3 years of ABBA Voyage

Three years ago today, ABBA's 9th and final studio album to date, Voyage was released! I still will never get over the fact that my favorite band ever, the group that I have pretty much dedicated the last 14 years to, actually made music again - the one thing they had had pretty vowed not to do during their 40 year hiatus.

When Agnetha and Frida sing together on top of Bjorn's crafty lyrics and Benny's impeccable compositions, the result is just magical. Even after 40 years, they still managed to capture the same essence that was ABBA from the 70s and 80s into 10 new tracks.

 Last night while working on this drawing (which I'm aware is not from any of the Voyage sessions but that's because I've already drawn pretty much all the voyage pictures haha), I listened to the entire Voyage album from start to finish.  It's nothing new for me to listen to the album from track 1 all the way to track 10 because I'm always listening to ABBA's albums in full, but as I was listening, I couldn't get over how unequivocally ABBA it is.  Even with 39 years since their last recording session, the sound of ABBA was there.  And I'm not just talking about their voices and the music.

We have songs that are about the close bond that people can have (I Still Have Faith In You), slow ballads as well as upbeat dance-able tracks (Just A Notion) and then some happy tracks with hint of melancholy (Don't Shut Me Down and When You Danced With Me).  We have songs about family - be it relationship/marital/divorce issues (No Doubt About It and Keep An Eye On Dan) or just family life (Little Things.)  We have songs that seem downright depressing until the final chorus of the song when we're left with a hint of hopefulness that maybe things are going to be alright in the end (I Can Be That Woman.)  And we have songs that are profound and philosophical (Ode To Freedom) and songs that are commenting on issues with today's world (Bumblebee.)  Just to name a few recurring themes.

I feel like a lot of people who just know ABBA as the band that provided the music to Mamma Mia or as just the band who has only the tracklist of ABBA Gold, aka uncultured dummies hahahhaha jkjkjkjkjk don't realize that these are all topics that ABBA have covered throughout their prior 8 albums.  I've talked a lot of this in my song analysis series that I will get back to posting when I feel like it, but here are some examples of past ABBA songs that are about the same topics. 

Relationship/Marital/Divorce issues: The Winner Takes It All, Hey Hey Helen

Philosophical: Move On

Social Commentary: What About Livingstone

Family life: Slipping Through My Fingers

Songs that are kinda depressing but then leave us with a hint of hopefulness at the end: One Man, One Woman

Close bond/friendship: The Way Old Friends Do

And these are just the ones that I can name off the top of my head.

Even from the moment I first heard the Voyage album in full, it just felt like an ABBA album.  Everything about it screams ABBA, and I cannot be more grateful to have been there to witness this momentous album, and still to this day listen to this album on the regular. 

Happy 3 years of Voyage, the Album. ❤️

Happy 12th birthday, Bjorn Uldollus

 Today marks 13 years since I put in the final stitches on my homemade ABBA dolls, officially completing 3/4 ABBA members.  

I realize how weird it is to be celebrating the birthdays of literal cloth dolls, but who cares haha.  Happy birthday, Bjorn Doll

Song Analysis: Our Last Summer

 Hello.  It has been a minute.  Do I likely have undaignosed ADHD?  Probably...  Erm, anyway, let's talk about Our Last Summer.  In early June of 1980, ABBA began working on the sweet but kinda melancholy track about a past summer romance.  Inspired by Bjorn's own French summer romance when he was a teenager, the song tells of a short-lived romance while away in France - a theme that has come up already once before in Monsieur Monsieur.  It wouldn't surprise me if Bjorn's same summer romance was the inspiration for that song as well.  

Frida takes the lead vocals on this song, perfectly capturing the sweet memories tinged with a bit of sadness in her performance.  

Both the first and second verses give us a glimpse into what this young couple were doing while in Paris -visiting various tourist spots like the Elysee Palace, the Eiffel Tower,  the Notre Dame, and the Seine, as well as trying out various foods like croissants and drinks from every cafe they visited.  You can get a sense that these two characters in the sound were very young, carefree, and happy not having to worry much at all about the future.  Although there were a few discussions of fear of dying, and also flying - which I've always wondered if that was a nod to Agnetha and her fear, but perhaps it's a common fear to be afraid of flying.  But overall, the summer romance was good, happy, and very peaceful.

But of course it wouldn't be an ABBA song if there was no happy ending!  The third verse is as follows:

And now you’re working in a bank, the family man, a football fan,
and your name is Harry.

How dull it seems yet,

you’re the hero of my dreams. 

Basically telling us how despite their sweet summer romance, eventually they had go off in their own separate directions.  He moved on, became a banker and has a family of his own, but she's still here having to reminisce on memories from a happier time.  It's like for her, one of the greatest things to ever happen to her was that summer romance, but for him, it was just a summer romance, you know?  As soon as they left each other, he was truly gone.  He moved on without her, but she's still caught up in him.  

I've seen a lot of people confused by the line "And your name is Harry," like, duh, wouldn't his name always have been Harry? But I see it as maybe Harry is such a simple name, like you wouldn't expect someone to be so obsessed with a guy named Harry hahahahahah, it's such an ordinary name, yet to her, Harry takes on a whole new meaning.  The name Harry will always remind her of happier times and places.

While Frida is the lead vocalist on this song, I truly think she was the perfect choice for the song, Agnetha comes in during the choruses, with amazing harmonies throughout.  One of my favorite parts of the song is when she sings the lines in "walking hand in hand" and "memories that remain" in the last two choruses. And of course the way Frida sings the lines "I stilll seeeee it alllll" and "weeeeee were living for the day, worries far away" in the last chorus honestly sends shivers down my spine each time I listen to it.  Even though that last part is mostly hidden away in the fade-out of the song, I still love it so much.  I don't know how present Bjorn and Benny were when it came to vocals for this song, I can hardly hear them, but it wouldn't surprise me if they're buried in there.

