Song Analysis - Dancing Queen

 Dancing Queen, the song that is probably ABBA's most popular and is pretty much the song that people commonly associate with ABBA.  The song that really gave them that boost in success that they had been looking for, and remains to this day, their most successful song.

ABBA began working on Dancing Queen in September 1975.  Apparently the moment each ABBA member had heard the finished song, they were all overcome with emotion by how good it was.  If I remember correctly, Bjorn was so excited when the song was finished that he couldn't even sleep and instead drove to his sister's house and played it to her.  Frida was said to have cried happy tears when she first heard it.  

The song is fun and happy, as it's about being young and carefree, enjoying teenage hood by going out and dancing.  Though this girl in the song, the Dancing Queen in question, likes to have a bit of flirtatious fun, teasing people but never falling through.  

I was watching a video by the YouTuber Roomie the other day, and he mentioned how he found the lyrics in Dancing Queen to be questionable, how she's young and sweet, only seventeen, hinting as if there's some creepiness in the actual lyrics and the meaning of the song.  However I really don't think at all that's what ABBA are hinting at.  The song isn't in anyway trying to condone or suggest hitting on a minor girl, as if that's acceptable.  I can understand why someone could assume that, but that's not the case with this song.

I've already mentioned how this song is like a more modern, revamped version of Nina, Pretty Ballerina and is also one of two songs to feature an age in an ABBA song, that other being Man In The Middle.  Man In The Middle also features a girl being only seventeen, but that song is explicitly about a bad guy who does bad things.  Dancing Queen is not.

Dancing Queen features a beautiful blend of Agnetha and Frida's vocals, with amazing stacked and layered vocals and Bjorn and Benny adding some harmonies a bit during the chorus, as well.  It has an amazingly fun and exciting soundscape, with lots of piano, strings, and synthesizer, a funky bass and fun guitars.  Agnetha and Frida's voices blend together beautifully, yet the song also highlights their different voices.  Especially in the second chorus, with Agnetha's high note.  This song is perfect.  And it's no wonder it's their most successful song.  

Though one thing to mention is, this song is not your stereotypical ABBA song.  Yes ABBA mention dancing in a good number of songs, and they have a lot of upbeat, fun, happy songs, but that doesn't mean all ABBA songs sound like that.  As I've been showing throughout this whole song analysis thing that I've been doing, ABBA have tried out and played around with all types of songs and styles, and no song sounds the same.  Because Dancing Queen is ABBA's most popular, I've seen so many videos of people trying to make ABBA-style songs and they think that to make an ABBA song, you have to rip-off Dancing Queen,  But that is not true.  Idk where I'm going with this, I guess it's just a pet peeve of mine.

Anyways, ABBA were known to not really let people film them in the recording studio while they worked, yet in 1975 for a documentary about Stig called Mr. Trendsetter, ABBA were filmed working on Dancing Queen in the studio, and in that video, they're seen recording a verse that didn't end up making it into the final version of the song.  In fact, allegedly, the song was originally structured different as well.

Intro: You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life....

Verse 1: Baby baby you're out of sight, hey you're looking alright tonight.  When you come to the party, listen to the guys.  They've got that look in their eyes."

Verse 2: You’re a teaser, you turn ’em on leave ’em burning and then you’re gone.  looking out for another, anyone will do.  You’re in the mood for a dance. and when you get the chance."

Chorus: You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet only seventeen. Dancing Queen, feel the beat from the tambourine, oh yeah. You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life.  See that girl, watch that scene, digging the Dancing Queen

Verse 3: Friday night and the lights are low, looking out for the place to go. Where they play the right music, getting in the swing. you come to look for a king.

Verse 4: Anybody could be that guy, night is young and the music’s high. With a bit of rock music, everything is fine. you’re in the mood for a dance.  and when you get the chance."

Chorus 2

But when they officially released the song, they rearranged it to be: 

Intro.

Verse 1: Friday nights and the lights are low...

Verse 2: Anybody can be that guy...

