Sunday, January 28, 2024

Song Analysis - King Kong Song

For some reason, Bjorn absolutely hates this song.  I remember in an interview from maybe 2014 or 2016, I can't really remember exactly, Bjorn was asked what ABBA song he would put in a time capsule, and he replied "Definitely not King Kong Song."  The song gets a lot of hate in the ABBA fan community as well, but I disagree that it's one of their worst tracks.   

King Kong Song is, in my opinion, one of ABBA's most fun songs.  It's like one those songs meant to encouraging the audience to interact with the song in new, fun ways.  

The first verse is sung by Bjorn, highlighting how his character was watching a movie about King Kong which inspired him to write a song about it to perform with his band, expecting people to really love this song about this big, mighty killer.  Personally, I don't know why people would like a song about a dreadful gorilla, but regardless, the next verse, sang by Agnetha and Frida, is about how they anticipate the reception to the song to be, with people dancing and acting like monkeys. "so let your arms hang down and waddle all around like a dreadful, mighty killer a big, black, wild gorilla."  

The song is for sure absurd, but the music is so funky and fun, their vocals sound amazing,there's some amazing bass??? backing vocals from presumably Benny in the chorus, Agnetha and Frida scream twice in the song, and the arrangement for the instruments is just so exciting.  The song makes you want to move, for sure.  

ABBA would perform this song live during their 1974-75 concerts, and one of my favorite things about the one bootleg recording we have is that Bjorn gets the lyrics wrong.  Instead of singing "Well I was looking at a movie on the TV last night," he says "Well I was looking at a TV on the movie last night."  I know it's not write to point out flubs, but I really really enjoy the few times when ABBA would make a small error because it just adds to the human side of them, showing that they're not always 100% perfect and it's okay.

Overall, I really love this song.  It's crazy, fun, ridiculous, and amazing all at the same time. 

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