Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Song Analysis - Get On The Carousel

 The final song in ABBA's mini musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair, is this absolutely epic finale, Get On The Carousel!  ABBA just amp up the energy for this song, with Agnetha and Frida both performing at their absolute finest, and each getting the chance to show off their individual vocal strength.  ABBA's backing vocalists, Lena Andersson, Lena-Maria Gardenas, and Maritza Horn get the chance to shine as well, singing most of the chorus on their own.

The song has the backing vocalists trying to encourage our titular character, The Girl With The Golden Hair, to get on the "carousel", and stay put.  They try to entice her, telling her how fun it is, how much the world adores her.  It's so worth it, you know, the loss of control, that feeling of helplessness....  But the Girl with the Golden Hair does not want to!  She's had enough. She feels completely out of control, feels sick, and wants to get off this carousel asap.  After all, all she wanted to do was dance and sing!

There's a lot of really fun and heavy electric guitars, dare I say making this one of ABBA's rockiest numbers they ever performed live?  This song honestly feels like an emotional breakdown, and though I used to dislike this track a lot, I really like it now.

I mentioned in my post about I Wonder that I was curious why Agnetha was seen rehearsing this track in the dressing rooms in one scene in ABBA the Movie, and I realize now that's because she and Frida sing it during one part of Get On The Carousel that goes back and references I Wonder. The two of them sing it together and they honestly sound so good.  I kinda wish Agnetha was featured more in the studio version.  

They also go back and sing I'm A Marionette again, (before I Wonder actually), just tying together all the different parts of the musical into this finale.  And also the line "I only wanted to dance and sing" is in reference to Thank You For The Music.

Unfortunately, ABBA didn't end up releasing this song.  It ended up remaining a piece of the mini-musical and was never recorded in the studio to be included on their forthcoming album.  I'm curious if it's because ABBA never utilized other vocalists in any of the song, and this song is clearly very heavy on the backing vocalists, and honestly I don't think the energy from the live performance could have translated well into a studio environment.  

Also perhaps Bjorn and Benny were never really satisfied with the song, as they did end up reusing sections of the song.  The melody in the chorus, specifically on the lines,"Get on, the roundabout is just beginning! Get on, it's fun to see, the world is spinning!" ended up being turned into the bridge of Hole In Your Soul, specifically, "Aha, you paint your world and use all colours.  Aha, and then you find it all comes out too bright."  Interestingly, the outro of Get On The Carousel was also later reused for the outro for Hole In Your Soul live during the 1979 tour.

Now, while Get On The Carousel never saw an official release, most of it is featured in ABBA the Movie (placed before I'm A Marionette despite the song being after I'm A Marionette in the setlist). Sadly they did not include any footage of Agnetha and Frida's dance break in between I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carousel, nor did they include the full song.

Here are the lyrics, transcribed to the best of my ability.  It's not perfect, I can't guarentee it's 100% accurate, but I did my best:

Get on the carousel
Get on the carousel
Get on,
the roundabout is just beginning!
Get on,
it's fun to see, the world is spinning!
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on,
Your happiness is waiting for you!
(It’s only making me scared!)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh, I really wanna go!)

Agnetha:
I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
No, I don't think I can take much more

Frida: So won’t you tell ‘m to make it slow?
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:
I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop
Spinning!
So won't you let me get off this thing?

Frida:
I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

The roundabout is just beginning
get on!
it's fun to see, the world is spinning
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on
your happiness is waiting for you
(It’s only making me scared)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh, I really wanna go!)

Agnetha: I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
No I don’t think I can take much more

Frida; So won’t you tell ‘em to make it slow
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop spinning!
So won’t you let me get off this thing?

Frida: I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

I’m a marionette, just a marionette, pull the string!
I’m a marionette, everybody's pet, just as long as I sing!
I’m a marionette, see my pirouette,
Round and round
I’m a marionette, just a marionette,
Just a silly old clown!

The roundabout is just beginning
get on
it's fun to see the world a-spinning
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on
your happiness is waiting for you
(It’s only making me scared)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh I really wanna go!)

Oh I’m not a coward,
Oh no I'll be strong.
One chance in a lifetime
Yes I will take it,
Yes I will take it,
It can’t go wrong…

Agnetha:
I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
Now I don’t think I can take much more

Fida: So can't you tell ‘em to make it slow
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:
I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop spinning!
So won’t you let me get off this thing?

