Song Analysis - Lovers (Live A Little Longer)

On June 5th, 1978, ABBA began working on another track for the up and coming studio album that so far was taking a long time to come up with.  Bjorn and Benny found inspiration quite low at this time, and the only song from these early writing and recording sessions to even appear on the final album was this song, Lovers (Live A Little Longer.)  

Up until this point, it can be argued that ABBA's music was mostly clean, and people of all age groups could comfortably ABBA's entire catalog, whereas now ABBA were stepping into more "explicitly" sexual themes in their songs with a new level of maturity.  I'm digressing a bit, but as people ABBA had given off "clean" energy - two couples, one married, the other engaged - and they didn't take any drugs and were overall very chill compared to other stars of their same era.  However they have plenty of "dirty" and also "mature" themed songs, and by that I mean literal mature things.  Like Knowing Me Knowing You, a song about two adults with children, who are divorcing.  To name a few "dirty" songs off the top of my head, I'm thinking of Honey Honey, Rock Me, and arguably, Gonna Sing You My Love Song and Why Did It Have To Be Me.   And on the mature side, we have One Man, One Woman and Knowing Me, Knowing You.  So like, in my humble opinion, ABBA have never been "clean & innocent," so I'm not surprised or concerned that the album Voulez-Vous has more sexual themes.

Anyways, Lovers (Live A Little Longer) is said to be a song inspired a headline that Bjorn may have seen.  I'm not 100% certain on the validity of that, but regardless, in the song, the narrator is sharing this incredible news that she just read in the paper that day, that a physician has made the claim that love is a longevity factor, and Lovers who Make Love together will live longer than the average human who does not!  So, the narrator of the song is super hyped by this and is like, "alright, let's start right away!" 

Honestly the song to me always seemed kinda not overly serious, a bit like "Two For The Price Of One" and "Crazy World," like it's not to be taken all that seriously and is kinda funny, but the production of the song is quite serious.  Like Frida, who sings lead on this song, has these extremely sensual vocals and she sings so well, capturing the "matureness" of the song perfectly well. Agnetha has these incredible backing vocals are superb.  She has some backing vocals that are oddly not written down anywhere in the official lyrics, and it's really hard to decipher what she's singing in the second verse, but I think they are Verse 1: "Ooh, you know that" and Verse 2: "I'm exploding" or "aaaah, please don't wait" and no one really knows that they are.  I'd really love it if Bjorn and Benny could clear it up for us someday hahahahhaha. 

There are also some really really really fun backing vocals in the chorus, which are literally just "lovers-live-a-little-longer-lovers-live-a-little-longer" over and over again and they make it sound so easy but I bet that was so hard to record in the studio hahahahaha.  Speaking of backing vocals, I don't really hear Bjorn and Benny anywhere on this track, except maybe in the second verse when they say "Making love is a dynamite drug, baby, so why don't we start right away?" as on the phrase "Making love" there's some added backing vocals, and maybe the boys added to that?  But again, I don't know.  

Also, just before the bridge, there are some lovely "aaaah-aaah-aah-aaaahs" in typical ABBA-style vocals from Agnetha and Frida, just the two of them singing in harmony and idk, just that one small part before the bridge is like my favorite part of the song.  I also really love the extra little "yeah"s at the end of the last chorus before the song ends.

Contrary to public belief, ABBA are not a Disco band.  They are a Pop band.  But they dabbled in many, many different styles.  Tropical Loveland is sort of ABBA's take on Reggae, I Saw It In The Mirror is their attempt at R&B, and so on and so forth.  The Voulez-Vous album contains songs that are very much inspired by Disco which was kinda popular at that time, but in my opinion, only songs like "As Good As New," "The King Has Lost His Crown," "If It Wasn't For The Nights", "Lovers (Live A Little Longer)," and "Kisses Of Fire" give disco vibes, and by that I mean ABBA's interpretation of Disco.  That leaves 5 other songs on the album that are not disco.  So yes they dabbled in Disco, but that doesn't make them a disco band.

Despite the fact that Lovers (Live A Little Longer) is a very good song, ABBA never performed it live in concert.  However, an early mix of the song did make its debut in February, 1979, along with a couple of other songs from the Voulez-Vous album.   I love this TV special, and this performance as well is a standout for me.  I love their costumes as well, being among my personal top favorite ABBA outfits.  This song is just so fun, and they captured that enjoyment in their performance perfectly!

Happy 79th Birthday, Björn!

 Today we celebrate one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Mr. Björn Ulvaeus' 79th birthday!  Happy, happy birthday dear Björn!  I hope he has the absolute greatest day celebrating with all of his family and friends!

