The Power Of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Album: Welcome To The Pleasuredome (1984)

Charted: 1

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Songfacts®:

This song deals with spirituality and religion. It was Frankie Goes To Hollywood's third single, and proved they were not afraid to tackle controversial subjects; "Relax" was about sex and "Two Tribes" was about politics.
Anne Dudley, from the UK studio group Art Of Noise arranged the strings. In 1997 she won an Oscar for her work on the 1997 film The Full Monty.
The song was released in December and the video had a nativity theme. The video was directed by Lol Creme and Kevin Godley, who were members of the band 10cc.

Filmed in the desert outside Jerusalem over one week, their "Bethlehem" was an abandoned Palestinian refugee camp. "'The Power of Love' was like the planets aligning," Godley recalled to The Guardian in 2022. "It's coming up to Christmas, the song's about love, what's the most appropriate thing we could do? We didn't set out to take the piss. We wanted it to be as genuine as possible, to hit some emotional marks in the song. I think the film amplifies that in a very appropriate way."
When this made #1, this equaled the feat of fellow Liverpool band Gerry & The Pacemakers, whose first three singles also topped the UK chart. When their fourth single, "Welcome To The Pleasuredome," peaked at #2, this meant that they were still tied with Gerry & The Pacemakers for the best ever start to a UK chart career as the latter's 4th release, "I'm The One," also reached #2. Frankie Goes To Hollywood finally topped the Pacemakers when their fifth release "Rage Hard" reached #4, compared with Gerry's #6 hit "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying." The Spice Girls blew them away in 1997 when their first 6 releases all topped the UK charts. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England, for all above
A cover version by Gabrielle Aplin topped the UK singles chart in December 2012. Her rendition was recorded to soundtrack a John Lewis advert.
Dalton Harris, the winner of the 2018 series of the UK version of The X Factor, recorded this as his winner's song. His version, performed as a duet with 2012 X Factor winner James Arthur, was released as a single immediately after he was crowned champion of the TV talent show. It peaked at #4 on the UK singles chart.

Comments: 7

Chris from Germany Great song

It was released 1984 that was the year of AIDS bad time. God thanks I was not born then.

But at the end of the year they released this great song.
Julian from Manchester, United KingdomIs not the line "Make Love your goal" the whole message of Christmas?
Jon from Scotland, United KingdomTo Paul Marlo: There's no connection to Christmas at all in the song "The Power Of Love"! The only reason the record company decided on a "Nativity" style video was simply due to the fact the song was released at Christmas time. That's why people falsely believe it has something to do with Christmas and that's why it appears on Christmas compilation CD's. That also why the song has been labelled "the best non-Christmas CHRISTMAS number one" in the UK. It was rumoured that the members of FGTH 'hated' the video and were against the whole idea because "The Power Of Love" was meant to be the fall-out/'morning after' reprise from "Relax!".
Dave from Cardiff, WalesAh yes, I'd forgotten about that Bob The Builder "single"!! ***SHIVER!!! *** Thanks, Edward!
Edward Pearce from Ashford, KentA slight correction to Dave's comment. Westlife's first seven singles all went to #1 in the UK, breaking the Spice Girls record. However their eighth release 'What Makes a Man' was prevented from reaching the top spot in 2000 by Bob The Builder's children's novelty record 'Can We Fix It'.
Paul Marlo from Perthi found this track on a christmas cd.. what connection is this song to christmas?
Dave from Cardiff, WalesEdward Pearce - In 2001, Irish boyband Westlife broke the Spice Girls' record of six No.1s with their first six singles when Westlife's first nine singles all went to #1 in the UK. Unlike the Spice Girls, who reached the end of the road a couple of years later, Westlife are still consistently scoring Top 10 hits in the UK at the time of writing in 2006

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