We can't talk about this song and not talk about the hidden harmonies in the instrumental interlude.  Underneath the electric guitar played by the one and only Lasse Wellander are some absolutely angelic vocals from Agnetha and Frida that are sang to the melody of what would become the song Anthem from the musical Chess.  That just goes to show how long Bjorn and Benny had been holding on to that melody.  Although these vocals are buried so deeply in the final mix of the song, you can find early mixes of the song up on YouTube that highlight these vocals perfectly.

 

So that's Our Last Summer, a song about longing for previous times and memories - be it romantic or just in general happier times - something that I think a lot of us can relate to. 

ABBA The Singles - The First Fifty Years

 So ABBA have a new compilation album coming out in October, titled "The Singles - The First Fifty Years", which I find to be an absolutely hilarious title, which is of course based on "The Singles - The First Ten Years" released back in 1982 to celebrate ABBA's 10 year anniversary from the group's formation in 1972.  

The album contains all of ABBA's official single releases give or take from the 70s and 80s, with the addition of the five singles from ABBA's Voyage album, making this a nice compilation of ABBA's singles from the span of their entire career.  

The album is available for pre-order on all of ABBA's official stores, like the museum and the universal music store, as well as Amazon.  I wasn't initially going to pre-order it because it's nothing I don't already have, and dare I say, there's nothing really to entice the consumer to buy it?  

Back in 1979, when ABBA were releasing Greatest Hits Vol.2, the album included ABBA's newest single at the time, Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight), and aside from the single release, this album was the only LP that featured that song, and it also included Summer Night City, yet another albumless song.  Fast forward to 1982, and for The Singles (The First Ten Years), the album includes two more albumless singles, The Day Before You Came and Under Attack.  Also, although not included on the initial release of the album, ABBA's Greatest Hits from 1976 as it was released in the US, included the albumless track, Fernando.  All three compilation albums featured something new, something that would entice the audience to buy that compilation album,.

 But The Singles (The First Fifty Years) doesn't have anything new.  There's no new single, nothing to really grab anyone's attention aside from the fact that this album is celebrating fifty years of ABBA, which is exciting in its own right!  I feel like this album is mostly targeted towards the existing ABBA fans, the ones who must buy every single ABBA album, compilation or studio, but not the casual listener, like all three former compilation albums from ABBA's active years were meant to do.  Now I know that ABBA are an already established act, and I'm also not asking ABBA to release anything more.  I'm more than satisfied with all that we have, I know better than to ask for more music from ABBA (and I'm also well aware that ABBA LOVE to surprise us and then out of nowhere announce that they recorded an entire new album not just two new songs and then cause me to give them all my money yet again...), I just think more thought could have gone into this compilation album.

Although I wasn't planning on preordering this album, especially as I can't spend over $100 on the compilation album in record format, I did see that it was available on Amazon in its CD form, and because I have prime, I was like, well okay might as well give more money to ABBA.

But that's actually not what I'm here to complain about hahahhahaa.  It's the cover of the album.  First of all, I love the fact that they used an image of ABBA in their prime.  ABBA in late 1975, as they looked when they were working on their most successful studio album Arrival.  ABBA in their prime.  Not ABBA in 1982 like as was originally featured on the back of ABBA Gold.  (They have since changed the image on more recent releases of the album.).  As an obsessed ABBA fan, I never complain about ABBA and their work, I'm always an optimist, but I just have to say, especially where ABBA Gold was my second introduction to ABBA, seeing ABBA at their most worn out and bored as they looked in 1982 as the first visual impression of the band was really confusing to me back in 2010.  Like I had a hard time connecting the way they looked on that image from 1982 to the youthful and energetic sound that I was hearing when listening to each track.  But anyway I digress.  

I also love the title, I think it's a fantastic title.  I like that it's in the style of ABBA's last compilation album from their active years as a band.  ABBA's The Singles (The First Ten Years) is such a stunning album cover, I love the layout of the font, yet, this new compilation looks poorly made in comparison, like a sloppy copy of the original, or more like a bad Disney live action money grab version of the original amazing film.  

I think what bothers me the most is that the modern graphic design, the even letter spacing of digitally applied text doesn't match the 70s appearance that ABBA has.  The drop shadow looks artificial, and it lacks the beautiful hand-written quality of the 1982 album.  It literally looks like the sloppy YouTube thumbnails that I produce for my videos, and I am not professional in any way and that's certainly reflected in my thumbnails hahahaha. 

So, although I love the concept of the album cover, it's really really bothering me, I decided to try my hand at fixing it up a little.  I literally spent all morning trying to figure out photoshop as I have it but hardly use it, and the end result is not perfect in any way shape or form.  I am not a graphic designer, I really don't have the eye for that sort of thing, but I had to do something to make this album cover look better.

I tried to keep it more in the style of the original 82 compilation album, the font a little more squished.  I didn't include drop shadows, and I didn't keep the byline in all caps.  I think it looks pretty good, I think it looks more in line with ABBA's other compilations albums, so if the people at UMG happen to see this simple edit I did in an hour (not including the time spent to learn photoshop....), feel free to use it hahahhahaa. 

