In which we don our lifejackets, fight our way out on deck, and try to find a lost child with whom to bribe our way onto a boat. Anything to avoid a collision with this hulking leviathan of a song…
My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion (her 2nd and final #1)
1 week, from 15th – 22nd February 1998 / 1 week, from 8th – 15th March 1998 (2 weeks total)
‘My Heart Will Go On’ is one of those songs that has become such a cliché, such a meme, such a cornerstone of popular culture, that it is very hard to judge as a mere five-minute piece of popular balladry. But if you can separate it from what it’s become, and manage to hear it as people in 1997 did… Then you are still confronted with a truly horrifying song.
I always thought the opening notes were played on pan-pipes, but it’s actually a tin whistle. This vaguely Celtic, new-agey motif features throughout the three hours plus of the movie ‘Titanic’, a sort of Pavlovian signal that Something Romantic is happening. It existed as part of the soundtrack to the film before composer James Horner suggested using it in a song. James Cameron, the director, wasn’t sold. If only he’d stuck to his guns… Sadly, he gave in, and this monster was born.
My first impression upon sitting down and listening to this song properly for the first time in a quarter of a century is that it sounds dated for the late-nineties. Every power-ballad cliché is ticked: big drums, squealing guitars, echoey effects, and gloopy percussion. Add in the new-age feel, and it sounds like we’ve slipped back a decade. Then there’s the ‘Whitney’ moment – the pause, and the beat, before the key-change and the final sledgehammer chorus.
As Houston does in ‘I Will Always Love You’, Celine Dion bludgeons all emotion out of the song’s climax in a storm of howling bombast. Though that sounds like I’m suggesting that there’s emotion in the verses preceding the final chorus. There isn’t. It’s all just too huge, too overwhelming, to have any impact. It mirrors the way I feel about the movie, too. I’ve enjoyed it as a piece of entertainment, but the ‘sad’ scenes now come across almost as tongue-in-cheek. Again, this is possibly because we’ve seen way too many parodies of frozen Jack, and Rose clinging to the door; but it could also be because the film was complete fluff in the first place.
For all this talk of entertainment, though, one of this song’s biggest failings is its dullness. I first mentioned this phenomenon when we covered the ‘90s other big soundtrack hits: Houston’s, and Bryan Adams. Once upon a time power ballads were ridiculous pieces of theatre. Think ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’, or ‘China in Your Hand’. Dion’s previous chart-topper ‘Think Twice’ was a much more recent example of a power ballad whose earnestness was delivered with a wink and a lot of scenery chewing. There’s no wink here, though, no sense of an in-joke. Just a dull plod punctuated by lots of serious fist clenching.
But you don’t need me to tell you that ‘My Heart Will Go On’, for all its God-awfulness, was fairly successful. A number one in more than twenty-five countries around the world, and currently the second-best selling single ever by a female artist (behind you-know-who). Celine Dion apparently disliked it at first – I mean, she would say that now – but it hasn’t stopped her milking it for all its worth. China in particular has a passion for the song, with state television inviting Dion to belt out her biggest hit several times over the years. For me, though, ‘My Heart Will Go On’ will always remind me of a family holiday in Lanzarote. It was the first time I had ever been on a plane, travelling for four hours across Europe just to hear this dirge being played every fifteen minutes at the pool bar…
The UK Number Ones Blog 
I kinda love this song? Not gonna front, I really enjoy it. I dunno, I wasn’t born until a year after this song came out, so I didn’t experience how overplayed this song was. Nor do I seek this song out, so when I hear it, it’s much fresher and newer for me. Titanic was something I knew about and was familiar with from an early age of course. It’s one of the few non-Indian movies my mum went to see in the theatres. I can’t help but think of that iconic Titanic shot with Leo and Kate whenever I hear this song.
A lot of people do love it, both ironically and unironically, but to me it’s an example of when a power ballad goes wrong… It’s just not… fun, I guess?
Oops, not a fan then? I know these teen overdosing tracks can take decades to shift. Mine was Charles Aznavour’s She. I love it now, totally love it. 🙂 Celine’s was a monster thanks to the movie. I enjoyed the film, but it’s preposterous. I have the Blu Ray. Been unopened in it’s wrapping for about 10 years now, just never feel like devoting 3 hours to it 🙂 The scene on the raft and the “Jack” “Rose” shouting for half an hour are worth piss-taking, along with the poor Irish on a massively expensive (I presume) brand new monster ocean liner, to make a political point. One would expect they’d have been on a budget old ship, as they’d been crossing the Atlantic for decades by 1912.
As a song, it’s fine, I like the celtic touches, and I’ve warmed more to poor Celine of late, what with all her problems and tragedies. Yes it’s OTT and overblown, but so is the movie, so it fits in with that. She had far worse records in the 90’s (and far better too, it must be said, for example, I nominate her cover of The Power Of Love for “worse” and Falling Into You (Madonna-lite) and It’s All Coming Back To Me Now (Steinman-OTT monster done proper OTT) and the lovely more-restrained A New Day Has Come. She’s currently in the UK charts with a remix with Majestik and Whispers sample, the rather good Set My Heart On Fire where Celine appears to sing (she doesn’t really though, it’s a Mis-heard lyric!) “When you come on me” from I’m Alive. Sweet Celine def wouldnt sing that! 🙂
For some reason Celine is the big-lunged 90s diva that I struggle with the most. There are horror shows in Mariah and Whitney’s back-catalogue, but I also really enjoy some of the their stuff. Celine, though, ‘Think Twice’ and ‘It’s All Coming Back to Me Now’ (if you want OTT done properly then get Steinman on board) aside… Nah. She’s just so strident. And this is just so gloopy and lacking in any kind of fun.
I mean, the Titanic did stop in Ireland on the way over, so there would have been some Irish on there… But yeah, it definitely leans into a romantic Americanised view of the ‘poor Irish’. Tooralooraloo, and all that. By all accounts the 3rd class facilities on the boat were pretty swanky compared to other ships at the time, so yes probably the poorest of the poor wouldn’t have been on it (luckily for them…)
Does everything have to be ironic? Titanic passed me by when it first came out. I saw it in the 2010s almost without preconceptions and found it quite an emotionally gruelling experience. I’ll admit I’ve probably never actually sat down and listened to the song but I still think it’s fine. Is it possible you are oversensitive to melodrama, both filmic and musical? Life is pretty melodramatic.
I’m sure it’s not just me. Titanic, and this song, have been parodied to the point of no return. The film can still be an enjoyable watch – there’s a reason it was such a success – but I’m not sure this song can ever now be heard unironically.
Ya know…it’s pretty boring to listen to by itself…now as sound in a movie it’s fine but without it…it sinks…
I see what you did there…..
lol….it’s just too easy