Song Analysis - Tiger

  Okay, so if I'm being very honest, I don't quite know what this song is about. Is it about an actual apex predator? Is it about some creep or even a serial killer who likes to hunt people in the city? Is it metaphor for something else entirely? I don't know. But I do know one thing- this song is fun!

The song is basically someone giving a warning about the dangers of the city, to always beware otherwise the tiger will get you! "The city is a jungle, you better take care. Never walk alone after midnight. If you don’t believe it you better beware of me", "The city is a nightmare, a horrible dream. Some of us will dream it forever. Look around the corner and try not to scream, it’s me!", "The city is a prison you never escape, you’re forever trapped in the alleys. Look into the shadows and you’ll see the shape of me."

Part of me wonders if this song is a warning against drugs and how unsafe they can be? During the 70s and 80s, ABBA were regarded as a very clean band, as unlike a lot of their peers at the time, they didn't openly do drugs or talk about them, they didn't have any major scandals, and they were two happily married couples for most of the band's active years. While they weren't in any way trying to push the image of being "clean", the media gave them that title, and I wonder if they felt the need to write a song about the dangers of addiction and drug use, while also being rather subtle. I don't know, it's just a thought. Again, I wasn't there when Bjorn and Benny wrote the song, so I can only speculate.

The music itself is quite rocky, with lots of heavy guitars and drums, probably the most rocky track on the Arrival album. Agnetha and Frida are absolutely rocking in the vocals, singing again in that joint, third voice, and they sound amazing. There are some fun backing vocals as well during the chorus, lots of "aaaaaaaah"s and "oooo-aaahs," as well as Bjorn and Benny coming in the 2nd chorus and onwards with some fun harmonies. There's also the post-chorus??? that goes, "Yellow eyes are glowing like the neon lights. Yellow eyes, the spotlights of the city nights." I also really like the last line for some reason, "And if I meet you, what if I eat you? I am the tiger. I am behind you, I always find you. I am the tiger, tiger, tiger," especially as Agnetha and Frida sing "Tiger, tiger, tiger," with an even higher "Tiger!!!" in the background. Their vocals are just superb on this track!

Tiger would go on to become the opening track to ABBA's 1977 tour, and what a song to choose!  It's quite a darker song compared to the rest of the songs on the setlist, (though the themes of the Girl With The Golden Hair mini-musical are also kinda dark...), and I think it proved that ABBA were not just some cutesy band that only preformed pop hits like Dancing Queen and the like.  They would start off each concert with the sound of helicopters playing loudly and then blending into a new extended intro to Tiger, as each member would run out onstage donning gold capes.  We have quite a few bootleg audios capturing the energy of the concerts, but part of their performance of Tiger, specifically that first concert in Australia in the heavy rain was captured in ABBA the Movie.  And that energy is amazing!!

Prior to the 1977 tour they also performed the song twice before, once for a music video in filmed for the ABBA-Dabba-Doo TV special, than in Poland, and then finally in 1978 in Japan.

 

Anyways I like this song.  It's fun, quite energized, and an amazing song to perform all around.  Also, can we talk about how cool ABBA looked in the ABBA-Dabba-Doo performance????