Both:
I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

Now, regarding Agntha and Frida's dance break, while we don't have any officially released to the public on like a DVD or TV show or anything of the actual performance, in a couple of cases clips of Agnetha and Frida rehearsing the dance routine has been shown to the public. During the ABBA World exhibit in Syndney in 2010-2011 ish, a film by Jack Churchill featuring rehearsal footage was shown there, and you can see Agnetha and Frida working on their dances for both I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carosel.  More footage from those rehearsals was inclued in a 2005 interview with Bjorn, Benny, Lasse Halsstrom.  Then in 2023 I think it was, when ABBA the Movie was playing in Cinemas around Europe, they showed a couple more minutes of rehearsal footage before the movie.  ABBARoxAus on YouTube also has a couple of seconds of the performance in Sydney up on YouTube as well.  

So, yeah, that's Get On The Carousel.  If you want to hear the song in full, there might still be some bootleg audios up on YouTube, and I definitely recommend listening to it because it is quite the song. :)

(Also ABBA pls don't block me I just wanted to include a quick comparison.  Footage and audio do not belong to me.)


Sunday, March 24, 2024

Song Analysis - I'm A Marionette

 The next song in ABBA's mini-musical is I'm A Marionette, and what a song!  For the first time in the musical, Agnetha and Frida together are playing the Girl With The Golden Hair, and they sing the song with so much dramatics!  This live version of I'm A Marionette is quite different from the one that would ultimately be released on their forthcoming album. For starters, it's quite fast paced, and honestly feels very much like when you're in an anxious situation and your heart is beating super fast and - sorry don't need to tell you all about my anxiety hahhaa.  

At the end of chorus, they sing "I'm a marionette" rather than ending with the line "... just a silly old clown.". Instead of singing "Like a doll, like a puppet with no will at all," they add a "And I'm like a doll...", and after that verse, it just goes straight into the "Look this way, just a little smile is what they say..." verse.  Also there's a couple of dance breaks after each chorus and the song doesn't have an outro like the studio version does, instead, after the last chorus, it immediately blends into the next track, which is actually another dance break.  

So basically the studio version is: Verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, verse 3, chorus, outro, where as the live version is: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, verse 3, chorus.

The song is basically about our main character from the musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair, realizing that she has no control over her life, and she's basically like a marionette.  Everyone's telling her to go here, go there, smile, spin, sing, walk, talk, fall, and she has no control or direction over her life.  Everyone's telling her "You're so free!" but she's not.  She has no freedom.  She's just a puppet, or a marionette if you will.

This song is actually really sad and stressful, and Agnetha and Frida did such a good job capturing those feelings of hopelessness and no control in their performance.  A full performance of I'm A Marionette is included in ABBA the Movie, and I'm so glad they included it in its entirety, though there are a few clips of ABBA traveling around Australia and dealing with the media interspersed throughout.  but the performance is just so good.  When I was younger I used to despise the Girl With The Golden Hair for some reason, I think because it's so different and strange and it's so weird, you go to a concert to see your idols on stage, to hear them sing, and instead they're putting on a musical???  But no, it's really creative and really cool and I like it. 

I was reading ABBA on Record the other day (I've made it to the halfway point of the book!) and I was surprised that he mentioned in regards to the Marionette featured on the cover of ABBA the Album, "the marionette refers to the group's feeling of entrapment when everyone wanted a piece of them during the tour, as depicted in the film, and to the mini musical song "I'm A Marionette;" but I don't get that at all???  Wouldn't it just be in reference to the song, "I'm A Marionette" which was written prior to the band's 1977 tour and has no connection to how they felt during the tour?  idk.

As I've mentioned my last couple of posts regarding the Girl With The Golden Hair, the musical is not about any of the ABBA members or their personal lives.  Perhaps they could have taken inspiration from some of the experiences they had experienced during their hectic lives as superstars, but the song is not about them personally.  So why would they have the marionette on the cover be about that rather than the musical, which takes up 1/3 of the album's tracklist?

Anyways, when they recorded the song in studio for The Album, they slowed down the song and made it more dramatic even, perhaps even more musical-ly, more theatrical.  There's this absolutely amazing bass throughout the song that sounds epic.  And to close out the song, they repeat the first verse, "You're so free, that's what everybody's telling me. Yet I feel I'm like an outward bound pushed around refugee.... " and the song fades out like that.  

