Song Analysis - Andante, Andante

 On February 4th, 1980, ABBA began recording a demo track titled Hold Me Close, another new track from Bjorn and Benny's songwriting trip to the Bahamas.  The song eventually would become Andante, Andante, which ABBA didn't start recording until after they got back from the Japan leg of their World Tour.  On April 9th, recording commenced.  

Already from the initial demo title Hold Me Close, we can tell that the song was always meant to be the tender and romantic song that it is.  Andante, Andante is a very sensual track, possibly more so than any ABBA song prior.  Yet, the song has this sweetness to it that it doesn't seem "dirty" in any way, shape or form.  As someone who has always been rather uncomfortable with songs that are about this very close union between people, special time if you will, this song doesn't bother me.  I've always found it to be quite beautiful and only mildly uncomfortable for me personally haha. 

Without using many sensual words aside from touch, the uses music and song as a euphemism for said special time, and the word Andante as usually used to describe a song played at a moderately slow tempo.  The metaphor works really well, and I find it to be really cool how the song does not use very explicit language at all, yet the theme and setting of the song is very much there.

Frida takes the lead vocals on this song, singing each verse alone, with the other three members only joining in during the chorus.  I love how all their vocals come in with full force, unleashing the power of ABBA harmonies.  I know I said in my last post that in my personal opinion, ABBA seem to have entered their lazy era with the Super Trouper album harmony-wise, but there are of course exceptions, this track being one of them.  Perhaps you could say there aren't as many stacked harmonies on this track, but I think it works really well on this track.  

The way Agnetha and Frida sing the line "play me time and time again," just sounds sooo good.  While their voices aren't blending together in their usual ABBA-metallic-vocal-sound and their voices are almost more individual, like you can explicitly hear who is singing which harmony, it still sounds fantastic.

Bjorn and Benny even join in on some backing vocals throughout the chorus (with the ladies, but like the guys can be heard prominently), which are, "I am you music, yes I am your song.  I'm your music and I am your song.  Play me again 'cause you're making me strong.  You make me sing and you make me Andante, Andante."

Frida's vocals are so rich on this track, so perfect and powerful, one of my favorite Frida vocals ever is after the musical interlude??? when Frida sings the line "Oh please don't let me dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooown" and omg she just sounds so good on this song.  This line in particular just sounds so effortless and powerful at the same time.  Frida's is just amazing.

Musically speaking as well, the instruments are all perfect for this song, with the beautiful intro I believe played on guitar by Lasse Wellander, accompanied by Benny's soft piano and synthesizer throughout the song.  I once isolated just Benny's piano from this song and it is just so beautiful I kinda wish it was even more prominent in the song.  In an alternate mix of the song that was included on the ABBA the Singles 40-disc box set in 2014, you can hear some really lovely accordion in there as well.

Andante, Andante was first released on the Super Trouper album, but in Spanish-speaking territories, a Spanish version of the track that was recorded in October of that year was included instead.  With this track being recorded several months since the original version was recorded, Frida sings it slightly different.  It would say her vocals were softer in the English one, and in the Spanish one more harsh.  Also Bjorn and Benny did not re-record their backing vocals in Spanish, so as beautiful as this version of the song is, there's a bit of that empty sound from the lack of the boys actually recording their vocals.  Like one of the many reasons why ABBA's sound is so good is from the blend of the boys' voices mixed in with the ladies, and without it it's just so empty haha.  Frida's vocals on that last line of the song when she sings "andante andante hay tanto que perder" are still superb.  Like she always sounds amazing singing that line.

Regardless, the Spanish lyrics are generally the same.  Here they are roughly translated with Google Translate so they may not be perfect haha.

Verse 1: Slowly, please.  gently like a breeze.  give me love, no rush. come to me, andante andante, feel like you were born like this.  

Verse 2: Your caresses, avidity.  velvet at night, warmth.  you please me, you know well. andante andante, without pris, you too  ((what does this mean Google Translate????)))

Chorus: I am your life, your song. I know I am all yours without condition. I am your song, your pleasure.  Andante andante, slowly in your love, andante andante, there is so much to lose.

Verse 3:  when you look, there is for you sensations that shake all in me.  silent, love me, andante andante, I will live a dream.

ABBA never performed this song live publicly, but when ABBA were rehearsing their performance for their Dick Cavett Meets ABBA TV Special in early 1981, it seems they were planning to include Andante, Andante, and even have the backing vocals written out by Bjorn, but much to our disappointment, either they never performed it at all or decided during rehearsals that the song wouldn't fit.  So they removed it and replaced it with a different Frida-led song, Me and I.  As much as I'm disappointed that they never sang it live and I know Frida would have done a fantastic job, all of them would have, I can't say I'm made that they replaced it with Me and I because omg Frida's live performance of that song is so good and one of my favorite Frida live vocals.  :)

So while ABBA never performed this song after this, fast forward 36 years later, in 2016, Frida was presented with the opportunity to rerecord the track as a duet with Cuban-American Jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.  Frida sang the Spanish version of the song, and although she doesn't do that long note at the end of the song, she sang this song so perfectly.  Even though her voice had clearly aged, you can tell it's the same vocalist and she still sounded so powerful.  Of course without Agnetha and the boys' adding that fuller ABBA sound, it doesn't compare to the original English version of the song, but that's not to put down Frida's 2016 version as it still sounds so good on its own independent track.  Also, while Frida recorded her vocals in 2016, the song didn't come out until 2018 in case there was any confusion.

Now, I rarely if ever acknowledge the versions of ABBA songs that were butchered sang in the Mamma Mia films, but I remember when the soundtrack for the 2nd film came out and I was slightly interested in the fact that they included some "lesser known" ABBA songs on the tracklist, and briefly listened to like a minute of each track and it was torture, but anyways, I mentioned how this song when sang by ABBA and Frida doesn't sound dirty at all and is instead quite beautiful.  I think a lot of that has to do with Frida's vocal performance in particular, and I remember listening to Lily James' rendition of the song and thinking, "why does the song sounds so dirty???" like idk I know it's a very sensual song, but she made it sound too sensual dirtier than the song originally sounded, you know?  So yeah.  

Anyways, I love Andante, Andante and it's definitely among my top favorite ABBA songs. :')