Conquest of Paradise (song)

"Conquest of Paradise"
Single by Vangelis
from the album 1492: Conquest of Paradise
B-side "Moxica and the Horse"
Released 1992
Format CD single, CD maxi
Recorded 1992
Genre Electronic, Modern classical, Ambient
Length 4:47
Label EastWest
Writer(s) Vangelis
Producer Vangelis

"Conquest of Paradise" is a 1992 song recorded by Vangelis. It was the soundtrack from Ridley Scott's 1992 film 1492: Conquest of Paradise[1] and the lead single from the album of the same name. The song achieved huge success in many countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland where it topped the singles chart, but was a relative failure in UK where it only peaked at #33. The song is currently the 50th best-selling single of all time in Germany,[2] where the song's popularity had been boosted by boxer Henry Maske using it as his theme song.[3]

"Conquest of Paradise" is played at home games for the New Zealand Super 15 rugby team Crusaders and Super League team Wigan Warriors. These days it is the unofficial theme tune for the city of Christchurch where the Crusaders rugby team is based.

"Conquest of Paradise" was also played at the 2011 ICC World Cup, the most prestigious cricket tournament, just before the national anthems of the two contesting national teams were played at the start of every match. It was also played during the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 held in West Indies.

At the 2011 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, "Conquest of Paradise" was played when competitors finished the 150 km long race.[4]

The song has been covered by many artists, including Blake, Klaus Schulze, Free the Spirit, the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra Project, John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra (1996), Daylight (1997), Dana Winner (2002), The Ten Tenors (2004) and Rhydian (2009).

The single "Conquest of Paradise" has also been inserted in the 2007 Chinese TV drama series Soldiers Sortie, and is used as the theme song in the Bollywood movie, Koyla (1997).

Its chord progression is based on the old European theme La Follia.

Contents

Track listings

CD single
  1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
  2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12
CD maxi-single
  1. "Conquest Of Paradise" – 4:47
  2. "Moxica And The Horse" – 7:12
  3. "Line Open" – 4:43
  4. "Landscape" – 1:37

Lyrics

Throughout the whole song, following lyrics, written in pseudo-Latin, are repeated several times:

In noreni per ipe
In noreni cora
Tira mine per ito
Ne nomina

One time this refrain is:

In romine tirmeno
Ne romine to fa
Imaginas per meno
Per imentira

Credits

Charts and sales

Peak positions

Chart (1992/93) Peak
position
French SNEP Singles Chart[5] 12
UK Singles Chart[6] 33
Chart (1994) Peak
position
German Singles Chart[7] 1
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[5] 2
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[5] 1
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[5] 5
Dutch Top 40[8] 1
Swiss Singles Chart[5] 1

End of year charts

End of year chart (1995) Position
Austrian Singles Chart[9] 4
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[10] 2
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart[11] 24
Dutch Top 40[8] 2
Swiss Singles Chart[12] 2

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Austria (IFPI Austria)[13] Gold 15,000x
Germany (BVMI)[14] 3× Platinum 1,500,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[15] Platinum 75,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Chart successions

Preceded by
"Zombie" by The Cranberries		 German number-one single
10 February 1995 – 21 April 1995 (11 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Back for Good" by Take That
Preceded by
"Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex		 Swiss number-one single
5 March 1995 – 23 April 1995 (8 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop)"
by Scatman John
Preceded by
"Think Twice" by Céline Dion		 Dutch Top 40 number-one single
6 May 1995 – 8 July 1995 (10 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"I Wanna Be a Hippy"
by Technohead
Belgian (Wallonia) number-one single
24 June 1995 – 12 August 1995 (8 weeks)		 Succeeded by
"Scatman's World"
by Scatman John

See also

References

  1. ^ King, Alex P. (2004) (in French). Hit-parade — 20 ans de tubes. Paris: Pascal. p. 341. ISBN 2-35019-009-9. 
  2. ^ Best-selling singles of all time in Germany Musicline.de (Retrieved 17 May 2009)
  3. ^ swisscharts.com (German) (Retrieved 21 September 2010)
  4. ^ http://alanlucker.blogspot.com/2011/08/26th-28th-august-utmb-2011.html
  5. ^ a b c d e "Conquest of Paradise", in various singles charts Lescharts.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  6. ^ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  7. ^ "Vangelis singles, German Singles Chart" (in German). musicline. http://www.musicline.de/de/chartverfolgung_summary/artist/Vangelis/single. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
  8. ^ a b "Single top 100 over 1995" (in Dutch) (pdf). Top40. http://www.top40.nl/pdf/Top%20100/top%20100%20-%201995.pdf. Retrieved 17 April 2010. 
  9. ^ 1995 Austrian Singles Chart Austriancharts.at (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  10. ^ 1995 Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  11. ^ 1995 Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart Ultratop.be (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  12. ^ 1995 Swiss Singles Chart Hitparade.ch (Retrieved 26 December 2008)
  13. ^ "Austrian single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in German). IFPI Austria. http://www.ifpi.at/?section=goldplatin.  Enter Vangelis in the field Interpret. Enter Conquest of Paradise in the field Titel. Select single in the field Format. Click Suchen
  14. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Vangelis; 'Conquest of Paradise')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_platin_datenbank/?action=suche&strTitel=Conquest+of+Paradise&strInterpret=Vangelis&strTtArt=single&strAwards=checked. 
  15. ^ "Dutch single certifications – Vangelis – Conquest of Paradise" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Vereniging van Producenten en Importeurs van beeld- en geluidsdragers. http://www.ifpi.nl/nvpi/pagina.asp?pagkey=61112&documentid=1236572.