Song Analysis - The Winner Takes It All

 In June of 1980, Bjorn and Benny began working on a demo for what would end up being of ABBA's most deep and heart wrenching songs, a song deeply inspired by their personal life, something they hadn't really gone into before.  The name of the demo was already on theme, titled "The Story Of My Life", and then "The Story Of My Life II" and "The Story Of My Life III."  Just a few short days later, Bjorn had come up with the lyrics.  It was the quickest lyric he'd ever written.  After taking a few drinks of whisky, the words just came pouring out, and within a couple of hours, the song was done, and the Winner Takes It All was born.

Considering Agnetha and Bjorn had just done through a divorce, it was no surprise that the topic of divorce was on his mind, however, contrary to popular misinformation, the song is actually not a retelling of how Agnetha and Bjorn's marriage broke down.  In fact, it's actually not our business how and what happened!

To quote Agnetha, "there's no such thing as a happy divorce," however that's not to say Agnetha and Bjorn's decision to divorce wasn't a joint one, and even with the break down of their marriage, they remained cordial, continued to work together, and even found that working together after their divorce twas easier.  In their divorce, there was no winner or loser in the situation, whereas in The Winner Takes It All, the whole song is about a winner and a loser.

The song beings with the line, "I don't wanna talk about things we've gone through.  Though it's hurting me, now it's history," followed by, "I've played all my cards, and that's what you've done too.  Nothing more to say, no more ace to play."  The metaphor of a card game, or just a game, is used through out the song, and in games like that, there is always going to be a victor and a loser.  Basically, both partners had done all they could for the marriage, but now it doesn't matter because it's over.  

The second verse goes on to explain how the narrator thought she was doing everything right, trying to make herself comfortable in the marriage, trying to make herself feel safe with her partner, trying to build a home together, and doing all these things because those are the "rules" of marriage.  But ultimately, even though she tried to do everything right, it still didn't work.  And eventually, she realizes that simply "playing by the rules" and trying to keep the marriage going as long as possible even when it's long gone.

The third verse has me quite interested in the meaning. The verse begins with, "But tell me does she kiss like I used to kiss you. Does it feel the same when she calls your name?" has me wondering if one of the reasons their marriage broke down is because there was some infidelity involved, and he cheated on her with another woman and then as soon as they decided to divorce, he just moved in with her.  Or the narrator is just commenting on how fast he just moved on and forgot her, whereas she's still caught up in their breakup.  

Regardless, the narrator of the song sees him as the winner, because he's happy and he's not hung up or worn down by the emotions of their broken marriage, but she's the loser because still hurting from it.  And she can't say anything about how much she misses him because it's all over.  The relationship is dead.  They've shaken hands, signed the divorce documents, they're officially over.  And he's happy, but she's ruined.

One thing that I always see pointed out is how EVIL BJORN WAS FOR MAKING HIS EX SING A SONG ABOUT THEIR DIVORCE, but again, this song is not about THEIR divorce, and as we know, they would often decide which lady they thought would sing the song best, and ultimately the decision was for Agnetha to be the one to sing the lead.  (Also I think originally Bjorn may have thought about singing the lead vocals on this song as well, and we actually have a snippet of Bjorn's demo vocals floating around online every once in a while.)

Agnetha's always been so good at story telling in the songs, and capturing the emotions of whatever character Bjorn (and Benny too) had come up with, and she managed to capture the pain and hurt of the woman in this song so well, it's hard to imagine that this fictional but painful story of divorce is not her own personal story.  The pain in her voice is almost tangible, and there is no doubt that this is one of her best vocal performances ever.   Especially the way she sings the final two "the winner takes it alllll"s at the end of the song.

And then of course we have the choir vocals from Frida, Benny, and Bjorn (and Agnetha's in there as well), with simple "aaah-aaah-aaah-aaahs" in the verses and even more so in the choruses, and then in full force in the outro.  

The minimal instruments in the song, with mostly the piano at the forefront, adds to the emotions of the song as well.  Just everything, from the vocals to the arrangement is just perfect in this song, and no one could have done it better.  There is no better version of this song than ABBA's. 

ABBA have a lot of masterpieces, and although I consider all of ABBA's songs as masterpieces, this one is definitely close to the top of the list.

Now of course ABBA filmed a music video for this song, and not only is Agnetha really good at capturing the raw emotions of their songs, she's also really good at acting as well.  Perhaps this was what inspired her to take on an acting role in 1982.  She put on a really good sad face in the music video, which of course leads people to really think Agnetha was miserable while filming the video.  however recently ish, ABBA released on instagram some BTS of the music video, where you can see Agnetha burst into a fit of giggles while filming the music video, which just proves that it's all an acting performance, and a really convincing one at that!  ABBA also performed this song on two TV shows in 1980, and the song also appears in ABBA Voyage as the final song of the show.

Three years ago today...

 I'll always remember September 2nd, 2021 as one of the most exciting days of my life thus far.  Waking up with anticipation of the live stream event that ABBA were hosting, not just on their YouTube channel but in various locations around the world.  There was so much curiosity, so many unknowns, yet we all had a suspicion that ABBA's long awaited "two new songs" were finally here.

I remember exactly where I was on that day.  I had set up the live stream to play on the TV and was seated on the couch for almost an hour before the event even started in fear that I would somehow accidentally miss it.  Skyler was seated on his favorite perch, chattering away, and when the live stream started, there was a lot about the various worldwide fan events, lots of people celebrating ABBA, talking about ABBA, dancing to ABBA.