Chorus 1

Verse 3: You're a teaser you turn 'em on....

Chorus 2.

However, in 1980, Agnetha and Frida recorded the song again in Spanish for the Gracias Por La Musica album, and it ended up keeping the original 4 verse structure

The Spanish version of the song, originally titled Reina Danzante but renamed to La Reina Del Baile, is essentially the same, though this version of the song doesn't really highlight the dancing queen's age, just talking about being young and youthful, which I think further emphasizes how the song is about being young and carefree and not being a creepy creep, creeping on minor girls.

The Spanish version roughly translates to: 

Verse 1: Friday night and where to go. Everything ready to go. lights everywhere. look for a place, music and dancing.

Verse 2:  One and all to enjoy.  There is a sensational rhythm, with a very violent rock, long to dance, no one is going to stop you. And in the crowd.

Chorus:  You shine with fullness, finally all youth reigns. Your concern, finally all youth reigns. To dance, to spin. you know how to laugh and vibrate. Look well, there it goes, like a queen already

Verse 3:  And even though you know how to flirt, he is only interested in dancing. With whom you no longer care, alone you don't care no one is going to stop you

And verse 4 is a repeat of verse 2.

I already touched on this in my post about Mamma Mia, but basically Michael B. Tretow had some fun with the mixing on this track as well, and it just doesn't sound as fun and exciting as the English one.  Bjorn and Benny also weren't involved in the recording process, and as amazing as Agnetha and Frida were in recording the song, it sounds empty.  And also, in the English version in the second chorus, Agnetha does this incredible high note on the "Oh yeah", and there's none of that in the spanish version.  Even when ABBA would perform the song during their 1979 tour, Agnetha wouldn't do the high note.  I guess she got lazy.  (jk of course.)

Of course, ABBA would perform this on various TV shows to promote it from 1976 until 1978, and then would perform the song live during their 1977 and 1979 tours, their final performance of the song being in Japan, 1980, until 2020 when they did the motion capture for the Voyage show.  Despite the fact that this was ABBA's most popular song, they didn't perform the song as much as I'd have initially thought.  I believe Waterloo or SOS holds the record of being the most performed ABBA song.

 

I like the song, it's great and fun. It definitely is well deserving of being ABBA's most popular song, I just feel like it's become a bit overrated. Not saying I don't like it - i love it, it's just I don't like people's reaction to it hahaha. Like they assume that once they've heard Dancing Queen, they've heard it all, but it's not accurate.  But the song is perfect, and ABBA gave it their all and they did a fantastic job with it.

New Doll Costumes - White And Gold

 Last night I finally got around to finishing my most recent doll costume recreations: ABBA's white and gold costumes from early 1979.

As usual, a more detailed post on these outfits is on my sewing blog.  :)

Song Analysis - Fernando

In 1975, Frida began working on her next solo album, and album that mostly consisted of cover songs of various songs by different artists like David Bowie, The Beach Boys.  The songs were all performed in Frida's own unique style and take, and she has so many different types of songs on there.  A really good album showcasing Frida's dynamic style and range.  

In September of 1975, Bjorn, Benny, and Stig contributed an original song for the album, titled Fernando.   Originally that song had been called Tango, and when the song eventually got the lyrics and title Fernando, they had recorded the song in a bit of a tango style, as can be heard at the 10:26 minute mark in ABBA's undeleted medley.    But it wasn't long before it became the version that we're all familliar with, with the beautiful flutes in the intro and slow rising introduction idk how to describe it haha.  I'm not a music person.  Anyways, Frida sings this song absolutely beautifully, with her lovely harmonies with herself and soft and sweet vocals.  

Lyrics wise, the original version of Fernando is very much like ABBA's Chiquitita from nearly four years later. It's about the narrator comforting their friend Fernando after the loss of his love.  I'm not sure whether it means actual loss, like his love died, or just the heartbreak of breaking up.  There are lines like, "Has she left you, your great, great love, is that so? The one who loved and lost know that this can still happen from time to time," and "Grief can be heavy to bear but friends letting you down is something you have to learn."

