"Hand in Hand" () is a song by South Korean band Koreana that was the official theme song of the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

held in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. It was sung in both Korean and English. The song was produced by

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer, songwriter, and record producer. Dubbed the " Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering euro disco and electronic dance music. His work with synthesizers had ...

. Its English lyrics were written by

Tom Whitlock Thomas Ross Whitlock (Springfield, Missouri, 1954) is an American songwriter and musician, best known for his Academy Award-and Golden Globe-winning song " Take My Breath Away", from the film ''Top Gun'', which he co-wrote with Giorgio Moroder. ...

, its Korean lyrics by Kim Moon-hwan. The song topped music charts in 17 countries, including Sweden, West Germany, the Philippines, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Japan and Hong Kong. The album ''Hand in Hand'' sold more than 12 million copies worldwide. It has since been translated and covered several times. In 2013, Giorgio Moroder said that the original singer of the demo recording which he presented to PolyGram was Joe Pizzulo, not Koreana.

Charts

Cover versions and cultural references

*A Mandarin version of the song, called 心手相連 (xin shou xiang lian, hearts and hands join), performed by . *A Cantonese version of the song, called 一呼百應 (Yat hu bat ying, many people respond to one call), performed by Hong Kong singers Timothy Wong and

Pearl Lee A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...

. *A Swedish version, called "Jul i vinterland" (Eng. Christmas in Winterland"), with lyrics by

Keith Almgren Keith Almgren, is a pseudonym for Gunnar Almgren, born Almgren Johansson 8 November 1957 in Järfälla, Sweden, is a Swedish songwriter and music publisher. Keith Almgren has a solid background and has written over 1400 titles in the registe ...

, has been recorded by

Wizex Wizex is a Swedish dansband formed in Osby in 1973. It purchased the rights to the name from a band that started as ''Ulrik Wittmans Kvintett'' in 1957''.'' When Ulrik Wittman left the band in 1963 they started to use the name ''Wizex''. When rea ...

in 1988 on Christmas compilation albums and on single in 1991. *On August 14, 2016, South Korean girl group

I.O.I I.O.I (; also known as IOI or Ideal of Idol) was a South Korean girl group formed by CJ E&M through the 2016 reality show ''Produce 101'' on Mnet. The group was composed of eleven members chosen from a pool of 101 trainees from various enterta ...

released a digital single and remake of the song. *In Venezuela, the group Papel Carbón made a version of this song in Spanish. The original song appeared in an episode of ''

Pingu ''Pingu'' is a stop-motion children's television series co-created by Otmar Gutmann and Erika Brueggemann. It was originally produced from 1990 to 2000 by Swiss company The Pygos Group (originally called Trickfilmstudio) for SF DRS in Switzerl ...

'' called

Ice Hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hand In Hand (Olympics) 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic theme songs Summer Olympic official songs and anthems 1988 songs I.O.I songs Songs written by Tom Whitlock Songs written by Giorgio Moroder Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Germany