For a moment I was not sure what this event was for, but then, I Still Have Faith Have You started to play.  Hearing Frida's voice, followed by Agnetha joining in harmony.  The music video featuring unseen footage of the ABBA members, seeing them goofing around and not just as the professional people they always presented themselves as.  Then the ABBA-tars in all their glory, and Bjorn and Benny adding some backing vocals.  The layers upon layers of harmonies just like in the old days in the chorus.  It was amazing.  Though I remember Skyler thought otherwise, haha.  He immediately flew out of his cage screeching because he didn't like the music at all.  (He did eventually warm up to it hahaha, but unless it was a new Roxette song, he was skeptical of EVERYTHING!)

It was all I could have dreamed of, yet Bjorn and Benny suddenly appeared in London, and Benny said in the most nonchalant way, "We have made a new album with ABBA."  I remember immediately being like "What?!  What did he just say?!?!?!?" I couldn't believe my eyes and ears, but then they presented us with some behind the scenes footage of ABBA working on the motion capture for ABBA Voyage as well as the four of them in the studio, recording new songs.  It was so heartwarming, seeing my four favorite people in the recording studio, creating magic together again.  It wasn't until two months later that we even got to hear the remaining 8 tracks on the Voyage album, but I knew they would be amazing.

I remember the moment Benny said that the album was available to pre-order, I jumped onto the website and it wasn't even up yet!  It said it needed a password to enter the shop, and I had no idea what to do.  I just kept on reloading and reloading the tab until it let me in, and even then, there were no images on all the listings but I just bought whatever I could justify spending on.  I gave ABBA a lot of money that day, but I didn't care.

Then, before the live stream ended, we got to hear the Agnetha-led Don't Shut Me Down, and what a treat it was to hear an uptempo ABBA song and know that they still had it in them to create a classic ABBA track.  

Although their voices had significantly aged, something I definitely noticed, there was no doubt that it was ABBA, and hearing them and seeing the four of them together felt so comforting.  Not only had ABBA given us the long promised two songs, they had prepared 8 more, one of them being one of my absolute favorite ABBA Undeleted songs revisited with a modern sound.

It was just such a wonderful day, and I'll always be grateful that I got to witness ABBA's comeback, and even more that I got to experience it with my best bird boy, my beloved Skyler Bird. :')

(Photo of Skyler from September 2, 2021.)

Song Analysis: Burning My Bridges

 Appearing at the 8:56 second mark in ABBA Undeleted is a short 1 minute and 26 snippet of a track titled Burning My Bridges.  Recorded June 3, 1980, the track is about a frustrated partner tired of the way their relationship is playing out, and instead of continuing to put up with it, the narrator of the song decides they're officially done with it and cutting ties.  

From the very little bit of information that we get from the song, you get the feel that the narrator's partner has been extremely nasty, hooting and hollering all the time, which makes the narrator stressed and upset.  So they decide to what's right for them, which is burning all the bad bridges from before, prioritizing themself, and giving themself peace.

Although the song is short, I actually find it to be very inspiring.   I feel like this song, although it isn't about being in a healthy relationship, is a really good and healthy song.  Prioritizing your needs and your mental health is a very important thing, and if a relationship just isn't working out no matter how hard you try, then ending it may just be the best thing.

Bjorn sings the leads on this song, although the track is just a demo, so it wouldn't surprise me if the intention was to have Agnetha or Frida or both take the lead.  But I actually like how Bjorn sounds singing it.  However as it is just a demo, he sounds rather bored and lazy while recording, which in a way  conveys how sick and tired the main character of the song is.

Musically, it definitely doesn't sound like a song that was fit for the Super Trouper album.  It has a very country, southern feel to it.  I'm curious how the song would have sounded with more of the synthesizer pop sound that a lot of Super Trouper tracks have.  

Also, I mentioned this before in my post about Hamlet III, but a portion of the melody from Hamlet was reused for Burning My Bridges, specifically the line "Burning my bridges, moving at last.  Girl I’m leaving and I’m burying the past" is the same melody as the line "Autumn’s chilly winds were blowing through the trees the rain fell softly on your face," as in Hamlet.  Unfortunately, no matter how much Bjorn and Benny tried to use this melody in an ABBA song, it never ended up happening and instead the song remained an instrumental track that Benny would eventually release as "Lottis Schottis."

Of course, I like this song, I like every single ABBA song, but I really wish they would have released this song in full.  Honestly, why not just release all the Undeleted tracks in full??  Please???

Mini Cat Dresses

 So I made Barbie-sized cat dresses for my barbies that vaguely resemble Agnetha and Frida.  As usual, a more detailed post is on my sewing blog, and I actually filmed a random video while I was making this that's on my YouTube channel. :3

Song Analysis - On And On And On

 ABBA's forthcoming Super Trouper album would be mostly filled with songs that discussed serious and mature topics, such as an existential crises in Me And I, the end of a marriage in the Winner Takes It All, being under the control of a dictator as seen in The Piper, etc, but then you have a couple purely fun songs to break it up.  One of those purely fun songs is On And On And On.  Originally titled, Esses vad det svänger när man spelar jazz, and then 'Til The Night Is Gone, On and On and On is a song about not taking life seriously.

The song begins by introducing us to the setting.  We're in the midst of the party, a pretty big one obviously considering there's a state minister of sorts at the part as well.  Plus while we don't know much about the narrator, she's obviously a star as mentioned in the second verse. The minister starts complaining about the state of the world, how people don't respect human rights anymore, and our narrator, is like, "Who are you to say all these things?"  He lowers his voice and is like "Wel, you see I'm a minster, a big shot in the state," and our narrator finds it amusing and is like "Omg that's so cool!  So brother, can you tell me what is right and what is wrong?" and he simply replies, "Keep on rocking baby, 'til the night is gone."  