Regardless, the whole chorus is basically hyping up Fernando, as Frida sings, "Long, long live, love, our best friend, Fernando. Fill your glass and raise a toast, to it for love, Fernando.  Play, play the melody and sing the song about happiness.  Long, long live, love that love, Fernando."  

Honstly the similarity to Chiquitia is quite strong.  Just like Agnetha and Frida remind Chiquitita that she'll be "dancing once again, and the pain will end.  You will have no time for grieving," Frida in the original Swedish version of Fernando tells Fernando, "Do you have any happy songs left? so play, play, play them for me," and in the chorus, "play, play the melody and sing the song about happiness."  I've always found the structure of the songs to be quite similar as well honestly.  

When ABBA decided to record the song in English, they structured it as such: Verse 1, featuring just Frida, verse 2 featuring Agnetha harmonzing with Frida, Chrorus, Verse 3 featuring Agnetha harmonizing with Frida, and then chorus.  Chiqutita is verse 1 with just Agnetha singing solo, Verse 2 featuring Frida harmonizing with her, Chorus, Verse 3 featuring Frida harmonzing with Agnetha, and then the chorus, and then of course the finale and the amazing instrumental break.  Just food for thought....

Anyways, Frida's Fernando was released in November 1975, however I think it's reasonable to think that despite Frida's solo version coming out first, Bjorn and Benny were already working on and had probably always intended to record it in English as ABBA.  Instead of being about comforting a friend, the English version, which was released as a single in March 1976, is about I'm assuming an old couple, whether they're married, friends, colleagues, I have no idea - sitting outside on a beautiful, starry night, reminiscing about some shared and honestly traumatic memories and experiences.  If I remember correctly, the song is about freedom fighters during the Mexican Revolution.  Crossing the Rio Grande, hiding and feeling scared and frightened by the sounds of guns and cannons, fighting for their liberty...  However, they don't look back on those memories in a negative light, rather Frida and Agnetha sing in the chorus, "If I had to do the same again I would my friend, Fernando."

Of course the song would go on to be a major success for ABBA, and when the time came to record a Spanish language album in 1980, Fernando was included.  The song is generally the same, about two people reminiscing about the past and how they shared a lot of experiences and memories together.  Though interestingly enough there isn't much reference to the Mexican Revolution in this version, instead it's quite vague.  First verse: "Can you listen, Fernando? reminds me of time ago stars and a night there in the blue light Fernando you hummed your song with that soft guitar playing I could hear those drums with a dull roll".  Second verse: "Fernando was getting closer and the moment that passed it seemed like eternity and I felt afraid Fernando for life and youth no one thought about dying and today I do not feel ashamed confess that I had desire to cry."  Chorus: "Maybe there was something around of clarity Fernando that shined for both of us in protection Fernando we never thought we would lose nor back down If I had to do it again Fernando would do it now If I had to do it again Fernando would do it now." and Third verse: "Old age arrived Fernando and with her a peace that today we can enjoy Fernando the drummer fell asleep it seems like it was yesterday that you and I lived it and in your eyes I still see that pride that reflects your value."

With Agnetha being a soprano and Frida being a mezzo-soprano, usually Agnetha sings a higher harmony and very rarely sings lower than Frida.  However, at least in the first half of the verses, Agnetha actually sings lower than Frida, and it's pretty interesting as she normally doesn't sing that low.  I'll always be amazed by how far and wide Agnetha and Frida pushed their vocal performances, and this is another prime example of how amazing they were and still are.   

With Fernando being amongst their most popular songs, of course the song was included on the setlist for the 1977 and 1979 tour.  For the 1977 tour they even had a lovely sing-a-long section with the audience where they would have the audience sing with them and it's really sweet to see.  And of course they performed the song on many different TV-shows from 1976 onwards, their last TV performance being in Japan 1978.  

Fernando is an amazing song, and it's popularity is absolutely deserved.  I love it.