I like the two different versions of I'm A Marionatte, even though they're so vastly different.  Each version is special in it's own way, and while I kind of wish they kept the recorded version closer to the way they performed it live, I don't think that live energy could have been replicated in the studio.  So when you're in the mood for a more toned down but theatrical performance of the song, listen to the studio version, and when you want to experience literal AnXiETy, listen to the one from ABBA the Movie or any of the bootleg audios haha.

I did sync up the live performance from ABBA the Movie to the studio version, but honestly just go look up the live performance on its own .  You won't regret it!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Song Analysis - I Wonder (Departure)

 As I mentioned in my last post, I Wonder (Departure) is the third song in Bjorn and Benny's mini-musical that they wrote as a show to be performed during ABBA's 1977 tour.  The first song was Thank You For The Music, and it introduces us to the title character, played by both Agnetha and Frida: the Girl with the Golden Hair.  When we first meet her, Agnetha plays her and she's sharing how much she loves music, singing, and dancing, and how she wants to do something with this talent that she has.

I Wonder (Departure) picks up with our character, this time played by Frida, as she's presented with the opportunity to leave her town, her friends and family, to pursue a career in music.  This everything she's ever dreamed of, however she's a little scared.  Here she is, leaving her hometown that she literally grew up in and is what feels familiar and comforting.  While she'll be off making music and reining in success, everyone around her will just be doing the usual life things.  Everyone will just continue on as they should be, you know, starting their own families and making babies, that sort of things, while she's off doing something that isn't standard.  

While she's quite frightened of this sudden large change, she says, "Who the hell am I if I don't even try?" and hypes herself up, saying that this is a once in a lifetime experience, and she's going to take it.  And it's not like it can do wrong, right?  ...Right?

 While this song is a continuation of the musical's story, it is a very good song stand alone.  Like it doesn't have to be about the girl with the golden hair being given to opportunity to pursue music and being scared.  Anyone going through any big change in their life, maybe it's getting ready for a new job or college, or something else entirely, can relate to this song.  And it's a very, very good song.

As I mentioned, Frida takes the lead on this song, and her vocals are absolutely amazing.  Specifically in the live version, that can be heard in bootleg recordings, she manages to capture the feelings and nervousness of the character, capturing all the emotions that the Girl With The Golden Hair is feeling in her performance.

Bjorn and Benny didn't end up changing the lyrics at all in this early, live version when they eventually recorded it in the studio.  Though, they did change up the instruments a bit.  While generally it is pretty much the same, there was an absolutely beautiful saxophone solo that was performed in between the chorus and the verse that is honestly such a highlight.  It adds such a different feel to the song, adding like a sense of hopefulness at the end of each chorus.  But when ABBA recorded it in the studio, they chose to take it out, which I'm honestly so mad about hahahahhaa.  The saxophone is just epic and deserves to be put back, okay???  The song also has a sweet little piano outro, played by Benny that's different to the one in the studio version.

I mentioned in my last post that ABBA had recorded a lot of their concerts in full, I think their performances at the Royal Albert Hall, and then some if not all of their Australian leg of the tour.  Unfortunately they weren't satisfied with the recordings, and now today refuse to release them to the public.  I'm thinking they came to this decision that the recordings are bad when they were working on ABBA the Movie.  They needed a good live audio to sync up all the moving footage to, to make one consistent live audio, and they must have found that there's was always something wrong with each night's audio that they recorded, and ultimately decided to dub over all the audio that would be used in the movie with vocals and instruments recorded in the studio so it would sound cleaner and more perfect.  And with ABBA being perfectionists, it would make sense that when given the opportunity to present themselves performing live, they don't want there to be any flaws whatsoever.  When performing live in concert, unfortunately there may always be errors, but that doesn't mean they have to keep the errors.

So, all the live audio that you hear in ABBA the Movie is actually "fake-live".  The movie footage of ABBA in concert is what they were doing live on stage, but the audio is dubbed over, kind of like ADR for movies and TV shows.  This also gave them the opportunity to use footage from different nights and have it all blend together seamlessly because to the audience's ears, it's all one single performance.  Though that did allow for some inconsistencies, like some nights Agnetha had a braid in her hair, others she had a ponytail, and then sometimes she would have her hair just down.