His response kinda makes me thing everyone here at the party is a little bit tipsy, haha, because just one moment ago he's like "omg the world is such a scary place!! Evil times are coming!! :O :O :O" but then he's just like "Yeah, just keep on rocking, 'til the night is gone."  Essentially saying, there's nothing we can do about it, so just keep on living.

The chorus is super simple, literally just the same like "On and on and on, keep on rocking baby, 'Til the night is gone.  One and on and on, 'til the night is gone," repeated twice.

In the second verse, there's a guy at the bar at this party who starts eyeing up the narrator, so she decides to just go on over, see what he wants.  And he asks her this super amazing question, "who am I, and who are you, and who are we??" an he asks her if she has "time for us," and she's like "well, I'm not exactly waiting for the bus."  He asks if he can go along with her wherever she's going, and she's like "Keep on rocking baby 'til the night is gone."  I personally have always interpreted that as her not exactly giving him the response he wants, essentially telling him to buzz off, but I realize it could also mean that she's like "Well, we gotta keep on rocking 'till the night as gone," as in keep on living life to the fullest until you can't anymore, but as well literally keep on rocking 'till the night is gone, like the type of rocking that the song Rock Me is about....  

Anyways, originally the song had an added bridge which was, "Standing up is scary if you think you're gonna fall. Like a humpty-dumpty, 'fraid of falling off the wall.  I say if you ever wanna know what's going on, gotta keep on rockin', baby, 'til the night is gone," and this full version of the song was included in the official music video that is basically just a slideshow of images from ABBA's 1979 tour, and originally the only ABBA music video to not feature ABBA in it at all.  (The second one is the music video for Little Things.)  However the officially released version that was included on the album removed the bridge and replaced it with an instrumental bridge.  

Both Agnetha and Frida sing the lead vocals together on this song in a very monotonous way, kind of reminisce of how monotonous and boring life can be, and they capture that pretty well in the song.  There's not much in terms of stacks of harmonies in this track, but this song does feature some really lovely Beach Boys-style backing vocals performed mostly by Benny throughout the chorus.  And as simple as they are, they really add so much to the song and completes it.  

Musically, the song is very simple as well with a very 80s synth soundscape.  I think Bjorn once refereed to this song as one of ABBA's few rock'n'roll songs, but like, I don't personally hear that haha.  I like the song, it's very satirical almost, and while I wouldn't quite say it's an ABBA dance track, it's definitely very upbeat and fun and for once doesn't feature too depressing lyrics.

ABBA only performed this song twice, once on the show Show Express (we also have rehearsal footage from that performance) and once live on the Dick Cavett Meets ABBA TV special.  Their performance on Show Express is honestly one of my favorite ABBA performances ever, specifically because although this performance was post-Agnetha and Bjorn's split, you can see them having fun and teasing each other during the song's bridge.  And of course we have Frida and Benny's iconic literal head bang haha.

Song Analysis - Happy New Year

 On April 9th, 1980, ABBA began recording another song for their newest album, Super Trouper.  With the working title "Daddy Don’t Get Drunk On Christmas Day," the song was inspired by Bjorn and Benny's desire to write a musical set during the winter holidays.   Eventually the song would become Happy New Year, a melancholy track with lead vocals by Agnetha, about how depressing the world is.  But, at least there's the new year to look forward to, and maybe just maybe, with the start of the new year, things can start looking up for the better! 

As the title suggests, the song is set on New Year's Day after a night full of celebration, partying,  champagne, toasts to the new year - a momentary pause in the dullness of the current situation, but now as the new year begins, although there is a hope and a dream for better things to happen, it all still seems very far into the future.  

In the chorus, despite the fact that Agnetha and Frida are wishing us all a happy new year and sharing vision of a world where every neighbor is a friend, there is still quite a depressing overtone, especially with the line, "may we all have our hopes, our will to try, if we don’t we might as well lay down and die, you and I," essentially telling us that if we don't hold onto the hope that everything will be okay, then there's no point in living anymore.  

In the second verse, Agnetha sings about how foolish it is to think that even when things are tough and life isn't going anywhere, everything is going to be okay, essentially telling us that just being satisfied with how things are now isn't going to make any difference, and like I kinda get that.  Life can't change for the better if we're all just living in it and doing anything to make a difference.  So although this song on a whole is rather depressing, it is suggesting that things can get better.  And even if all our dreams are dead, nothing more than confetti on the floor, who knows what could happen ten years from now. 

I've seen it mentioned how a lot of people, I think Bjorn and Benny included, don't like how the song essentially traps itself in the past with the line "who can say what we’ll find, what lies waiting down the line, in the end of eighty-nine," and I've personally never been bothered by the fact that the song is dated, because it shows how even back then, people were still hoping for a better world.  Who can say whether the world is better off now than it was then, but as the song says, what are we without hope?  Also, I think it also adds how Bjorn and Benny had no idea the song would still be relevant today and would be played every year on New Year's in a lot of households, nearly 40 years since it was written!  So in a way, the song is a reminder of how even though they didn't expect ABBA to still be popular, the band still is amongst the young and old! 

The pacing of the song is quite slow and sad, capturing the melancholy feel of the song, with the slight hint of hopefulness in the chrous.  I think this song has some really beautiful vocals from the ladies, specifically in the second half of the 2nd and 3rd choruses, specifically when Agnetha sings "dragging on feet of clay, never knowing he’s astray," and "who can say what we’ll find, what lies waiting down the line," where Frida harmonizes with Agnetha and extends the last word, showing off her stunning vocal abilities.  Agnetha and Frida also capture the emotions of the song in the chorus perfectly.