Song Analysis - Medley: Pick A Bale Of Cotton/On Top Of Old Smokey/Midnight Special

 In mid 1975, ABBA had the opportunity to partake in a compilation album of traditional folk songs, most of which were public domain tracks, from various countries titled "Stars Im Zeichen Eines Guten Sterns", which roughly translates to "Stars In The Sign Of A Good Star".  ABBA were among several different artists included on this album, like Lars Berghagen, James Last, and Karel Gott to name a few. 

For this album, ABBA chose to sing a medley of three American songs, specifically Pick A Bale Of Cotton, On Top Of Old Smokey, and Midnight Special.   When Bjorn was in his folk group The Hootenanny Singers, he and his band mates primarily sang traditional American folk songs, so this seemed right up his alley.

All three of these songs are traditional folk songs with no known songwriters or composers to the songs.  The earliest known references to the songs appear to be from the 1920s and earlier, with a lot of these songs having originated amongst prisoners and/or slaves in the American South.  

The earliest known recorded version of Pick A Bale Of Cotton appears to be by Lead Belly and The Golden Gate Quartet, in 1941, though according to a very cool in depth look at these songs on ABBA's official website, it's mentioned that the first recording was by John A. Lomax and his son in the 1930s.  

Then we have have On Top Of Old Smokey, with the earliest recorded version being by George Reneau from October, 1925.  Though the song seems to have become most popularized in 1951 when The Weavers and Terry Gillykson released it.  

Finally, Midnight Special had it's first known recording by Dave Cutrell with McGinty's Oklahoma Cow Boy Band in 1926, though it appears to have been adapted from another traditional song, Let The Church Go On.

All three of these songs have a lot of interesting history to them, and as much as I'd like to delve further into them, I don't really feel like it or feel like analyzing the lyrical content because they're not by ABBA, and I mostly only want to talk about ABBA on this blog.  Still I wanted to give a brief history to these songs because I think it's important to know.  Not in anyway trying to put down these songs of course. 

I think ABBA really gave it their all for these performances.  They really ABBA-fied these tracks, adding a touch of, in 70s terms, modern pop and rock.  All four members sing Pick A Bale Of Cotton with a bit of a back-and-forth between both As and Bs, reminisce of ABBA's first song together, People Need Love, with the back and forth singing but a completely different style.  Though Agnetha and Frida sing more of the song than the boys do.  Then for On Top Of Old Smokey, Frida sings lead, however Agnetha sort of harmonizes with her kind of in the same style of harmony that they use in the verses of Fernando, at least to me that's what it reminds me of.  And then with Midnight Special, Agnetha sings the first verse, Frida the second verse, and then both singing the chorus together.  ABBA don't really have any songs with Agnetha singing one verse and Frida singing the next.  Most of their songs feature one member on lead vocals and the other(s) harmonizing with them. or just Agnetha and Frida singing in unison.  The only other times that I can think of at this current moment when you have Agnetha and Frida alternating verses is during the 1975 tour when Frida sings the second verse of SOS, in If It Wasn't For The Nights when in the first pre-chorus??? Agnetha sings "So baaaaaad" and then in the second pre-chorus Frida sings "So baaaaad", and the Name Of The Game when they each sort of have their own sections of the songs.  Agnetha sings the "I was an impossible case..." section solo and Frida sings the "...I'm a bashful child, beginning to grow..." section. 

Of the three tracks, I really like Midnight Special, especially as one of the As does a little ad lib "woo" or scream in the last 20 seconds of the song as it begins to fade out.  It's really quiet, hard to hear at times, but it's so unusual for ABBA to have one of those in their songs.  The closest ABBA song I can think of to have a scream like that is King Kong Song, but the context is completely different.

Even though this medley of songs was originally released in 1975, ABBA chose to release it as the b-side to Summer Night City in 1978.  I honestly don't quite know why they chose to release it then as it doesn't quite match up with Summer Night City at all, lol, but I'm guessing similar to when ABBA chose to release Crazy World, which was recorded in 1974, as the b-side to Money Money Money from 1976, they needed some track to put on the b-side and decided that this medley would make a fine choice.  I can't say I agree, but you know, it did add some more interest to the track and I guess they were proud of their work on the medley, agreeing that it deserved to be an official ABBA release.