Song Analysis - Free As A Bumble Bee

 On May 29th, 1978, Bjorn and Benny were working on yet another track for ABBA's upcoming album.  Usually Bjorn and Benny wrote would write songs and sing the demo versions for one or both of the ladies to sing, but this song never even made it past this demo stage.  Appearing at roughly 14:45 in ABBA Undeleted, the song, titled Free As A Bumblebee is a song about someone who is tired and down about the boring work week.  As the narrator sits waiting for the next bus traveling downtown, presumably on his way to his job office, he can't help but feel bad that he doesn't get to just sit and enjoy the beautiful weather.  If he wasn't forced to have to work, he could be as free as a bumble bee, taking a sip of every flower, buzzing around lazily.  It sounds like such a good live, analogous to a railroad bum by the track.  I mean, I'm not sure that is a good life, but maybe Bjorn and Benny are suggesting that being as free as a bumble bee isn't as freeing as it sounds, but compared to having to work all night and work all day to pay the bills they have to pay, it sounds so much nicer, being able to actually enjoy the outdoors, lie back in the grass, and chew on a straw!

  Bjorn and Benny sing this simple demo track all together, including the higher pitched vocals in the background during the chorus that sound almost just like Agnetha. I believe they pitched up their own vocals to get that effect, but it just Bjorn and Benny with no involvement from the ladies.  

  I've already talked about this a bit in my post about I Am An A, but this track reuses the melody of the chorus of I Am An A.  Obviously Bjorn and Benny always liked that piece of music and wanted to salvage it into a proper song at some point, but Free As A Bumble Bee just wasn't it.  It wasn't until 1984 when the same original I Am An A appeared in Bjorn and Benny's song, I Know Him So Well, from the musical Chess.

  I like this song.  I like the songs that reference nature, and sunny, beautiful days.  Even though this song
is so short and not even finished, the first couple of lines, "it’s a crying shame isn’t it the beautiful weather.  If I could have my way well, I would not be working on a day like this I know what I’d like to be..." already paints such vivid imagery.

While this song about a bumble bee never officially got released in full, only being included as a mere, roughly two minute long snippet, ABBA did end up with a song about bumble bees many, many years later on their 2021 album, Voyage, on a track simply called Bumble Bee.  The two songs have nothing to do with each other, the only connection being that hey both star bumble bees, but I guess Bjorn and Benny have just always liked them, :'D

The Problem With ABBA Documentaries

 So recently a documentary about ABBA, titled ABBA: Against The Odds, or Sagan Om ABBA, was released in celebration of ABBA's 50th anniversary since winning Waterloo.  The 90 minute or so documentary claimed to tell "the epic story of ABBA’s greatest period of musical achievement framed between the albums ‘Arrival’ (1976) and ‘Super Trooper’ (1980), this is the story of ABBA’s deeply personal and perilous journey through the band’s most transformative years and rise to global fame."  Directed by James Rogan, a credible director who previously made a really cool documentary about Queen that featured a lot of rare, unseen, and archival footage and audio of the band (I haven't actually seen this documentary but I've heard good things about it), claimed that this documentary would also do the same, giving ABBA the same treatment that he gave to Queen. 

From the director's own website: "ABBA: Against The Odds will see a host of European broadcasters including BBC, ARD/WDR, France Télévisions, SVT and DR unite and come together to fund the feature film detailing the incredible story of the renowned group featuring re-discovered archive, exclusive never-before-seen stills and previously unheard stories. The film is set to be a roller-coaster journey of love, struggle, fame and – of course – epic songs."

 

So last night I got the chance to watch this documentary, specifically the Swedish version Sagan Om ABBA.  Seeing as a lot of it was in Swedish with no subtitles and I was watching it on 2x speed, I couldn't really understand a lot of it, but that's not to say I didn't follow.

 

The documentary was mostly made up on old audios and interviews from the 70s and beyond from the ABBA members.  I think a lot of the audio of Agnetha talking in English is from 2013 during some of the many interviews Agnetha did to promote her album A.  I think there were some modern interview audios from DJ Richard Skinner, some other people who were sort of involved with ABBA in the 70s, Bjorn, Benny, Ingmarie Halling, and Carl Magnus Palm, but that's just about it.   

 

Granted I couldn't understand half the documentary because I do not understand Swedish, but the story hardly mentioned anything about ABBA's actual story, just the basic you know, Bjorn met Agnetha, fell in love with her, and Benny met Frida, fell in love with her, etc.  It very briefly talks about their success with Waterloo that started it all, and kinda just jumps you straight into Dancing Queen era and you know, all about Dancing Queen, discussion of ABBA and all their Money Money Money, ABBA's DISCO era :O :O :O :O, and then Bjorn and Agnetha breaking up.  And a very brief in passing mention of Benny and Frida's divorce, despite the fact that that event happened after 1980.  And the End.

 

I've seen this happen in a lot of documentaries about ABBA, but the main focus is basically all about Bjorn and Agnetha.  Literally close to the beginning of the first documentary (the documentary was split into two 45 minute segments for some reason), I think it was Richard Skinner talking about how when he first met Agnetha and Bjorn in 1974, they were like one unit.  And I knew from that moment this documentary would be only focusing on them.  The documentary focuses a ton on how in 1978, Bjorn and Agnetha were having marriage struggles, and omg Frida and Benny had to get married while the other half of ABBA's marriage were falling apart, but that's like the only thing this documentary really focuses on their relationship. It's like Bjorn, Agnetha, and Dancing Queen are the only thing that matters to people, which is wrong.

