Hand in Hand (Olympic theme song)

1988 Summer Olympics theme song

"Hand in Hand"

Single by Koreana
from the album  Hand in Hand
Released| 1988
Length| 4:13
Label| Polydor
Composer(s)| Giorgio Moroder
Lyricist(s)|

* Tom Whitlock (English lyrics)
* Kim Moon-hwan (Korean lyrics)[1]

Producer(s)| Giorgio Moroder

"Hand in Hand" (Korean: 손에 손 잡고; RR: Sone son japgo) is a song by South Korean band Koreana that was the official theme song of the 1988 Summer Olympics held in Seoul, South Korea. It is sung in both Korean and English and was produced by Giorgio Moroder. Its English lyrics were written by Tom Whitlock while its Korean lyrics were penned by Kim Moon-hwan.[2]

"Hand in Hand" topped the music charts of several European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and West Germany. It has since been translated and covered several times. In 2013, Moroder said that the original singer of the demo recording that he presented to PolyGram was Joe Pizzulo, not Koreana.[3]

## Background and composition

[edit]

You can help expand this section with text translated from the corresponding article in Korean.  (May 2025) Click [show] for important translation instructions.

* View a machine-translated version of the Korean article.
* Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
* Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
* You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is `Content in this edit is translated from the existing Korean Wikipedia article at [[:ko:손에 손 잡고]]; see its history for attribution.`
* You may also add the template `{{Translated|ko|손에 손 잡고}}` to the talk page.
* For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

|

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

Chart (1988)  | Peak
position

|

Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] | 98
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[5] | 7
Denmark (IFPI)[6] | 3
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[7] | 4
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[8] | 21
Norway (VG-lista)[9] | 1
Portugal (AFP)[10] | 3
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[11] | 1
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[12] | 1
West Germany (GfK)[13] | 1

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Chart (1988)  | Position

|

Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[14] | 4
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 3
West Germany (Media Control)[16] | 21

## Certifications

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

Germany (BVMI)[17] | Gold  | 250,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[18] | Gold  | 25,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## Cover versions and cultural references

[edit]

* A Mandarin version of the song, called 心手相連 (xin shou xiang lian, hearts and hands join), performed by Alan Tam.[citation needed]
* 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.[19]
* A Swedish version, called "Jul i vinterland" (Eng. Christmas in Winterland"), with lyrics by Keith Almgren, has been recorded by Wizex in 1988 on Christmas compilation albums and on single in 1991.
* On August 14, 2016, South Korean girl group I.O.I released a digital single and remake of the song.[20]
* In Venezuela, the group Papel Carbón made a version of this song in Spanish.

## In popular culture

[edit]

* The ending part of the song was featured in the original version of the Pingu episode "Ice Hockey", whereas the redubbed version has an original piece of instrumental music in its place.
* The song was also featured in an episode of the Chinese drama series Blossoms Shanghai.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Yu, Young Jin (2018-05-24). "Remembering Professor Kim Moon Hwan". SNU NOW. Seoul National University. Archived from the original on 2018-05-31. Retrieved 2025-05-27.
2. ^ Park Moo-jong (July 14, 2010). "Seoul Olympics gave powerful impetus to great changes in South Korea". The Korea Times. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
3. ^ "Giorgio Moroder". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
4. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 170\. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
5. ^ "Koreana – Hand in Hand" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
6. ^ "Top 3 in Europe". Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 38\. 17 September 1988. p. 31.
7. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 41\. 8 October 1988. p. 26.
8. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Koreana". Sisältää hitin – 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 135. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
9. ^ "Koreana – Hand in Hand". VG-lista.
10. ^ "Top 3 in Europe". Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 43\. 22 October 1988. p. 26.
11. ^ "Koreana – Hand in Hand". Singles Top 100.
12. ^ "Koreana – Hand in Hand". Swiss Singles Chart.
13. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Koreana – Hand in Hand" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
14. ^ "1988 Year End Eurocharts: Hot 100 Singles". Music & Media. Vol. 6, no. 52/1. 1 January 1989. p. 30.
15. ^ "Schweizer Jahreshitparade 1988" (in German). Retrieved 17 December 2023.
16. ^ "Top 100 Singles–Jahrescharts 1988" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
17. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Koreana; 'Hand in Hand')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
18. ^ "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Hand in Hand')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
19. ^ "《一呼百應》疲勞轟炸". 2 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2023-01-09.
20. ^ "(싱글) 손에 손잡고". MelOn (in Korean). Archived from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved August 15, 2016.

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz work
* 2
* MusicBrainz release group

|