Song Analysis - Mamma Mia

 Mamma Mia is honestly, I think, one of ABBA's most iconic songs.  Firstly, the song has kinda become synonymous with a musical and musical movie series that I will not be talking about anymore because i freaking hate it, and secondly, the music video for the song ended up creating one of the most unique and ultimately classic ABBA visuals that has also become synonymous with ABBA. 

The song itself is such a classic ABBA song.  The marimba I think it is during the intro and throughout the chorus is amazing and fun, the vocals with Agnetha and Frida's joint vocals, Bjorn and Benny's added backing vocals in the pre-choruses (Just one look and I can hear a bell ring/ one more look and I forget everything), and also the harmonies in the last chorus, and the "oooh-wee-ooh-wee-oooh"s in the background towards the end of the song are so fun as well.  

The song is about a person who has been cheated on and mistreated by their partner, and they seem to have a habit of breaking up a lot, and they're honestly so toxic for each other yet they keep on coming back, again and again and again.  The narrator is well aware that this is bad for them, exclaiming "Mamma mia, here I go again..." as they realize they've once again gotten stuck in this endless cycle of returning to their really bad ex despite breaking it off.  It's funny how the music is so happy and cheerful, yet the lyrics are actually super deep and honestly, sad.

Already as early as 1973, Agnetha and Frida had done the one A facing the camera, the other A facing to the side (ABBA on TV describes it as the "side-on-faces-shot") as can be seen on their performance of Ring Ring on Television City, but it wasn't until 1975 when filming the Mamma Mia music video that it became established as a classic ABBA visual.  While Lasse Halstrom, ABBA's ICONIC director, may not have invented that shot, he added onto it and made it more of a unique thing, by having Agnetha and Frida stand closer together than can be seen in 1973, and then having the focus constantly shift from one A to the other.  And now, in modern day, at least to my understanding, that shot is almost always associated with ABBA, and anytime you see that shot utilized in any sort of modern media, you can know that it was directly inspired by Lasse Hallstrom and ABBA.

ABBA wen on to perform this song on many TV shows, the fist official TV performance of the song being on the show Made In Sweden for Export when they debuted their iconic Cat Dresses.  As far as I know, ABBA did not perform this long live during the summer folkpark tour in 1975, but ABBA did perform it live on Midnight Special in 1976, and then during their 1977 tour around Europe and Australia.  Their last performance of the song was then in early 1979 in Switzerland while on the ski slopes, and the song was no included in their 1979 tour which is honestly disappointing to me.

I'm guessing in 1979, ABBA wanted to be seen more as a mature and serious band, and Mamma Mia, being such a fun and happy sounding song doesn't quite fit that image.  As a result, so many fun songs like I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, So Long, Dum Dum Diddle, and He Is Your Brother, that ABBA had as part of their 1977 tour and performed really well, didn't make it to the 1979 set list.  Plus any dance routines that ABBA used to perform on stage, like the amazing dance routine at the end of So long, were not included in the 1979 shows.  And I really don't like that, because as amazing as the 1979 concerts are and ABBA truly were at their peak, a lot of the fun aspects of the band were missing from those shows.  Though of course Frida absolutely kicks it up a notch with Why Did It Have To Be Me.  But that's pretty much it.  I'm not trying to put down ABBA in 1979 or the 1979 tour by the way as they were truly amazing.  I just wish they had added Mamma Mia to the setlist.  At least they included it in the Voyage shows.  That I really appreciate.

Anyways, although ABBA did not include Mamma Mia! in the 1979 tour, that was not the last time they sang the song, as in 1980, Agnetha and Frida recorded the song in Spanish for their Spanish album, Gracias Por La Musica.  They sound great honestly, but the Spanish version of Mamma Mia is not my favorite for a couple of reasons.  

1. Bjorn and Benny were not included in the recording of most of the songs in this album at least for the songs specifically recorded for the Gracias Por La Musica album and not previous Spanish recordings that they added to that album.  As I mentioned before, specifically on the lines "Just one look and I can hear a bell ring.  One more look and I forget everything," you can hear Bjorn and Benny singing along in the background, and when all four ABBA members are singing together you get that perfect blend of voices in perfect harmony.  You don't get that from Mamma Mia in Spanish.  Agnetha and Frida did amazing, but it ends up sounding very empty.

2. Michael B. Tretow, ABBA's iconic sound engineer who we love and respect here, decided to have a little fun with the mix of the Gracias Por Las Musica album, and mixed the backing tracks on all of the songs to be slightly different than their original English language counterparts.  For this song, he either took away the marimba entirely and replaced it with piano, or he pitched it down to make it sound lower, and... I guess it adds a more mature feel to the song and... I don't like it.  Mamma Mia is supposed to be a playful sounding song with rather heartbreaking lyrics, and that marimba really screams "happy music, sad lyrics."  Changing it up kind of ruins the song a bit.  Not saying the Spanish version is bad, just not my favorite by any means.

The Spanish version's lyrics are pretty much the same as the English one.  The first verse is, via my friend Google Translate, "I deceived myself because of you. I have known it for a long time. and I already decided now i will leave you. Look at me well, when will i learn? I do not know why. I live this great passion so much that burns my heart."  

Pre-chorus: "If you look at me I feel so much pleasure. If you get bigger I think you will fade away"  

Chorus: "Oh! Oh! Mamma mia, and again. I don't know how to resist you. mamma mia, I want and you see it. I don't know how to avoid you.   You who have provoked me then you rejected me. Why do I still love you like this? Mamma mia, I already decided because I can't live without you."  

Second verse: "you have made me angry with your way of being. and I would like to forget so many things from yesterday. Look at me well, when will i learn? I do not know why I live this great passion. so much that burns my heart"

In the English version, the last chorus is switched up a bit, to "mamma mia, even if I say bye, bye, leave me now or never. mamma mia, it’s a game we play.  bye, bye doesn’t mean forever" but the Spanish one doesn't have that, just repeating the same chorus. 

 Here's a compilation of all of ABBA's performances of Mamma Mia:

And yeah, nothing else to say about the song. It's perfect and I wouldn't change anything about it.  It's classic ABBA.  

The song totally didn't go on to be the title of a musical that ended up skyrocketing ABBA's popularity even more with the younger general but also ruining ABBA's songs and making them seem like a band that only makes cheesy musical music, but also the musical changed the meanings and sound of their songs, so they're not even the original songs, and then also all the people who performed the songs in the terrible musical movies absolutely butchered and destroyed the songs with their atrocious performances as the songs are not meant to be song by anyone other than a mezzo-soprano and soprano blending together with amazing stacked harmonies and beautiful voices and-

Also, as it is February 23rd, just wanted to wish Linda Ulvaues a happy 51st birthday!!