"Carrie" is a
power ballad
A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner. Balla ...
by the Swedish
rock band
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
released in 1987. It was the third single released internationally from the album ''
The Final Countdown'' and was a Top 30 hit in several territories worldwide. In the US, it is their highest-charting song on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart—peaking at #3 (#1 on the Radio and Records chart) during the fall of 1987, outperforming the band's most internationally successful song, "
The Final Countdown". It also reached #36 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
chart.
The track on the
B-side of the 7" single was "
Love Chaser".
The song was written by
Joey Tempest and
Mic Michaeli in 1985. An early version of the song that consisted of just keyboards and vocals, was played on a tour in Sweden the same year. The
demo version was similar, but the final version that was included on the album ''The Final Countdown'' included the whole band playing.
On Europe tours following the band's reunion in 2003, an acoustic version of "Carrie" has been played, with Tempest performing the song on an
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
. In recent years, however, the band has switched back to the arrangement of the album version. A performance of the acoustic version can be found on the ''
Live from the Dark''
DVD and a performance of the album version can be found on the ''
Live at Shepherd's Bush, London'' DVD.
Personnel
*
Joey Tempest − vocals
*
John Norum − guitar
*
John Levén − bass
*
Mic Michaeli − keyboard, such as
Yamaha DX7
The Yamaha DX7 is a synthesizer manufactured by Yamaha Corporation from 1983 to 1989. It was the first successful digital synthesizer and is one of the best-selling synthesizers in history, selling more than 200,000 units.
In the early 1980s, th ...
*
Ian Haugland − drums
Chart positions
References
1986 songs
1987 singles
1980s ballads
Glam metal ballads
Europe (band) songs
Epic Records singles
Songs written by Joey Tempest
Songs written by Mic Michaeli
{{1980s-rock-song-stub