While I Wonder didn't end up appearing in ABBA the Movie (though at one point Agnetha can be seen practicing her vocals to that song in the dressing room even though she doesn't actually sing it live), they may have been thinking about it, and ended up dubbing it over with the "fake-live" vocals.  And in October 1977, they released I Wonder (Departure) (Live) as the b-side to The Name Of The Game. While it is new vocals and new piano overdubs from Benny, if you listen closely (there are some parts of ABBA the Movie where you can hear this as well, I can think of in Dancing Queen, towards the end there are some actually live Frida ad-libs), you can hear the original, live vocals buried in there.  

The studio version that ended up being released on The Album, is really good, just kind of has a more depressing and sadder feel to it. The lack of saxophone kind of depletes from the feeling of hopefulness that is heard in the live, bootleg audios.  While Agnetha seemingly doesn't appear in the live performances in concert, I wonder if she's in the studio version at all.   When i listen to it, I'm only hearing Frida, maybe some Bjorn & Benny thrown in there with some harmonies, specifically in the chorus, but I don't hear Agnetha much in it. But I don't know.

Anyways, this song is a very hopeful song, very lovely, and Frida performs in super well.  Although the song ends on a hopeful note, unfortunately the next time we hear from The Girl With The Golden Hair, things aren't going so well, haha.  Still, the song as a stand alone song still gives a very hopeful message, and I love it.

(Also on a completely unrelated note - if you're familiar with the Glagow Willy Wonka scam situation, doesn't the narrator for the Girl With The Golden Hair sound a bit like the actor playing Willy Wonka, especially when he says "WhAT iS tHaT?  iT'S thE UnkNoWn!")

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Song Analysis - Thank You For The Music

For the longest time, Bjorn and Benny had always dreamed of writing a musical.  It was something they always wanted to try out, and when the opportunity came to go on a major European and Australian tour in 1977, they decided it was time to try out something new and make those dreams into a reality.  Thus the mini-musical, the Girl With The Golden Hair was born.

The story tells the tale of a girl, with golden hair, who loves music, has always loved music, is presented with an opportunity to leave her hometown and follow her dreams, but at the cost of leaving everything behind.  So she does, but soon realizes that show business is not as fun as it sounds.  She begins to feel like a slave to the industry, and is stuck on this carousel and can't get out, and is trapped in the music industry without being able to enjoy anything anymore.  And the musical ends there.  Kinda sad and not a very positive or uplifting outcome hahahaha.  Four songs were written for this mini-musical, those being "Thank You For The Music," "I Wonder (Departure)," "I'm A Marionette," and "Get On The Carousel."  

Now, just as a disclaimer, this musical is NOT based off of the ABBA members own personal experiences.  It's a fictitious story about how the music business can stab you in the back, and take advantage of young, innocent, unknowing people who just want to make their hobbies, aka singing and performing, into a career.  A lot of people claim that Bjorn and Benny even wrote about Agnetha, considering it's claimed that she was a poor sad woman who was taken advantage of by her bandmates when all she wanted to do was be a mother to her children, and that is false and totally not true at all.  It is just a fictional story with fictional characters.  

Anyways, the first song in the musical is Thank You For The Music, which is about the girl with the golden hair and her love for music.  She's been singing since she was a very young kid.  Her mother said she was a dancer before she could walk, and she was even singing since before she could talk.  Basically performing has been her life-long dream, and she wants to make it her career.

The version that was performed as part of the mini-musical live in 1977, is generally the same as what ended up becoming the officially released studio version that everyone today is familiar with, but there are a couple of small differences.

In the chorus, the lyrics are "So I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing.  Thanks for all the joy they're bringing.  I can't live without it!  I ask in all honesty, what would life be..."

And then the second verse is, "Mother says I was a dance before I could walk.  She says I began to sing long before I could talk.  Now I am so grateful to all of the guys, who bring these sweet melodies into our lives. I'm in love with them all.  I mean Brian and Chuck, John and Paul."

I actually really like this line, as in a way, it's Bjorn and Benny paying tribute to some of their own personal inspirations.  Brian refers to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Chuck is Chuck Berry, and John and Paul refer to John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles, and it was them being such an iconic songwriting duo that Bjorn and Benny were inspired to write their own original music.

The last chorus is also repeated twice at the end of the song.