For the release of the Super Trouper album in Spanish speaking territories, ABBA rerecordeded the song in Spanish.  Although Bjorn and Benny aren't very prominent at all in the English version of the song, their lack of vocals in the Spanish one is definitely noticeable, making the song seem a bit empty.  That's not to say Agnetha and Frida don't sound amazing as usual, it's just I wish Bjorn and Benny would have recorded their vocals in Spanish.

The Spanish lyrics are generally the same as the English one.  Here they are roughly translated via Google Translate:

Verse 1: No more champagne the sparkler went out. only you, only me, the celebration has already passed.  It is the end of the party and there is a gray dawn.  Where is that yesterday that we must propose?

Chrous:  Happiness, happiness, when toasting we wish you from now on peace, love where friendship reigns.  Happiness, happiness when praying for hope to change without letting discouragement dominate and triumph

Verse 2:  And when I see that world that will come, new at last it will come from ashes. Mistaken people who pretend to be very well, you see them dragging feet of clay and walking without knowing where to go

Chorus

Verse 3: I think I understand that dreams are unfaithful, when dying, they are nothing more than candy and paper.  It is the time past, and in the years to come, who can predict what the future holds, future that we have yet to live?

Chorus

 

Although ABBA did film a music video for both the Spanish and English version of the song and released it as a single, they only performed it on one TV show that was broadcast on New Year's Eve right at midnight.  And here they all are synchronized together:

 

Of course I love this song as it's an ABBA song and I love all of them, but every year I love doing a New Year's themed speedpaint set to this song and upload it to my YouTube channel on December 31st, so like this song is very fun for me hehe.

Also, floating around on YouTube every once in a while before getting copyright stricken is a video of outtakes and bloopers from filming the music videos, and it is so delightful seeing the ABBA members expressions go from all serious to suddenly laughing.  The clip keeps on disappearing for YouTube, but when it does show up it is always a delight to watch!

Can there be such a thing as a new ABBA?

I've been an ABBA fan for the last 14 years, which is well over half my life.  I have listened to ABBA pretty much every single day.  I didn't discover ABBA through Mamma Mia!, my knowledge of ABBA isn't limited to ABBA Gold.  I've been obsessed with ABBA and I know every single one of their songs by heart.  To quote the guy in "ABBA in Concert", I live, I breath, I ABBA.  So I think that makes me a pretty qualified to know what I'm talking about when it comes to ABBA.

When someone mentions ABBA, I don't think ABBA can simply be defined as one thing.  They're not just some band from the 70s/80s.  They're not stereotypical pop and disco from that era.  They're not just two guys and two girls.  They're not just a blonde and a brunette/redhead.   They're not tacky satin and sequin-y costumes.  And they're not just the tracklist to ABBA Gold.  They're not just two couples from Sweden.

Musically, ABBA is that perfect blend of Agnetha and Frida's voices.  With Agnetha being a Soprano and Frida a Mezzo-Soprano, their voices are each so distinct yet they blend together so perfectly and in such perfect harmony.  ABBA is the layers and layers upon layers of harmonies and also layers of the same instruments recorded multiple times, over and over again to get that fuller "wall of sound" effect. 

ABBA's songs are sometimes made up of happy lyrics set to sad music.  Some songs are just plain happy, other songs are just plain sad.  ABBA have numerous songs that cover various themes like divorce, young love, mature love, philosophical subjects, and so much more.  

As an ABBA fan, I know ABBA as all of those things, and all of those combined is what makes ABBA.  If you take out any of those elements, it just doesn't sound like ABBA.

...

So there is this British Indie Pop band that I've been seeing around called The Last Dinner Party.  I haven't really listened to them, but interestingly, I've seen them described in a couple of places as the "New ABBA" and this kinda baffles me.  Around a year ago someone in a forum shared a link to their song Nothing Matters and mentioned that they felt the song had ABBA vibes.  I listened to it, I didn't hear it, I never thought about it again.  Then again more recently, I watched a video where in it, the person described Chappell Roan as the 'New Kate Bush" and The Last Dinner Part as the "New ABBA."  And I was very confused by that statement.

Ever since Kate Bush's song "Running Up That Hill" was featured in I think it was season 4 of Stranger Things, people who hadn't hard of Kate Bush were suddenly introduced to Kate Bush, and people who had heard of her before but not really into her were suddenly re-introduced to Kate Bush.  I've heard a few Kate Bush songs prior to the release of Stranger Things, specifically Wow as featured in ABBA in Switzerland, and her song Wuthering Heights, as well as a few other songs of hers that were suggested to me on YouTube, and if I had to describe her music in one word, I would use the word Eclectic.  She has a very unique vocal style, a very distinct look, but also, none of her songs sound the same and Running Up That Hill is just a sample of what she has to offer.

Chappell Roan has been rising in popularity, and she is definitely a very interesting listen!  I don't really listen to her songs as a lot of them are too sexually explicit for my taste, but she's got some very good songs and she too has a very unique style!  She sings in a variety of different styles, many different themes, a very unique vocal style, and her songs also don't all sound the same.  If I had to compare any of her songs to Kate Bush, it would probably just be the way she sings the chorus of her song Good Luck, Babe!  Other Chappell Roan hits like Pinky Pony Club and Hot To Go don't sound at all like Kate Bush...  So, why do people compare Chappell Roan, the artist on a whole, to Kate Bush, when like only parts of one song resemble that of Kate Bush, particularly only that one Kate Bush song that has gained recent popularity?  It's almost like people heard one Kate Bush song, associated that one song with her, ignored everything else about her, and then assume that anyone who sings similarly to Kate Bush is obviously now the "New Kate Bush" when there's nothing else that is comparable.

