Song Analysis - Arrival

 ABBA have only two original instrumental tracks in their entire catalog, being Intermezzo No.1 and Arrival, though technically speaking, Arrival is not an instrumental track.  ABBA had the idea to use Agnetha and Frida's voices as instruments so-to-speak, and they sing along with the keyboard, synthesizer, and strings as if they were another set of musical instruments.  As the song progresses, their vocals and harmonies get more prominent and more powerful, and let me just say, this song is absolutely stunning.  I find the use of Agnetha and Frida's vocals in this way to be outstanding and clever, and this song has such an ethereal sound to it.

Arrival has no lyrics, no words to the song, and I love it in that way, but I'm curious if the song was ever intended to have lyrics prior to becoming the version that was officially released?  The song went through a few different variations and working title, from August 1976 onward, first titled "Fiol", then "Ode To Dalecarlia" (which reminds me so much of Ode To Freedom from 2021), then "Arrival from Dalecarlia", and finally "Arrival."  And Arrival ended up becoming the title of this album that ABBA had been working on all year long.

This song is perfect, and I wouldn't change it for anything.  Every single element of this song was perfectly crafted, and I like it as a wordless song.

However, interesting enough, there have been a few cases now where the song was given new lyrics, though these are not official or authorized ABBA releases, I should mention.  (Clearly they were made with permission though.  I'm not trying to suggest that they weren't.) The first is the song J'Aime, performed by the singer Michele Torr in 1977, adding lyrics to the song.  Petula Clak recorded the song under the title La Vallee, also in 1977, with new lyrics in French.  Also in 1977, German singer Annegret Behrend  recorded the song with the title "Wie ein Vogel auf dem Wind."  Then in 1983, the song was performed with new lyrics under the title "Belle" for the weird predecessor to Mamma Mia the Musical, the French musical ABBAcadabra - a children's fairy tale story using ABBA's songs but changing the lyrics completely.  That is something I personally loathe, however, permission was given to use ABBA's songs in this way, and Frida even took part in it, performing the song Belle with French singer David Balavoine.  When the musical was translated to English in 1983, Frida went on to perform the song with British singer BA Robertson.  Interestingly enough, in 1999, it seems Bjorn did write new lyrics to the song, with the idea to include the song in Mamma Mia! the musical, but ultimately the song did not end up in Mamma Mia!, but singer Sarah Brightman recorded the song in 2008 using those unused, new lyrics to the song.

I just don't quite understand why in all these cases lyrics were added to the song as the song is so beautiful as it is without words  I personally really dislike covers and don't actively choose to listen to them, so I'm not going to listen to them or analyze their lyrics, especially as they are not ABBA's lyrics.  The closest thing to there being ABBA lyrics is the Sarah Brightman version of the song, but again, not ABBA's lyrics, so I'm not gonna talk about it any more.

Ultimately in my humble opinion, ABBA's version is best, and its original, wordless but absolutely stunning version is exactly how the song is meant to me.  And it's perfect.