Fantasy (Earth, Wind & Fire song)



“Fantasy” is a song written and composed by Maurice White, Verdine White, and Eddie del Barrio. It first became an international hit in 1977 by the American group Earth, Wind & Fire. A cover version in 1990 by the Eurodance band Black Box was also a successful international hit. "Fantasy" has been covered or sampled by many artists over the years.

Background
"Fantasy" was first recorded by Earth, Wind & Fire for their studio album All 'N All, and was released as a single in 1978. The song took a period of three months to be written and composed, and it was only finally finished after Maurice White saw the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind and gained inspiration from the film. "Fantasy" reached number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 12 on the Billboard R&B singles chart in the United States, and number 14 on the UK singles chart. "Fantasy" received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Song. After its release in Japan as a digital single to cellphones in 2009, it was certified gold for 100,000 downloads in May 2011.

Track listings

 * 7" single
 * 1) "Fantasy" — 3:54
 * 2) "Be Ever Wonderful" — 5:08

Appearances in other media
"Fantasy" is featured in the film Be Cool, starring John Travolta, in the film Private Lessons, whose producers included Jack Barry and Dan Enright, and on the Everybody Hates Chris episode "Everybody Hates Keisha". The song was featured in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. It is also on the popular ABC sitcom The Middle in Season 5, Episode 13 "The Hungry Games", when Reverend Deveraux (played by Keegan-Michael Key) sings it during a sermon.

It was also the main theme song for the Japanese television drama Love Shuffle, and it likewise appears in another J-drama, Densha Otoko. Dancing with the Stars Season 12's eventual winner Hines Ward and his partner Kym Johnson danced their samba in week 3 of the competition to this song, and reprised their performance on the final show of the season earning perfect scores.

Background
Black Box recorded a cover of "Fantasy" for the group's debut studio album Dreamland in 1990. Their version featured Martha Wash on lead vocals, but their music producers initially failed to credit her. The song contains samples of Grace Jones' version of "La Vie En Rose". Black Box's version of the song charted at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart, number 16 in Germany, and number 3 in Australia.

Track listings

 * CD maxi
 * 1) "Fantasy" (club mix) — 7:20
 * 2) "Get Down" (rap mix) — 6:43
 * 3) "Get Down" Black Box featuring "Stepz" (rappapella) — 3:00


 * 7" single
 * 1) "Fantasy" — 3:44
 * 2) "Get Down" Black Box featuring "Stepz" (rappapella) — 3:00


 * 12" maxi
 * 1) "Fantasy" (big band remix) — 5:48
 * 2) "Get Down" (party remix) — 3:55
 * 3) "Get Down" (afro mix) — 4:15

Official versions

 * "Fantasy" — 3:44
 * "Fantasy" (Original Version) - 5:12
 * "Fantasy" (Big Band Remix) — 5:48
 * "Fantasy" (Club Mix) — 7:20

Other versions

 * "Fantasy" was covered by Maynard Ferguson on his 1978 album Carnival.
 * Pedro "Pete" Escovedo covered "Fantasy" on his 1997 album E-Street.
 * "Fantasy" has also been recorded by The 5th Dimension.
 * It appears as the fifth track on the album "Fantasy" by the Harold Mabern Trio.
 * A Malay version of this song (titled Khayalan) has been performed by Singaporean act Black Dog Bone in the 1970s. This rendition has since been covered by Malaysian hip-hop group Ruffedge in collaboration with V.E in 2003 under the former group's album Extreme Pleasure Extra - a re-release of their début 2000 album Extreme Pleasure with a few songs added into it, including this song.
 * Australian musician Anthony Callea covered the song for his album Backbone (2016).

Samples

 * It was sampled by Puff Daddy on the song "Angels with Dirty Faces" featuring Bizzy Bone, which was included on Puff Daddy's album Forever.
 * It has also been sampled on "Live Now" by Nas from his album Street's Disciple, on "Shawty," by Plies, from the album The Real Testament, and on "To Me You're Everything," by 98 Degrees, from the album 98 Degrees and Rising.
 * In late 2007, Latin hip hop trio The D.E.Y. sampled "Fantasy" on their single "Give You the World," released in late December 2007. Just Blaze sampled "Fantasy" for Jay-Z's "As One" which appeared on his Blueprint 2 album. Also in 2007, with the release of American Gangster, a song by Jay-Z and Lil' Wayne sampled the beginning of "Fantasy" throughout the song.