Hand in Hand (Olympic theme song)
"Hand in Hand" is a song by South Korean band Koreana that was the official theme song of the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea. It is sung in both Korean and English and was produced by Giorgio Moroder. Its English lyrics were written by Tom Whitlock while its Korean lyrics were penned by Kim Moon-hwan.
"Hand in Hand" topped the music charts of several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany. It has since been translated and covered several times. In 2013, Moroder said that the original singer of the demo recording that he presented to PolyGram was Joe Pizzulo, not Koreana.
Cover versions and cultural references
- A Mandarin version of the song, called 心手相連, performed by Alan Tam.
- A Cantonese version of the song, called 一呼百應, performed by Hong Kong singers Timothy Wong and Pearl Lee.
- A Finnish version, called "Käy mun vierelläin", with lyrics by Juha "Junnu" Vainio, was released by Tauski Peltonen and Meiju Suvas in 1989.
- A Swedish version, called "Jul i vinterland", with lyrics by Keith Almgren, has been recorded by Wizex in 1988 on Christmas compilation albums and on single in 1991.
- On August 14, 2016, South Korean girl group I.O.I released a digital single and remake of the song.
- In Venezuela, the group Papel Carbón made a version of this song in Spanish.
In popular culture
- The ending part of the song was featured in the original version of the Pingu episode "Ice Hockey", whereas the redubbed version has an original piece of instrumental music in its place.
- The song was also featured in an episode of the Chinese drama series Blossoms Shanghai.