Song Analysis - The Way Old Friends Do

ABBA have always written songs about a good number of different themes.  Some are happy, some are sad, some just plain old depressing, and then sometimes we get just plain, good old feel-good songs.  The Way Old Friends Do is a song about what friendship means.  Much like I'm Still Alive, the song is about experiencing through hard times, but most importantly, getting through it.  

The Way Old Friends Do was written as a new number to be performed during ABBA's 1979/80 tour, and was performed every night during the encore.  Agnetha, Frida, Bjorn, and Benny would stand together at the front of the stage and sing this song accompanied by Benny's accordion, and considering the song is about friendship and old friends, I think that was a perfect way to show that all four ABBA members were all still good friends even if they had fights and "words of violence."  Especially as at this time, Bjorn and Agnetha were going through their divorce and so many people were concerned that their split would mean the end of ABBA, but here ABBA were, reassuring their fans that they were al going to be okay.  

The song is extremely short, with just the verse and chorus repeated twice.  Although usually that can be indicator that the song was rushed or incomplete as can be heard in many of ABBA's Undeleted tracks, I think it worked perfectly in this song.

The first line of the song, "You and I can share the silence. finding comfort together, the way old friends do," Frida sings alone, then Agnetha sings the next line, "and after fights and words of violence, we make up with each other, the way old friends do."  Then Bjorn and Benny join Agnetha and Frida in the chorus, singing, "Times of joy and times of sorrow, we will always see it through.  Oh I don’t care what comes tomorrow.  We can face it together, the way old friends do."  Then they repeat the entire song again, this time with all four singing and in the chorus, they're joined by their backing vocalists, adding a beautiful sense of unity and harmony.  

Of the three new songs that were introduced to the audience as part of the tour, I'm Still Alive, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!, and The Way Old Friends Do, only the latter most song was included on ABBA's forthcoming album, Super Trouper.  However, they didn't record it all over again in the studio.  Realizing that the song had a specific atmosphere and sound that couldn't be reproduced in the studio, ABBA chose to include a live recording of the song, most likely recorded sometime during their six nights at Wembley Arena in November, 1979.  I'm curious which night they took the recording from, especially considering this live version has quite a different quality to it when compared to other official recordings we have from Wembley.  When you compare it to the the recording of ABBA performing the song that was first included in the TV documentary Words and Music and the version of the track recorded on the last night of ABBA's Wembley stay included on ABBA's Live At Wembley album, there's a specific clarity to the version ultimately included on Super Trouper that the other versions just do not have.  Plus, I noticed that the backing vocalists are significantly decreased in volume and almost sound like it''s ABBA themselves overdubbed and not their actual backing vocalists from the tour...  

his is merely speculation on my part, so I don't know for sure, but if they did overdub their live vocals, it's not like it's not an ABBA thing to do, as ABBA pretty much overdubbed all the live vocals included in ABBA the Movie because they just didn't like how they sounded live or the sound quality of those live recordings. Regardless, the recording of The Way Old Friends Do as featured on Super Trouper is one of my absolute favorite recordings.  I love hearing all four members singing together, and hearing them sing together about their close bond and friendship is extremely heartwarming.

Interestingly, the whole concept of "joy and sorrow" and knowing that they'll be able to get through everything as old friends was revisited a good 39 years later when Bjorn wrote the lyrics to I Still Have Faith In You.  With lines such us "The joy and the sorrow, we have a story, and it survived.  And we need one another, like fighters in a ring .  We’re in this together, passion and courage is everything," there is no doubt that this song is also about the ABBA members long standing friendship with each other.  Despite everything that happened with the band, the divorces, the bands' split, they always had and will have each other, the way old friends do.   

Although the last time ABBA performed this song as a group was on the final date of the 1979/80 tour, Agnetha and Frida did perform this song together at Bjorn and Benny's 50th anniversary party in 2016, and what a lovely performance it was.  Despite the fact that they hadn't performed together in so long, this impromptu performance was so beautiful and is probably what reminded ABBA that the could still sing together, which ultimately resulted in the recordings of I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down, which ultimately lead to the release of a whole new album in 2021.   If that's not the definition of true, old friends, I don't know what is. :')