"I'm Alive" is a song by the

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

(ELO), released as a single in May 1980. It is featured in a sequence near the beginning of the

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

'' Xanadu''. The song also appears on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

album '' Xanadu''.

Background

In the film the song is heard as the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

s emerge from a graffiti-like portrait;

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

, playing Kira (

Terpsichore In Greek mythology, Terpsichore (; , "delight in dancing") is one of the nine Muses and goddess of dance and chorus. She lends her name to the word " terpsichorean", which means "of or relating to dance". Appearance Terpsichore is usually d ...

), emerges last. The film's version of the song contains a fairly lengthy instrumental introduction, a small segment of which is used for the album version. The single's B-side, "Drum Dreams", is also featured in the film at the beginning of the Xanadu nightclub grand opening scene and segues into the movie title song. "Drum Dreams" was also used as the B-side of the "All Over the World" single.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said that it has "adept movement from electronically treated vocals to Lynne's lead". ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of three major weekly music industry trade magazines in the United States, with ''Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 as ''Music Vendor''. In 1964, it was changed to ''Record World'' under the ...

'' said that "keyboard magic abounds with a Beatlesque melody line & heavenly falsetto choruses".

Personnel

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

- lead and backing vocals, electric guitars, keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s *

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was a drum ...

- drums, percussion *

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ...

- pianos, synthesizers, keyboards *

Kelly Groucutt Kelly Groucutt (born Michael William Groucutt; 8 September 1945 – 19 February 2009) was an English musician best known as the bassist and secondary vocalist for the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) between 1974 and 1982. Early career ...

- bass guitar, backing vocals *

Louis Clark Louis Clark (27 February 1947 – 13 February 2021) was an English music arranger and keyboard player. He trained at Leeds College of Music. He is best known for his work with Electric Light Orchestra and ''Hooked on Classics''. Clark started o ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

1980 singles Electric Light Orchestra songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Songs from Xanadu (film) Songs written by Jeff Lynne 1980 songs Jet Records singles MCA Records singles {{1980s-single-stub