ABBA recording and performing, or even officially releasing songs not written by them is a very rare occurrence.  This Medley is the only official ABBA release of songs not written by them.  Still, I have a roughly 10 minute long compiling some of the few times when ABBA did the sing non-ABBA songs.

Song Analysis - Mamma Mia

 Mamma Mia is honestly, I think, one of ABBA's most iconic songs.  Firstly, the song has kinda become synonymous with a musical and musical movie series that I will not be talking about anymore because i freaking hate it, and secondly, the music video for the song ended up creating one of the most unique and ultimately classic ABBA visuals that has also become synonymous with ABBA. 

The song itself is such a classic ABBA song.  The marimba I think it is during the intro and throughout the chorus is amazing and fun, the vocals with Agnetha and Frida's joint vocals, Bjorn and Benny's added backing vocals in the pre-choruses (Just one look and I can hear a bell ring/ one more look and I forget everything), and also the harmonies in the last chorus, and the "oooh-wee-ooh-wee-oooh"s in the background towards the end of the song are so fun as well.  

The song is about a person who has been cheated on and mistreated by their partner, and they seem to have a habit of breaking up a lot, and they're honestly so toxic for each other yet they keep on coming back, again and again and again.  The narrator is well aware that this is bad for them, exclaiming "Mamma mia, here I go again..." as they realize they've once again gotten stuck in this endless cycle of returning to their really bad ex despite breaking it off.  It's funny how the music is so happy and cheerful, yet the lyrics are actually super deep and honestly, sad.

Already as early as 1973, Agnetha and Frida had done the one A facing the camera, the other A facing to the side (ABBA on TV describes it as the "side-on-faces-shot") as can be seen on their performance of Ring Ring on Television City, but it wasn't until 1975 when filming the Mamma Mia music video that it became established as a classic ABBA visual.  While Lasse Halstrom, ABBA's ICONIC director, may not have invented that shot, he added onto it and made it more of a unique thing, by having Agnetha and Frida stand closer together than can be seen in 1973, and then having the focus constantly shift from one A to the other.  And now, in modern day, at least to my understanding, that shot is almost always associated with ABBA, and anytime you see that shot utilized in any sort of modern media, you can know that it was directly inspired by Lasse Hallstrom and ABBA.

ABBA wen on to perform this song on many TV shows, the fist official TV performance of the song being on the show Made In Sweden for Export when they debuted their iconic Cat Dresses.  As far as I know, ABBA did not perform this long live during the summer folkpark tour in 1975, but ABBA did perform it live on Midnight Special in 1976, and then during their 1977 tour around Europe and Australia.  Their last performance of the song was then in early 1979 in Switzerland while on the ski slopes, and the song was no included in their 1979 tour which is honestly disappointing to me.

I'm guessing in 1979, ABBA wanted to be seen more as a mature and serious band, and Mamma Mia, being such a fun and happy sounding song doesn't quite fit that image.  As a result, so many fun songs like I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, So Long, Dum Dum Diddle, and He Is Your Brother, that ABBA had as part of their 1977 tour and performed really well, didn't make it to the 1979 set list.  Plus any dance routines that ABBA used to perform on stage, like the amazing dance routine at the end of So long, were not included in the 1979 shows.  And I really don't like that, because as amazing as the 1979 concerts are and ABBA truly were at their peak, a lot of the fun aspects of the band were missing from those shows.  Though of course Frida absolutely kicks it up a notch with Why Did It Have To Be Me.  But that's pretty much it.  I'm not trying to put down ABBA in 1979 or the 1979 tour by the way as they were truly amazing.  I just wish they had added Mamma Mia to the setlist.  At least they included it in the Voyage shows.  That I really appreciate.