The pacing is also slightly different, with some fun piano bits from Benny thrown in throughout, especially during the second verse, and also the song feels and sounds very much like a song from a musical.

Both Agnetha and Frida played the part of the Girl With The Golden Hair, both individually and together.  Agnetha sings Thank You For The Music, and she did amazing by the way, Frida sings I Wonder, then the two of them together sing the last two songs, with there even being a dance break in between I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carousel.  Both of them wore identical costumes and wigs, and what do you know, the wigs were golden!

Now, clearly Bjorn and Benny weren't 100% satisfied with the version they presented for the musical, and so when they got around to recording it for their upcoming album, they messed around with the style of the song and changed the lyrics.  The second verse became the one we're all familiar with,

"Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk.
She says I began to sing long before I could talk.
And I’ve often wondered how did it all start.
Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can?
Well, whoever it was, I’m a fan."

And the chorus changed from "I can't live without it," to "Who can live without it?"

ABBA's first recording of the song was in more of a cabaret and jazzy style, and Agnetha sang in the style of one of her musical inspirations, Doris Day, and this version ultimately got released as the Doris Day version in 1994.  (No, Doris Day doesn't feature on the song.  It's just Agnetha trying to sing like her.)

But, they weren't satisfied with this version and arranged it to be closer to the way they performed it live, and that became official version of the song.  

Agnetha sings the lead vocals on this song, but the other three join her during the chorus, and let me just say, their joint vocals on this song are some of the most beautiful ABBA vocals.  It's got that amazing ABBA magic of all four of their voices blending together, with some lovely harmonies as well.  The way all four of them sing together in this song will always be among my top favorite ABBA vocals.

 In 1980, this song was recorded in Spanish, with the new title "Gracias Por La Musica," which also became the title of the Spanish album.  The song is pretty much the same, just in Spanish.  The first verse is, translated via Google Translate, "I am very simple and maybe a little boringThe jokes that I know, I'm sure they come out the other way around. But there is a talent in me singular, and the thing is that the people listen to: me when I singAnd makes me happy. I can proudly announce it, that's why."  Chorus: "I want to thank to the songs that transmit emotions. I want to thank for what they make me feelI must admit that with music it is worth living, that's why I want to thank you for this gift in me."  Second verse: "Everyone said that I was a precocious girl. I danced and sang and I stood out for my voice.  And today I wonder which is the reason because he always wins the great attention, a simple songIf I have done it with my heart, that's why."  (Google translate doesn't always make the most sense, okay?? Hhahaha).  and the bridge: "How lucky I was. I am so happy when I sin.  I want us all to enjoy together. how happy, what pleasure, to exclaim."  Interestingly, I'm surprised that the reference to the Girl With The Golden Hair doesn't appear in the Spanish version.  

As the Spanish version was recorded by Agnetha and Frida alone, with Bjorn and Benny away on a songwriting vacation, that joint vocal effect that I love so much from the English version is not there.  Agnetha and Frida did an amazing job on it, no doubt, but it's just too different for me.  Agnetha's vocals are also a lot more harsh in the Spanish version, not as soft and sweet as the English one, but again, she did a good job.

The song went on to become a pretty major hit, with ABBA going on to perform it on a few different TV shows, live on their next concert tour (the recording from their last night at Wembley was also released on their 2014 live album!), live on their final live concert in 1981, and even sang a shortened version of it on their final two live performances in 1982.  The song has become pretty iconic, as it's such a lovely tribute to all musicians and songwriters, and accurately shares how much music impacts our lives and how much we appreciate it. 

The line, "without a song or a dance, what are we?" is such an impactful statement.  I don't know how the world would survive without music.  Music can play such an important part in everyone's life, whether they're just the songs of our childhood that offer a hint of nostalgia any time you hear it, a musical instrument that you're passionate about to learn and play, or as an obsessed fan of some band's music.  Music is a way to spread joy and share experiences, to read into the lyrics and find things that are applicable to you, or not if you're not into reading lyrics and just like enjoying the sound.  Music is amazing, and I think everyone is thankful and grateful for music being such a prominent part of our lives. 

 Anyways, here's a compilation of all of ABBA's performances of the song.  A lot of these were actually live performances, but I synced them up to the studio track, but I definitely recommend looking up those live versions because they sound really good.  Especially those final two performances from 1982.  They're exceptionally good and beautiful.  Also technically the earliest recording/performance of Thank You For The Music is actually from the end of 1976, when Bjorn and Benny shared a snippet of a new song on a TV report.

