for her as an artist, she's sort of in the magic zone I think. She still appeals to a young audience, but there are many middle aged people who love her music. And she has an appeal to older audiences as well. Nelly Furtado can do a great Olympic youth theme, but we're talking about a world-wide audience here. I think she would come off a little hip-hoppy for the older couple at home watching kids just a bit older than their grandchildren walking into the stadium.

And as for the song itself, as I mentioned and others have mentioned, the music for the song is very adaptable to strengthening the sound through tempo, instrumentation, voice, etc, for a bolder presentation. Yet it does work as the "moment in the spotlight" softer note as well.

And she is a daughter of Vancouver so is the perfect emissary to the rest of the world.

It's a really excellent choice all around. I'd give it a rock solid A, and probably an A+ by the time I see it in the glory of an opening ceremony. Even folks for whom this isn't their taste at all - everyone is different - would probably have to admit it's pretty good as these things go.

That's my take anyway, hearing it again after a couple of listens yesterday and thinking about the lyrics when I listened again just now.

[johnjimbc]

As far as releasing of official songs before the Olympics, which someone had mentioned. It's not that unusual. The song "Reach" sung by Gloria Estafan was released in April 1996, nearly four months before the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Games.

Here's the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reach_%28song%29

And here's the video for those who might not remember it now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMs83vY2d34

Here's from the ceremony itself - with choral backing and a bit stronger sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9pUz2BDHUU&feature=related

It has a similar "athlete focus" as Sarah McLachlan's new song.

Incidentally, for those games there were multiple Olympic Themes. The official musical theme was called "Summon the Heroes" by John Williams. The song "The Power of the Dream" which everyone knows from Celine Dion's performance was considered a theme - and is what most people probably think of as being the theme of those games. However, "Reach" was stated to be the official theme. It was performed by Gloria Estefan at the Closing Ceremonies, and was quite a hit for Gloria Estefan in the months preceding the Games.

So it is quite possible that this is the "theme" with additional songs to appear as we get closer or at the ceremonies themselves.

Bottom line is it isn't a "one prize winner" kinda thing. There can be more than one theme. It will be interested to see which one lasts in the memory. I think this song has that potential, but it remains to be seen. If it is used prominently, it might be the one people remember.

[trofirhen]

.... but please, listen to "Toulouse" anyway, out of interest, if nothing else. The "sound," the harmonics, everything, are different than anything we get in Vancouver, (except on Radio-Canada, when I awoke to it one morning while at university ...)

[johnjimbc]

Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to "talk over you" . I did listen to the clip you posted, and I agree it has a more distinct sound to it - in composition and performance. Sarah's is definitely more of a pop song.

I was more focused on her new song . . . not meaning it as a counterpoint to your post.

Incidentally, in checking the Atlanta Games information, I came across another song that had been written for those games. An operatic theme that was used at the closing of the opening ceremonies. I had forgotten about it until now. It was entitled "Faster, Higher, Stronger" and sung by American Opera singer Jessye Norman. It was a great performance as well, and definitely a bit different. I think we'll see a variety of custom pieces for the Games, in a wider range of styles.

[djh]

The Perez Hilton Gossip website is exactly that. Gossip. This is not the official Olympic song.

It's already been debunked as gossip from Sarah Mclachlan's people. CKNW just did a story on it, after talking directly to them. The story was from I think reporter Marcello Barnardo, who has been tracking the Olympic opening ceremony plans for "years, if not months" (her words).




Geez, I worry if people are now getting their "facts" from Perez Hilton...!

[johnjimbc]

I don't read Perez myself. But, gee, I just found articles in the Province and the Globe and Mail on the same topic. They both indicate that the Games won't confirm or deny anything, though one article identified it as "one of the themes" of the Olympic Games, which was sort of my point before.

I can't imagine how a song by an internationally known Vancouver artist with lyrics like "you are shining" and "your flames keep burning" and boatloads of glowing imagery about being airborne and free, struggling to achieve, singular moments in history, coming together sharing one dream, yada yada yada could possibly be considered to have anything to do with the Olympics. It's all some mass delusion, I guess .

Seriously, I think we can safely assume this song has something to do with the Olympics . . . the semantics on what consitutes the official song is rather vague at best. See my above posts on the Atlanta Olympic Games on just how confusing that can be.

[djh]

It's not THE Official Song, but it will be used in the Olympics.
(from Sarah McLachlan's people, CKNW)