 

Speaking of Agnetha, like many other documentaries and books on ABBA, this documentary makes such A BIG DEAL on how touring and traveling and all the ABBA things were SO BAD for Agnetha, and she was miserable and sad all the time and enjoyed NONE of it.  All she wanted to do was be with her kids, and the other members were NEVER supportive of her.  Life for Agnetha Faltskog was TERRIBLE and HORRIBLE.  The poor, tortured, miserable blond bombshell of ABBA.   Life was so hard.  But like, yes she didn't like touring, she didn't like being separated from her children, but she was also a member of ABBA and she did in fact enjoy that feeling of performing on stage.  She certainly preferred being in the studio more than touring, in fact all the ABBA members preferred being in the studio than touring, but she did tour and she did well. 

 

Also kudos to this documentary for being one of the only documentaries to EVER say that the way the Australian press treated Agnetha in regards to her butt was disrespectful.  Every other documentary I've seen if like "omg Agnetha has this sexiest bottom ever" but they don't ever talk about how rude and disrespectful it was to treat her like that.

 

I wish this documentary talked more on that magic of ABBA's music.  The sound, the creation of some of their most incredible songs.  The magical blend between all four of their voices, the layers upon layers of harmonies.  You know, what makes ABBA's sound unique.  But no, why talk about that when you can focus on the drama of it all instead?????

 

On the topic of rare unseen footage, I can tell you with certainty that there is only ~30 seconds of unseen footage. Everything else has been seen before.  The footage is as follows: 1. The ABBA members gathered around the piano in the Polar Music Offices singing acoustic performance of Fernando, but there is talking over it so you can barely hear them. 2. ABBA rehearsing for their Edmonton, Canada Show.  The audio is muted with just talking over it.  3. ABBA either about to go on stage or leaving the stage.  They included this scene around the time of the Boston plane fiasco, possibly indicating that this footage is from Boston but I don't think that's the case.  Maybe it's from the UK or Canada. Who knows.  Regardless, but it has no audio, just talking over the video.  And that's it!!

Yes the 30 seconds of truly unseen footage was a treat, but this documentary was such a disappointment.  Honestly, with the piecing together of different audio segments and interviews, this documentary was very much in the vain of my ABBA In Their Own Words amateur documentary that I put together once.  And I'm only an amateur, I don't have access to archival footage and could only use what I had access to on YouTube, and so far, despite it being 3-4 years since I made it, I only have 1 part, and it only goes up to winning Eurovision.  But my documentary is better.  So if you want to watch a respectful documentary that is actually accurate, why not give my documentary a watch, and honestly, just don't waste your time with these so called ABBA documentaries because they are just so bad.

20 years ago today...

 It was 20 years ago today, in 2004, that Agnetha released her fourth English language solo album, My Colouring Book.  The album comprises of 13 covers of some of Agnetha's favorite songs from her childhood and throughout the early 70s, songs that she loves and remind her of happier times, exactly how some of us feel when we listen to her songs and ABBA's songs.  

I've always loved this album.  I mean I love all of her work, but this album is quite special.  It was the first time Agnetha had released a new album since her 1987 album, I Stand Alone.  Her voice is exceptionally strong on this album despite it being 17 years since she released anything, and her sings all of the songs with such passion and emotion.  Although I'm not the biggest fan of cover songs, I personally always believe that the original versions are best, I've never had a problem with covers that are respectful of the original work, not changing too much but also adding a very minuscule touch of originality.  Throughout Agnetha's entire career, she has covered a lot of artists but always did it in the best way, and the same goes for this album.  

Coincidentally, not realizing this album was coming up on it's 20th anniversary, I listened to this album in full a couple of days ago while drawing, and it's still such a good song.  I like all the tracks, well except for Past, Present, Future as that track is just so weird to me (this is my personal feelings on the song itself, not on Agnetha's presentation of the song!), but my top favorite would have to be I Can't Reach Your Heart, Sometimes When I'm Dreaming, and Love Me With All Your Heart.  But again, all the tracks are good.

 One of my favorite thing about Agnetha is that she makes music on her own terms.  She doesn't give into public pressure to release more music, she does project was just one entirely made up of her own passion for artists and songs she loves, and she did it completely out of her own volition.  She kept promotion of it to a minimum, as that seems to be one of her least favorite parts of making music, yet it went on to be quite successful.  And to this day, I think, it still is a really good, successful album.  

I've mention in the past how Agnetha's A album from 2013 was the first solo project from either of the ladies of ABBA that I was actively there for.  I didn't know of ABBA yet at all when this album came back - I was only three years old, so I couldn't have been aware of it, but it's nice to know that I was around at the time of this album's release. :)