Song Analysis - Voulez-Vous

 In early 1979, as Bjorn and Benny were struggling to come up with songs they found sufficient enough for a new album, the two of them decided to take a songwriting trip to the Bahamas.  The result: Voulez-Vous.  Apparently Bjorn and Benny were so eager to have this new track they came up with recorded that they went to a nearby recording studio in Miami, Florida to have it properly recorded.  I think I read that they may have re-recorded the track anyway once they returned to Sweden, but I'm not 100% certain on that.  Regardless, Voulez-Vous remains the only ABBA song to have ever been recorded, even just partially, outside of Sweden.

Similar to the vain of ABBA's Summer Night City, Voulez-Vous is a bit of a tribute to the disco/nightclub life that ABBA apparently were very into.  The song seems to be set in a place of that sort, crowded with lots of people out and about, a bar nearby.  I believe the song is basically about the narrator of the song spotting someone else eyeing them from across the room with eyes that are glowing in the dark (makes me think of Tiger from 1976 actually haha), and the narrator is like "Here we go again, we know the start, we know the end."  Basically, I guess the nightclub life is very easy for people to like, meet up once, hook up once, and that's it.  And clearly the narrator is clearly very experienced in this lifestyle and is like "Okay, I know what you want.  Take it now or leave it.  Now is all we get.  Nothing promised, no regrets."  She also can pretty much read the guys mind, know what he wants to do and she knows how to act in response.  

I guess you can say that it's a very flirty, more mature, adult-oriented song.  Many people have said that Voulez-Vous, the album, is ABBA's most adult album, like they graduated from singing about simple love songs, almost "teenage love" sort of songs, to more mature themes, and while Voulez-Vous certainly has a lot of prevalent adult themes, I disagree that the songs are more mature than previous ABBA songs.  Perhaps before they had songs that were relatable to almost everyone no matter the age, while a lot of songs on Voulez-Vous are more predominantly targeted at adults.  

Agnetha and Frida sing in unison throughout the entire song, very classic ABBA with lots of layered and stacked vocals in the chorus.  There's also ABBA's classic "Aha" throughout the chorus, making this the song with the most "Aha"s ever.   The song is also yet another ABBA song to have a hook/phrase in a different language (examples are Hasta Manana (Spanish), Mamma Mia (Italian), and Agnetha and Frida sing some lines in the Hawaiian language in Happy Hawaii.)  If it wasn't already clear, Voulez-Vous means "Do you want" in French.  

This song is also a very disco, nightclub inspired track musically, like it is totally the type of song that would play in those places.

ABBA only performed this song in it's complete 5:10 glory on two TV shows in Spain.  All other performances, as in the Music Video and live during the 1979/80 tour, are of the single edit that is 4:22 long. 

All in all, I like the song, and I mean I like all ABBA songs, but if I'm being honest, this song has never been in my top, top favorites.  Not to say I don't listen to it, I do.  But it is a good song.