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Song Analysis - I Am An A

During rehearsals for ABBA's 1977 tour, it's said that ABBA decided to come up with a brand new song, telling their perspective audiences a little bit about themselves. I think this is such a fantastic idea, especially as during this time, per ABBA in a 1977 interview with Sveriges Magasin, a lot of magazines and tabloids were making up myths and fake information about them, coming up with false perseptions and characters for each member. Bjorn found it quite offensive that he was labeled as very "business-minded, and Agnetha was being deemed as this romantic with of course so much attention being in her bottom. I actually really like this interview because each member, specifically Frida, is so mad about the tabloids and they're being extra snarky and are clearly upset, a sit of them that didn't really come out when they were busy promoting their music or tours or whatnots. (Never mind that in the 80s, Agnetha even went to war with some tabloid magazines and even suing them hahaha. Love that for her!)

Anyways, while I am an A is a more accurate than not telling about each ABBA member, it's definitely leaning more on the side of playfulness. ABBA are telling a bit about themselves through more of a funny lens, but everything they're saying is true and you're really getting a feel for who they are and what they're like as people. Until that point, I think ABBA had always kept a lot of their personal lives and own personalities rather shielded from their professional live, never mind that a lot of ABBA at that time was made up of personal factors- I mean they're literally two couples! But you didn't really get to know what as people. Maybe in their home country, who they were was a lot more known, but internationally, all people knew about them was what they saw on TV and what they read in magazines.

I've been reading ABBA on Record, Carl Magnus-Palm's newest book (I have a lot of thoughts on this book, and will very likely write a review when I get around to finishing it!), and I find it to be so interesting how much the ABBA members originally disliked the name ABBA, and so badly did not want their group to be called ABBA. But eventually the name ABBA was agreed upon, despite Bjorn's personal dislike for the name, and I like how by 1977, they fully accepted it and went as far as to write a song completely around that title.

Sometimes I wonder if I Am An A is the official title of the song, especially as during the 1977 tour, ABBA didn't actually introduce the song by its title. According to ABBA omnibus, the song has a couple of unofficial titles that it's also known by - "A-B-B-A", "A Simple Four-Letter Word", and "We Are A Simple Four-Letter Word". But it seems the agreed upon title, whether official or not, is I Am An A, so that is what I'm going to be calling it.

One thing I really like about this song is that fact that each member sings a verse about themselves. In all of ABBA's catalog, Benny only has one lead-vocal track, and Benny singing alone is a very rare feat, but he did for this song. Agnetha playfully states when ABBA would introduce the track right after performing Rock Me, "Benny's going to play guitar for a change, and even sing! And I promise you, that doesn't happen very often." Benny replies, "No it doesn't," and Bjorn adds, "And you'll soon see why!"

The song starts with Frida's verse, which is:

Frida: I’m Frida, hello! I’m the star of the show!
Agnetha: That’s what she thinks anyway
Frida: And I like to perform, Benny says I am warm
Benny: Well, hot is the least you can say
Frida: Independent and free, and ambitious, that’s me! Fighting for fame and success. And I’m tough too, you see
Benny: No she’s not, just ask me
Frida: Singing and dancing is what like best

 Then we have the chorus:

Agnetha & Frida: I am an A
Bjorn & Benny: I’m a B
Agnetha & Frida: He is okay
Bjorn & Benny: So is she
All four: Singing together in harmony
Agnetha & Frida: He is a B
Bjorn & Benny: She’s a bird
Agnetha & Frida: Do you mean me
Bjorn & Benny: Yes you heard
All four: We are a simple four letter word
A-B-B-A

Bjorn's verse is next:

Bjorn: I’m Björn, I’m the guy, who is careful and shy. Don’t like to spend every dime.  But I love my guitar, and I drive in my car.
Agnetha: Scares me to death every time!
Bjorn: And I don’t like to shave
Agnetha: You should live in a cave
Bjorn: No, I feel more at home on the stage. When I sing and I play, with my group, it’s okay
Benny, Frida, and Agnetha: You’re group? You’re kidding or is it your age?

