Song Analysis - I'm Still Alive

 As part of ABBA's 1979/80 tour, ABBA would present the audience with a couple new tracks that had been written specifically to be included in the tour.  Those songs were The Way Old Friends Do as part of the encore, and I'm Still Alive.  However, unlike The Way Old Friends Do, I'm Still Alive was written by Agnetha, making it her second ever written contribution to ABBA's discography.  Similar to her first contribution Disillusion in 1973, the music was composed by Agnetha and the lyrics were written by Bjorn.  

After performing Intermezzo No.1, Benny would introduce I'm Still Alive as written by Agnetha "the little blonde girl", and Agnetha would go on to perform the song at the piano along with the rest of ABBA's band and the backing vocalists.  However, seeing as the other ABBA members don't sing the song with her, I've wondered if this song really is an ABBA song or not?  Similar to Tomas Ledin's performance of Not Bad At All during the same tour, is Agnetha just performing one of her own songs during the tour but the song itself is hers and not an actual ABBA song?  I personally classify it as an ABBA song, hence why I'm writing about it today. 

I'm Still Alive is a very classic Agnetha Faltskog song.  A slower ballad with themes of heartbreak and loneliness.  The song is about someone going through a pretty bad breakup, with lots of crying and being alone, and one point even thinking they were dying, yet, despite all of that, they affirm that they're still here, they're still alive, and not only that, they have emerged a stronger person.  Life will go on, even at it's slow pace, and eventually the painful memories will fade away.  In a way, this song is like the total opposite of Disillusion.  In that song, Agnetha sings about how all she is after this painful breakup is disillusioned, and that's all she is, but in I'm Still Alive, she feels like a winner because now she's stronger than ever and will not let the events of her heartbreak keep her down. And now, the next time something like this happens, she'll know how to deal with it and knows that no matter what, she will be okay.

One thing I find to be fascinating is the mention of winner and loser, a theme that would show up one year later in ABBA's The Winner Takes It All, a song that was inspired by but not the actual story of Agnetha and Bjorn's breakup, and then also the title I'm Still Alive, as that line would also show up in the bridge of  Super Trouper (So I’ll be there when you arrive.  The sight of you will prove to me I’m still alive and when you take me in your arms and hold me tight, I know it’s gonna mean so much tonight ) a song that Bjorn wrote inspired by his then-girlfriend Lena while on tour.

Neither Agnetha nor ABBA ever recorded this song officially in the studio, and it wasn't until 2014 that we were blessed with an official release of this song on ABBA's Live At Wembley Arena album.  Up until then, all we had were bootleg audios from various concerts, and some visual bootleg footage as well, but nothing in high quality. And what a treat it was to hear it in pristine, high quality.  Even in the bootleg audios, you can hear that Agnetha delivered a beautiful and emotional performance, capturing the essence of the song in vocals perfectly.  

However, in 1981, Agnetha and her friend Ingela "Pling" Forsman were chosen to submit a song in that year's Melodifestivalen, and they wrote the song Men natten är vår which was performed by Kicki Moberg.  On the B-side of the single, Kicki performed a Swedish version of I'm Still Alive, titled Här Är Mitt Liv.

The Swedish lyrics are: 

Man tappar tron ibland, om vad man vill och kan
När alla vägar delar sej och ingen leder fram
Men det finns ändå drömmar kvar att kämpa för
En del ska försvinna, men mycket finns att finna

Och här at mitt liv, jag lever och finns till
Nu är det upp till mej, att forma det som jag vill
Ja här är mitt liv, en gåva som jag har fått
Jag ska stå för ord och handling
Tro på framtid och förvandling
Här är mitt liv

Du vet att det är svårt, att altid vara stark
Att kunna gå sin egen väg och stå på säker mark
När alla ljusa rum som fanns i glädjens hus
Det mörka och slutna och tillhör det förflutna

Men här at mitt liv, jag lever och finns till
Nu är det upp till mej, att forma det som jag vill
Ja här är mitt liv, en gåva som jag har fått
Jag ska stå för ord och handling
Tro på framtid och förvandling
Här är mitt liv

Ja här at mitt liv, jag lever och finns till
Nu är det upp till mej, att forma det som jag vill
Ja här är mitt liv, en gåva som jag har fått
Jag ska stå för ord och handling
Tro på framtid och förvandling
Här är mitt liv

Här...

which translates into English:

You sometimes lose faith in what you want and can do
When all roads divide and no one leads
But there are still dreams left to fight for
Some will disappear, but there is much to be found

And here at my life, I live and exist
Now it's up to me to shape it as I want
Yes, this is my life, a gift that I have been given
I will stand for word and deed
Faith in the future and transformation
Here is my life

You know it's hard to always be strong
To be able to go your own way and stand on safe ground
When all the bright rooms that were in the house of joy
The dark and closed and belongs to the past

But here at my life, I live and exist
Now it's up to me to shape it as I want
Yes, this is my life, a gift that I have been given
I will stand for word and deed
Faith in the future and transformation
Here is my life

Yes here is my life, I live and exist
Now it's up to me to shape it as I want
Yes, this is my life, a gift that I have been given
I will stand for word and deed
Faith in the future and transformation
Here is my life

Here...

So that's a brief little look and history into I'm Still Alive.  Kicki Moberg performed the song really well and honestly extremely similar to Agnetha's live performance, and definitely gives us a good feel for what I'm Still Alive could have sounded like if it had ever been recorded in the studio.  And of course, Agnetha performed the song beautifully as well.   

For funsies, I once I decided to take the live vocals of Agnetha sinigng I'm Still Alive and put them over the studio backing track of Har At Mitt Liv and I think it turned out decent lol.