Daydream dissolving synergy between a lyric and entwining vocal lines as she sings: ‘Beautifully and bittersweetly/You were fading into me.’ ”
scene from the “One sweet day” video
2.4 One sweet day “One sweet day” was co-written by Mariah, Walter Afanasieff and Boyz II Men members Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, and Michael McCary. It was co-produced by Mariah and Walter, and released as the Daydream’s second single in 1995. It holds the record for the longest run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 (16 weeks total), and is one of the biggest hits of both Mariah’s and Boyz II Men’s careers. Popular both within and outside the USA, it is widely considered the most successful non-charity single of all time in the United States. “One sweet day” was inspired by the death of David Cole and Mariah’s “Guitar Legend”, Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark, in 1991. While brainstorming with Boyz II Men on a possible collaboration, Mariah discovered that the group had written a tribute to their manager who was murdered while they were on tour. Her song plus theirs became “One sweet day”. David Cole worked with Mariah on her two previous albums, including her MTV Unplugged album. During this period, she had arranged to record a
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chapter 7 - MCArchives.com song with Boyz II Men. “I wrote the initial idea for ‘One sweet day’ with Walter,” Mariah explained, “and I had the chorus. I stopped and said, ‘I really wanna do this with Boyz II Men’, because obviously I’m a big fan of theirs and I just thought that the work was crying out for them, the vocals that they do, so I put it away and said, ‘Who knows if this could ever happen, but I just don’t wanna finish this song because I want it to be our song if we ever do it together.’ “ The song was about the “whole idea of when you lose people that are close to you, it changes your life and changes your perspective”. Finally, Mariah had the chance to team up with Boyz II Men. “When they came into the studio I played them the idea for the song and when it finished, they looked at each other, a bit stunned, and told me that Nat had written a song for his road manager who had passed away. It had basically the same lyrics and fitted over the same chord changes.” Was it coincidence, or just meant to be? “It was really, really weird,” Mariah said. “We finished the song right then and there.” “We were kind of flipped about it ourselves,” Shawn Stockman agreed. “Fate had a lot to do with that. I know some people won’t believe it, but we wouldn’t make up such a crazy story.” The protagonists of this memorial pop anthem lament the deaths of friends, but say that they will be together again “one sweet day”. The single’s video, directed by Larry Jordan, is made up of footage showing Mariah and Boyz II Men writing and recording the song in the studio, as it was difficult for both Boyz II Men and Mariah to schedule a time to film a video. Walter Afanasieff recalled for Fred Bronson: “It was crazy. They had film crews and video guys. I’m at the board trying to produce. Boyz II Men are the busiest guys in the world. Their managers and bodyguards are in the waiting room and it’s 4:30 and they have until 7 o’clock. You’ve got four guys and you haven’t even worked out