Song Analysis - Kisses Of Fire

 Okay now this song I have been SO excited to write about.  Why?  Well, while I have always said Tropical Loveland is my all time favorite ABBA song, over the last 14 years that I have called myself an ABBA song, this song has slowly been rising to the top as one of my absolute favorites.  If someone asked me to list a song that is ABBA at their best, ABBA at their PEAK, I would say Kisses Of Fire.  While Agnetha sings the first verse alone, the rest of the song is sang joint with Frida, and their voices just mold together perfectly.

Recording for this song commenced on February 7th, 1979, and this song is another song to come directly from Bjorn and Benny's songwriting trip to the Bahamas.  The song is a very general song about someone who finally feels like "in love".  For the first time, they feel like this love is real, it's passionate, it's fiery, and they've basically never felt this high in love before.  But, it's not all sunshine and rainbows, as in the second verse we have the line, "still it’s making me scared that my love is so strong. Losing you, it’s a nightmare, babe, and to me it’s new," basically indicating how, while this love affair feels like it's the real thing, there's always that bit of anxiety being like "but what if I lose this?"  But in a way, it adds a sense of realism I think, to always have those skeptical or anxious thoughts.  

I think I read this comment from a reviewer probably in ABBA on Record, on the theme that Voulez-Vous was ABBA's step into the mature realm, that ABBA had finally graduated to the bedroom, and yeah, this song is definitely that.  But also in a way, it's never felt dirty.  This song is definitely targeted more towards adults, and it's about a fiery passionate love, but it's not overly dirty.  But it's definitely not for children, haha.  

Now, for me, the real highlight of the song is the vocals.  Already in the first verse, sung solo by Agnetha, we have her slow and sweet vocals that sounds so crystal clear and perfect, but in the background we've got these beautiful "ooooh"s harmonizing behind her, and we've got some Bjorn and Benny mixed in there as well.  Then we get launched straight into the most incredible chorus ever, with Agnetha and Frida's voices harmonizing together, and they're not singing in unison but rather harmonized to the point that you can make out their individual voices slightly and you get that beautiful metallic sound.  And the way they sing the line "I’m riding higher than the sky and there is fire," specifically the "Aaaah, I'm riding higher...." never fails to send a chill down my spine.  Like every time I listen to it, they just sound so good!  We've got the layers upon layers of harmonies throughout the chorus as well, with Bjorn and Benny definitely audible throughout the song, especially on the line "Kisses of Fire."  Bjorn also sings the "I'm at the point of no returning" and "caught in a landslide of emotion" lines at the end of the song.  Also, one of my absolute favorite parts of the song is Benny's piano scattered throughout the song.  I highlighted it in this video in case you wanted to hear it by itself.

This song is just ABBA at their peak and while it's not necessarily a classic ABBA song with Sad Lyrics, Happy Music, or describing emotion as "feeling blue" or with some "Aha"s scattered throughout, it's got that ABBA sound and it's the ABBA sound at it's most perfect.  I just can't tell you enough how much I love it.  

Much to my disappointment, ABBA never performed the song live, but they did perform an early mix of the song on the TV special ABBA in Switzerland.  I think most notably it's missing strings from the song, and possibly some vocal overdubs.  But it also sounds really, really good. Like it was this performance that I first saw while browsing YouTube in 2011-ish that made me fall in love with the song.  I was just scared to admit it because I didn't think my parents would have wanted me listening to a song like this, but at the same time, the whole reason why I fell in love with ABBA in the first place was the literal sound and music, not even the lyrics, haha. 

 

Anyways, this song gets an 12/10 for me.  Like it's just perfect, and in my opinion, the perfect song to introduce someone to ABBA if your main interest is their sound.