Xanadu (Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra song)

"Xanadu"
Single by Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra
from the album Xanadu
B-side	"Whenever You're Away From Me" [Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly] [U.S. version], "Fool Country" [Olivia Newton-John alone] [UK version]
Released	June 20, 1980
Format	7"
Recorded	1980 Musicland Studios Munich
Genre	Pop rock
Length	3:28
Label	Jet
Writer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Producer	Jeff Lynne
Certification	Silver (UK)
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology
"I'm Alive" (1980) "Xanadu" (1980) "All Over The World (1980)
Olivia Newton-John chronology "Magic" (1980) "Xanadu" (1980) "Suddenly" (1980)

"Xanadu" is the title song from the album Xanadu, the soundtrack to the 1980 film of the same name.

Collaboration

The song is performed by the Electric Light Orchestra and Olivia Newton-John. Newton-John sings the primary vocals, with ELO adding "parenthetic" vocals in the style of their other songs on the "Xanadu" soundtrack, along with providing the instrumentation. A rare collaboration for ELO, the single reached no.1 in several countries and was the band's only UK #1 single when it peaked there for two weeks in July 1980. The song peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Austrailian ARIA Singles Chart	2
Austrian Ö3 Austria Top 40	1
Canadian RPM Top Singles	6
Dutch Top 40	1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	1
French SNEP Singles Chart	3
German Media Control Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	1
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart	22
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	8
Norwegian VG-lista Singles Chart	1
South African Singles Chart	20
Swedish Singles Chart	3
Swiss Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	8
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	2
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 Singles	9
U.S. Record World Singles	4

Personnel

• Olivia Newton-John - Vocals
• Jeff Lynne - Guitar, Keyboards, backing vocals
• Bev Bevan - Drums, percussion
• Richard Tandy - Keyboards
• Kelly Groucutt - Bass, backing vocals
• Louis Clark - Strings

Preceded by "Crying" by Don McLean	UK Singles Chart number-one single 12 July 1980 – 26 July 1980	Succeeded by "Use It Up and Wear It Out" by Odyssey
Preceded by "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc	Eurochart Hot 100 number-one single 7 August 1980 – 21 August 1980	Succeeded by "The Winner Takes It All" by ABBA
	West German Singles Chart number-one single 5 September 1980 – 12 September 1980	Succeeded by "Santa María" by Oliver Onions
Preceded by "My Oh My" by Slade	Norwegian VG-Lista number-one single (first run) 29/1980 – 33/1980 (4 weeks)	Succeeded by "To Be or Not To Be" by Mel Brooks
Preceded by "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc	Norwegian VG-Lista number-one single (second run) 36/1980 (1 weeks)	Succeeded by "Upside Down" by Diana Ross
Preceded by "Crying" by Don McLean	Irish Singles Chart number-one single 19 July 1980 – 16 August 1980	Succeeded by "The Winner Takes It All" by ABBA (5 weeks)

Kirsty K. version

"Xanadu"
Single by Kirsty K.
Released	August 1996
Format	CD
Recorded	1995
Genre	Dance
Length	3:30
Label	Central Station Records
Writer(s)	Jeff Lynne

In early 1996, two Australian dance performers released versions of the song. Sydney singer Olivia Featuring Paula (on the MDS label) released a dance version first, followed by Kirsty K. (on Central Station Records). Both versions charted on the ARIA Singles and Dance Charts in the first half on 1996.^{[citation needed]}

Chart performance (Kirsty K. version)

Chart (1996)	Peak position
Australia ARIA Dance Chart[citation needed]	71

New ELO version

In 2000, ELO's Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song, with his own vocals, for the box set Flashback and the All Over the World compilation. Though it was billed as an ELO selection, the song was recorded entirely by Lynne himself, with no input from his former bandmates.

Sharleen Spiteri version

"Xanadu"
Single by Sharleen Spiteri
from the album The Movie Songbook
Released	February 2010
Format	CD Single, digital download
Recorded	2009
Genre	Pop
Length	3:34
Label	Mercury, Universal
Producer	Sharleen Spiteri
Sharleen Spiteri singles chronology
"It Was You" (2008) "Xanadu" (2010)

In 2009, Scottish singer-songwriter Sharleen Spiteri recorded the song for a second studio album titled The Movie Songbook which was released on March 1, 2010 worldwide. Xanadu was released as the lead single from the album in February 2010 and has so far made the BBC Radio 2 C-List.

Music video

A Music video for the song was added to Spiteri's official YouTube channel in February 2010. The video shows the Capitol Records Building and Spiteri performing the song with an acoustic guitar and one male and two female back up singers.

Chart performance

Chart (2010)	Peak position
UK Singles Charts	71

Other cover versions

The track was covered by the Australian singer Dannii Minogue, and Xanadu was to be the seventh single from Minogue's album, Club Disco, but was cancelled due to filming commitments and forthcoming recording plans.

It was also covered by British singer/songwriter Lightspeed Champion, and was a b-side on his single Tell Me What It's Worth.

The song is part of the 2007 Broadway musical Xanadu score.

This was the first song beginning with the letter 'X' to ever chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and it remained the only one until 2001's "X" by Xzibit.

A Cantonese cover named 仙樂都 (Xanadu) was recorded in 2003 by Hong Kong singer Sammi Cheng.

Texas singer Sharleen Spiteri sang a cover of "Xanadu" on Graham Norton's New Year show on the 12th of December 2009 and released the single in February 2010.

Japanese television network NHK used the song in a promo for their then-new BS-Hi service in HD. The promo featured the network's mascot Domo dancing with several other people to the song.

A cover of "Xanadu" was released by Sarah Blasko on the bonus disc for her 2009 album, "As Day Follows Night".

Karin Glenmark recorded the song in Swedish, with lyrics by Ingela "Pling" Forsman, and released it as a single in 1980. Her version chartered at Svensktoppen for 10 weeks between 26 October-21 December 1980. 1980 also saw the release of Swedish language-recordings by Ingmar Nordströms. , Flamingokvintetten and Wizex.

External links

• In-depth Song Analysis at the Jeff Lynne Song Database (jefflynnesongs.com)
• Olivia Newton-John/Electric Light Orchestra: Xanadu at Discogs (list of releases)