Then we have The Last Dinner Party and ABBA.  Much like how people associate Kate Bush with only Running Up That Hill and not any of her other hits or songs, here in the US at least, ABBA is often synonymous with Bubble-gum Pop songs like Dancing Queen, Take A Chance On Me, and honestly, the entire tracklist of ABBA Gold.  The average person doesn't typically know anything more than ABBA Gold, or perhaps some of the songs that were not on ABBA Gold but were featured in the Mamma Mia! films.  So, when people start calling The Last Dinner Party the NEW ABBA, they're probably just thinking about ABBA Gold. 

In an article by Hard Of Hearing Magazine written by Lloyd Bolton, the critic wrote, "Indeed, who since ABBA has had the guts to aspire to sounding like ABBA?" and of the song Portrait Of A Dead Girl, "worthy of ‘ABBA Gold,’ relates a more contemporary sentiment, and as the strings win our hearts, the “over and over again” of the chorus propels the song through the pop stratosphere."  

And like, I don't know what the critic means???    Portrait Of A Dead Girl is definitely more ballad-y and honestly more Fleetwood Mack ballad-y than any of ABBA's ballads.  Considering ABBA Gold doesn't really feature many ABBA ballads at all (there's The Winner Takes It All, One Of Us, Fernando, and Chiqutita, but also many of those songs I wouldn't even consider ballads), where would would that song fit into ABBA Gold?  Where????  

Vocally, I don't even hear any similarities either.  ABBA songs often feature one A singing lead and the other singing in harmony, and then they have so many backing vocals as well, but it never sounds like "gang-vocals" our shouty vocals.  It sounds orchestral almost, like Agnetha and Frida's voices are just another musical instrument.  Of the three The Last Dinner Party Songs that I listened to that are often compared to ABBA ("Nothing Matters", "Portrait Of A Dead Girl," and "Sinner") I do not hear anything that remotely resembles ABBA. 

If anything, perhaps you could say it matches more with the dark and mature, synth-laden sound of some of the tracks on ABBA's the Visitors album, but according to the music critic, they are only focusing on ABBA Gold, and none of the songs that I'm thinking of (The Visitors (Crackin' Up) and I Let The Music Speak) feature on ABBA Gold.  And again, most people don't usually know of those "deep-cut" ABBA songs because they're not on ABBA Gold or in Mamma Mia!.  

I feel like the music critics that compare The Last Dinner Party to ABBA don't really know who or what ABBA is.  Just because a band has a lot of synthesizers reminisce of the 70s synthesizers and female vocals doens't immediately mean they sound like ABBA.  ABBA's not the only 1970s band or band with synthesizers in a lot of their songs, and people tend to forget that ABBA is not just two female vocaists but rather two male and two female.  So just because a band has synths and female vocals doesn't mean they're ABBA, you know?  That's like saying "omg Sabrina Carpenter is a blonde, singer/songwriter who can play the guitar!  Obviously she's the new Taylor Swift!" when their music sounds nothing alike, you know?

Now, I just wanted to point out that neither The Last Dinner Party or Chappell Roan (from what I can find) have compared themselves to ABBA or Kate Bush.  If they were inspired by them, that's awesome - it's always amazing when a band or a singer are seen as inspirational and for sure they have inspired many modern artists form after their time.  I don't have a problem with that.  I think my real issue is music critics who find it important to tie an up and coming artist' success to an older band/artist, and then have the nerve to call them the "new" version of said band/artist.  Especially where these new artists and bands are not trying to be the new version of anything, they're just trying to be themselves.  

And also, I know music critics are probably only tying the sound of Chappell Roan and The Last Dinner Party's music to ABBA and Kate Bush's music, but personality and the story behind each artist tie a lot into their music as well, and none of their stories are comparable either.  Each band/artist as their own unique story which plays into how their music is, and you can't have ABBA's sound without the members of the band and their unique situation.  

In conclusion, you can't claim a band is the "new ABBA" when you don't fully know ABBA, and especially not when a band isn't trying to be ABBA in anyway.  As I wrote in my introduction to this blog post, ABBA can be defined my many things and are their band in their own right, with a variety of different songs and styles and sound, and there cannot be a "New ABBA" without any of the elements that originally made ABBA.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day haha.  

And of course, no hate towards The Last Dinner Party or Chappell Roan!  Keep doing what you're doing and stay true to yourselves and unique!

Song Analysis - The Piper

 In early February, 1980, Bjorn and Benny began working on a demo initially titled Ten Tin Soliders.  It wasn't long before the song was changed to Sherwood, and then Äntligen krig, and then finally, The Piper, which they officially began recording in April.  

Musically, the Piper is unlike any prior ABBA songs.  It has an extremely medieval feel, with flutes and drums, but with the modern touch of Benny's keyboard and synths.  The song features both Agnetha and Frida on joint vocals, singing in unison much like some of their earlier songs where their voices are almost indistinguishable.  Although a COMPLETELY different style of song, it kinda reminds me how in Honey Honey, it almost doesn't sound like two separate voices, just one single voice.

Bjorn has said this song is inspired by the book The Stand by Stephen King.  I don't know what that book is about, but I'm guessing it has something to do with some sort of leader or dictator of sorts, seducing the people to follow his lead.  The song is almost cult-like, with dark and creepy lyrics.

The song begins by telling how people come from all over, the hills, the valleys, the plains, traveling through snow and rain, just to hear the Piper play his music.  And whenever he plays, basically everyone just mindlessly follows.  In the chorus, it compares the blind and mindless following of the Pipers' words to following his music, having been summoned by the tune that the piper plays.  And so the people, his congregation, all dance beneath the moon for him.  They basically do whatever it is they tell him to do.