Anyways, although ABBA did not include Mamma Mia! in the 1979 tour, that was not the last time they sang the song, as in 1980, Agnetha and Frida recorded the song in Spanish for their Spanish album, Gracias Por La Musica.  They sound great honestly, but the Spanish version of Mamma Mia is not my favorite for a couple of reasons.  

1. Bjorn and Benny were not included in the recording of most of the songs in this album at least for the songs specifically recorded for the Gracias Por La Musica album and not previous Spanish recordings that they added to that album.  As I mentioned before, specifically on the lines "Just one look and I can hear a bell ring.  One more look and I forget everything," you can hear Bjorn and Benny singing along in the background, and when all four ABBA members are singing together you get that perfect blend of voices in perfect harmony.  You don't get that from Mamma Mia in Spanish.  Agnetha and Frida did amazing, but it ends up sounding very empty.

2. Michael B. Tretow, ABBA's iconic sound engineer who we love and respect here, decided to have a little fun with the mix of the Gracias Por Las Musica album, and mixed the backing tracks on all of the songs to be slightly different than their original English language counterparts.  For this song, he either took away the marimba entirely and replaced it with piano, or he pitched it down to make it sound lower, and... I guess it adds a more mature feel to the song and... I don't like it.  Mamma Mia is supposed to be a playful sounding song with rather heartbreaking lyrics, and that marimba really screams "happy music, sad lyrics."  Changing it up kind of ruins the song a bit.  Not saying the Spanish version is bad, just not my favorite by any means.

The Spanish version's lyrics are pretty much the same as the English one.  The first verse is, via my friend Google Translate, "I deceived myself because of you. I have known it for a long time. and I already decided now i will leave you. Look at me well, when will i learn? I do not know why. I live this great passion so much that burns my heart."  

Pre-chorus: "If you look at me I feel so much pleasure. If you get bigger I think you will fade away"  

Chorus: "Oh! Oh! Mamma mia, and again. I don't know how to resist you. mamma mia, I want and you see it. I don't know how to avoid you.   You who have provoked me then you rejected me. Why do I still love you like this? Mamma mia, I already decided because I can't live without you."  

Second verse: "you have made me angry with your way of being. and I would like to forget so many things from yesterday. Look at me well, when will i learn? I do not know why I live this great passion. so much that burns my heart"

In the English version, the last chorus is switched up a bit, to "mamma mia, even if I say bye, bye, leave me now or never. mamma mia, it’s a game we play.  bye, bye doesn’t mean forever" but the Spanish one doesn't have that, just repeating the same chorus. 

 Here's a compilation of all of ABBA's performances of Mamma Mia:

And yeah, nothing else to say about the song. It's perfect and I wouldn't change anything about it.  It's classic ABBA.  

The song totally didn't go on to be the title of a musical that ended up skyrocketing ABBA's popularity even more with the younger general but also ruining ABBA's songs and making them seem like a band that only makes cheesy musical music, but also the musical changed the meanings and sound of their songs, so they're not even the original songs, and then also all the people who performed the songs in the terrible musical movies absolutely butchered and destroyed the songs with their atrocious performances as the songs are not meant to be song by anyone other than a mezzo-soprano and soprano blending together with amazing stacked harmonies and beautiful voices and-

Also, as it is February 23rd, just wanted to wish Linda Ulvaues a happy 51st birthday!!

Song Analysis - I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do

 If I were ever going to get married, I would 100% walk down the aisle to this song.  

I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do is a true love song.  It's filled with the sound of wedding bells, saxophones, and jubilant piano playing.  Agnetha and Frida sing jointly together, and they sound absolutely amazing, especially with some absolutely heavenly "aaaahs" throughout the last verse. 

  The narrator of the song is wholeheartedly in love with their partner and is 100% committed to them.  With lines such as ,"So come on, now let’s try it, I love you, can’t deny it ’cos it’s true, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do," the main character declares how much she is in love and wants to make it work, but it's the first line of the song and the second chorus that really stand out to me.  "Love me or leave me Make your choice but believe me I love you I do, I do, I do, I do, I do," and "Oh, no hard feelings between you and me If we can’t make it, but just wait and see."  It's the reasonable, mature, and level headed thinking that shows this isn't just a mere crush, but that this is real.  