Then there's the chorus again, as well as a bridge, which is:

All four: Two and two together make four, every song opens a door

Agnetha: I am an A
Bjorn: I am a B
Benny: I am a B
Frida: I am an A

Agnetha's verse is next: 


Agnetha: I’m Agnetha, hello, I’m the young one you know
Frida: And she never lets me forget
Agnetha: I am gentle and mild, underneath it I’m wild
Bjorn: Craziest woman I’ve met
Agnetha: I’m romantic they say, but it’s not quite that way. I’m down to earth, yes indeed.  And I like early nights, so I turn off the lights
Bjorn: And I never get any chances to read

Another chorus, followed by Benny's verse:

Benny: I’m Benny at last, and I’m living quite fast. I like to travel and see. I can play day and night if the feeling’s all right
Frida: And it’s sometimes a problem for me
Benny: I can play ‘In The Mood’. I like wine, I like food
Bjorn: Now that’s something he just can’t deny
Benny: But I’m the talented one, with a place in the sun
Bjorn, Agnetha, Frida: When he’s not bragging, he’s quite a nice guy!

Then there's a final chorus before the song ends.

I cannot stress how much I love this song! Not only is their performance of the song absolutely amazing, with lovely acoustic guitars and such beautiful harmonies especially in the chorus, but their humor, playfulness, and close bond with each other is super evident. We have a decent amount of bootleg audios of this song, which are the only reasons why people today who didn't get the chance to see ABBA live during their 1977 tour, can enjoy this track. My favorites are the ones from the 8th of March in Adelaide, and the 10th of March in Perth. This song also has a special place in my heart as it was the song that I made my first ever ABBA Lego animation and uploaded to my original YouTube Channel in February, 2012. I was only 11, haha, and had no idea what a lot of the lyrics meant, so I would ask my Grandma what a lot of them meant. I remember asking her, "What does living fast mean?" and she gave me a very nice explanation. I can also pretty much quote these lyrics as I know them all my heart at this point haha. I just really love this song.

ABBA only performed this song during the 1977 tour, and if not for the bootleg recordings, the only memories of this song would have been from concert goers, and of course ABBA's own recordings of some of the stops in the tour that they refuse to release smh hahahhaha. If not for these recordings, I don't think anyone would have noticed that ABBA began to reuse the melody from the chorus for future songs.

In 1978, Bjorn and Benny reused part of the song for the demo Svantes Inferno, which would later become Free As A Bumblebee, which was recorded on May 29th, 1978, but a one minute and 29 second segment of it was included in the 1994 medley, ABBA Undeleted, appearing at the 14:41 mark. The melody from I Am An A was used in the post-chorus???, which goes, "What a good life, lying laid back, like an old railroad bum by the track. What a good life, living outdoors, lie in the grass and chew on a straw."

But Free As A Bumblebee remained unreleased and unused, and Bjorn and Benny, who very clearly liked the melody that was originally from I Am An A a lot, were still eager to reuse it somehow. So when ABBA went on their 40 year hiatus in 1983 onward, namely so that Bjorn and Benny could begin working on a musical, they got the chance to reuse the melody for the song I Know Him So Well. Obviously that song went on to become a major hit, and ended up being the first time this melody ended up being officially released. The original I Am An A melody is used in the first part of the chorus which is:

Florence: Wasn't it good?
Svetlana: Oh so good
Florence: Wasn't he fine?
Svetlana: Oh so fine
Florence: Isn't it madness?
Both: He can't be mine?

I Know Him So Well is not an ABBA song, so I'm probably not gonna disucss it much further in my song analysis posts, but I just gotta say, the song is almost structured like an ABBA song and I bet would have sounded amazing with Agnetha and Frida singing it tgoether, playing the parts of Svetlana and Florence.  If they wanted to do that irl sometime, or even someone who knows how to do AI vocals wanted to give us a hint of what the actual thing could sound like wanted to do that, I wouldn't mind.... :)

So yeah, there's some history on the beloved track, I Am An A.  I know ABBA did record a couple of nights from their 1977 tour, one at the Royal Albert Hall I think, as well as some if not all of their Australian leg of the tour.  I know they are 100% against releasing a 1977 live album like they did the 1979 one, but if they would please please PLEASE release I Am An A officially, I would be the happiest little ABBA fan in the world.  Please and thank you. :D

Also, if you want to listen to the song, just look it up on YouTube!  There should be some bootleg audios still on there, so if you find it, enjoy!!