The third verse, "He gave them a dream he seduced everybody in the land, the fire in his eyes and the fear was a weapon in his hand.  So they let him play, play their minds away," kinda reminds me of people who use their power to instill fear in the people, and makes me think of a lot of Doomsday fearmongers who were trying to convince everyone the world was gonna end in 2012 because everyone is a sinner, etc.  

Honestly, this song is so creepy, and awful, and it's amazing how Bjorn managed to capture that in a song.  Where a lot of ABBA's music tends to sound very feel-good and happy (even when the lyrics themselves are the complete opposite), this song is just entirely dark and moody and scary.  Also the way Agnetha and Frida chant the Latin phrase "Sub luna saltamus" after each chorus, which means "dance under the moon" is also sooooo creepy.

Although Andante, Andante is of completely different context, similar to the Piper, it uses music as a euphemism.  In Andante, Andante, music is used to describe intimacy, whereas the Piper uses it to describe mind-control almost, using music to guide and control you.  Interestingly, the concept of letting music guide you also shows up a year later on the song I Let The Music Speak.  There's no correlation between the song, but very interesting nonetheless.

This song is creepy and dark, but it is honestly such a well-crafted song.  Often times I like to just sit and write with an ABBA album playing from start-to-finish loudly in my headphones, and this song  just sounds so good.  Although there aren't as many harmonies as prior ABBA songs, I think it fits the song perfectly and the created such a beautiful soundscape for this song.  A very, very good song.

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. :')

Song Analysis - Elaine

November 15th 1979 marked the final date of the Europe portion of ABBA's world tour, before embarking on the next leg in Japan in March.  But of course ABBA didn't use that entire time to rest.  Rather, beginning in January, Agnetha and Frida began recording ABBA's Spanish album, and Bjorn and Benny used that opportunity to take a songwriting trip to the Barbados.

One of the first songs to come out of this trip was a track originally titled Elaine Elaine Elaine, but ultimately it would get shortened to just one Elaine.  Recorded in February, 1980, this track is honestly such a stark contrast from all of the songs from the Super Trouper session, and perhaps that's one of the reasons why it never ended up making it on the album and instead remained a B-side.

The song itself is quite odd as well.  A lot of ABBA songs tell a story that is pretty easy to figure out. You have just enough context that you can fill in the blanks and easily come up with an interpretation that matches up with the song.  Elaine, however, is confusing.  The song is about a woman named Elaine, who seems to feel stuck or trapped by something that she knows is ultimately coming for her.  No matter what, this thing, whatever it is, will happen no matter how hard she tries to fight it off.  She screams, she swears, she tries to breakaway, but it all means nothing.  A mysterious "they" is going to get to her anyway.  

The final line "they have your mind they’ll take your soul" kinda makes me thing of like mind control in some way, or many even addiction to something.  Maybe this song is a warning to how addicted everyone is going to be to mobile phones in the future..?  Lol jk.  Or maybe this song is about an Alien invasion and the aliens are coming.  Perhaps the song is about someone trying to break free of some type of rut that everyone else is stuck in, but they're all resistant to change and try to drag her down with them.  Maybe Elaine is a prophet of some sort or a time traveler, and she tries to warn the people that this thing is happening, but ultimately no one listens to her.

Honestly, especially with the first verse being, "You hate, you scream, you swear, and still you never reach ’em.  You curse, you try to scare, but you can never teach ’em," kinda remind me of the Greek myth of Cassandra, which ABBA did end up writing a song about later in 1982.  Cassandra tried to warn the people of Troy about all types of dangers, but she was dismissed and ignored and mistreated.  Kind of giving the same vibes of ABBA's Elaine. 

Ultimately I guess we'll never know who or what the song is about, especially as Bjorn and Benny have pretty much said nothing about it, but also that's the beauty of music.  Especially where none of ABBA's songs unless otherwise stated are personal retellings of anything and are at most inspired by real life, they truly are up for anyone to interpret.  

Both Agnetha and Frida sing in unison on this track, but not in harmony except maybe on the line "and the street is narrow."  There also aren't as many layers of harmony and backing vocals in this song either.  Dare I say, this is the start of ABBA's "lazy" era.  That's not to say they didn't add any more harmony to songs, as there are so many stunning harmonies in Super Trouper and Put On Your White Sombrero, it's just when you compare songs from the whole Super Trouper album to songs from the Voulez-Vous album, there is quite a stark contrast in the amount of harmonies and backing vocals present.  However, in a way, it's like ABBA were reverting to their music style from before the Arrival album.  I guess you could say from Arrival to Voulez-Vous, ABBA were taking their craft extra seriously.  They took their time perfecting their craft, whereas on prior albums they were more rushed for time or were just starting out.  This is kinda why I personally think that ABBA's Voulez-Vous album was honestly their peak vocal-wise.  (and of course this is not to say I dislike the tracks from Super Trouper or The Visitors or even Voyage.  I love them all.  I'm just pointing out differences.)

The music for Elaine is quite groovy as well, with most of the instruments being played on Benny's synthesizer.  It's fun, but the music certainly contrasts the dark undertones of the lyrics!

(Also in case anyone is wondering why my posts have been lacking as of late - as you all know, I am a creative person and I use my hands a lot for art - drawing, sewing,writing, carrying around my crazy heavy zoom lens that I use for photographing animals, etc, and my wrist is currently suffering from all of that combined with the fact that I am really bad at letting my hands rest.... and typing aggravates my wrist........  So yeah. :)  Here's hoping I can force myself to stop aggravating it because this is no fun lol.)

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. :')

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.