Song Analysis - Hasta Mañana

 Where is the spring and the summer that once was yours and mine?  

ABBA began recording Hasta Mañana in December of 1973.  The song is a very beautiful ballad, telling the story of a relationship that has ended.  With lines such as, "Darling, our love was much too strong to die. we’ll find a way to face a new tomorrow," the main character of the song seems very willing to fight to try and mend things and get back together again, begging for her partner to forgive and forget whatever went wrong.  "Time to forget, send me a letter. Say you forgive, the sooner the better."  She's not willing to just let this relationship die, she truly believes they can make it through.  Until then, she'll be here waiting.

The song is very simple, with Agnetha singing on lead vocals, and the other three members jump in during the chorus.  Agnetha's vocals are so soft and sweet in this song, with such an innocent quality to it.  She uses this style of singing a lot in ABBA's earlier songs, specifically this song Hasta Manana, Disillusion, My Love, My Life, etc.  However, from 1977 onwards, she sings with a different style, and I mean not this not as a put down, but more harsher, crisper vocals.  You can hear the clear difference in her singing styles when comparing the English version of Hasta Mañanato the Spanish version from 1980.  (Honestly both Agnetha and Frida's singing styes changed dramatically during recording sessions from The Album, and it helps to pinpoint which era an ABBA song is from if you're not immediately recognizing which year an ABBA song is from.)

Personally, I kind of prefer Agnetha's more airy vocals of the English version, however I think her later vocals show more of a confidence.  Not delving into my personal thoughts on AI covers, but if you ever needed to sample Agnetha's vocals for like an AI cover or something, I definitely think her later vocals would work better for that.  

The Spanish version of Hasta Mañana's lyrics is pretty much the same as the English version, just translated into Spanish obviously.  "Until tomorrow I will know how to wait for you. I want to be with you. Write to me, and I'll explain it to you. Forgive me, I beg you.  Until tomorrow, tell me, until tomorrow my love."  

Okay, so something that kinda bugs me about the Spanish versions of ABBA's songs that Agnetha and Frida worked on in 1980 for the Gracias Por La Music album is the lack of Bjorn and Benny being present in the recordings.  Part of that classic ABBA sound, which is heard quite clearly in the chorus of the English version of Hasta Mañana is all four members singing together in harmony.  Despite all their voices blending together to create this most beautiful sound, if you listen closely you can tell that Bjorn and Benny are in there, adding a wider soundscape.  In the 1980 version, Bjorn and Benny hardly recorded if they recorded any vocals, and as a result, as beautiful as the Spanish version is, it feels kind of empty.  

Anyways, aside from the two studio versions, we also have a live Bootleg recording from ABBA's concert in Eskilstuna, and Agnetha carries it beautifully, albeit a little shaky at times.  One thing I really love about the live from Eskilstuna bootleg audio is that ABBA didn't have any baking vocalists, so it's just the other three members singing backup and there's this rawness that I really like, especially in the chorus where it's Agnetha singing the lead and Frida harmonizing with her.

And then we only have two TV performances of Hasta Mañana, which you can see side by side here in this video.

Also, back when ABBA were still trying to figure out which song they wanted to enter in 1974's Melodifestivalen, they were initially stumped between Hasta Mañana, your more classic, Eurovision-style slow ballad, or Waterloo, a more up-tempo song that wasn't your usual Eurovision song.  I think ABBA made the right choice by choosing to do something a little more daring, and clearly it proved to be successful.  Not saying Hasta Mañana is in any way worse, because this song is amazing, and I love it.