Song Analysis - So Long

Alright alright alright alright...

In August of 1974, ABBA began recording songs for what would be their next studio album.  So Long, which was ABBA's next single, is a banger.  With heavy guitars and rocking vocals from Agnetha and Frida, the song has quite the epic soundscape.  

The song is about a girl who does not want the attention of this guy, who's clearly very into her and also very rich.  He sends her flowers, shows off his fancy car, ahaha.  He thinks that money is all that's needed to get this girl's attention, but she's like "Nope.  Money's not going to work on me."  She's not like other girls who'd be easily swayed by the sheer amount of money this guy has, and she has no interest in pursuing anything with this guy.  She's putting a full stop to all of this.

"So long, see you honey.  Can’t buy me with your money.  you know it’s not worth trying.  So long, so long, so long."

It's not often, at least not among greatest hits that I'd hear on the radio a lot as a kid, that songs are about women standing up for themselves.  I just have to say, I'm so happy that ABBA have a good variety of songs, with a lot being written from the female perspective, but not as "omg I'm a woman and I let men walk all over me" but are about women standing up for themselves.  

ABBA would perform this song live throughout their 1974-75 tour, as well as during some nights of the 1977 tour. (I'm honestly very confused as to why, assuming I'm remembering correctly, some nights they'd perform So Long and other nights they wouldn't.)  So on top of several EPIC TV performances of the song, we have a decent variety of bootleg audios to enjoy. 

 

Also, no matter what anyone says, I LOVE the dance routine at the end of the song. Agnetha and Frida may not have been professional dancers, and there's this sort of (not intended as a putdown) "clunkiness" to their movement, but for me that just adds to the charm.  I love that they weren't perfectly choreographed, and wouldn't move 100% in sync.  They're always slightly off, doing their own things, and I love that.  Regardless of what I think of tribute bands, I wish that they would keep that in mind when they'd perform as Agnetha and Frida.  The robotic, synchronized movements just bother me so much.  Like, even the choreographer for ABBA Voyage kept that in mind when choreographing the Agnetha and Frida ABBAtars.  Yeah the ABBAtars move a lot more than Agnetha and Frida ever did, but it's closer to their actual movements than not.

Anyways, back to the topic of So Long, the song may have flopped initially, not garnering ABBA much success or popularity, but at this point, this song is epic and amazing and I love it so so so much.