  The final version of the song is structured like verse 1, chorus 1, verse 2, saxophone interlude, chorus 2, verse 3, however there was an original version of the song that featured an extra verse between the saxophone interlude and chorus 2, which was as follows: Let's  get together, every day we'll be better, I love you, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do.  Leave it or take it, I believe we can make it.  Don't you too? I do, I do, I do, I do, I do."  I'm always a big fan of extra verses, demos, and original versions of songs, so I love this extra verse, however I think I agree with ABBA's decision to cut it from the final mix.  I feel like it made the song a bit congested.  

  ABBA would perform this song on various TV shows throughout 1975 and early 1976.  I especially love the little routine they would do with Bjorn joining Agnetha and Frida and swaying with them during the saxophone break.  It's super cute and I have a suspicion that would be part of their routine when they'd perform the song live during their 1975 tour.

Speaking of tour, as mentioned, they would perform the song as part of the setlist of their 1975 tour, and we have one bootleg recording of that from Eskilstuna, and then the song was included in their 1977 tour, and they sound amazing in all of the recordings.  The song seems like it was very easy to perform, and they performed it beautifully.  My favorite part though is the cold ending they added for the live 1977 performances, where Agnetha and Frida would end the song with a slow "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do...." It sounds almost like a lullaby and they sound absolutely heavenly.

Anyways, sadly we have no video footage of ABBA during the 1975 and 1977 tours singing this song, but there are plenty of TV performances and all of them are extremely fun, in particular ABBA's performance on the Sylvestertanz Party in late 1975.  They were having a ton of playful fun in that performance. 

 

All in all, an extremely lovely song about being mature and in love, and I love it.

Song Analysis - Tropical Loveland

I've said for years that this song is my top favorite ABBA song, and it still is.  This song is unlike any other ABBA song.  For starters, Bjorn and Benny took influence from reggae music, with "Raggae" even being the working title for the song. With recording commencing on February 21st, 1975 (coincidentally 49 years ago to the date - no I did not plan that), it features some lovely accordion playing, fun drums, and some incredible vocals from Frida.

Tropical Loveland is a song about love, and beautiful nature.  Perhaps the use of the word loveland in teh song is a euphemism for something else, but on it's face value, the song is like a love song to nature and the beauties that mother nature provides us with.  Mellow grass, bright blue sky, flowers and gardens, rainbows, and birds.  You know those pages on social media about nostaliga and liminal spaces?  In particular when they share posts about a beautiful summer day in the early 2000s with that perfect lighting and everything is so saturated and beautiful - that's how I picture the tropical loveland, or at least that's what my tropical loveland would look like.  

Okay there's this scene during the Barney the Dinosaur movie from 1998, Barney's Great Adventure, when they step out during a sunshower and go towards some hot air balloons and the LIGHTING in that scene is a perfect example of my favorite lighting in the whole entire world and it gives me so much NOSTALGIA and that feeling is exactly how I feel when I listen to Tropical Loveland.  

Not only does the song oddly give me such good, happy feelings, the feel of the song and Frida's lead vocals are absolutely amazing.  Frida takes the lead vocals of this song and sings in such a soft, warm way.  She makes the song sound so cozy, and I can't really describe it further.  It's just perfect.  And then when the other three join in during the chorus, with Agnetha's sweet higher harmonies, it's just perfection.  I also love  when Bjorn and Benny sing "to my loveland" throughout the second verse, and lastly but certainly not least is the end of the song when Agnetha sings, "Ooh, it’s a tropical loveland.  ooh, I wanna share it with you," while Frida kind of ad libs?? idk what the actual term is and the way their voices just intertwine with each other is so beautiful. 

While I was reading through the lyrics, with all the vivid descriptors of the tropical loveland, I found myself reminded of a song from nearly 50 years later, Bumblebee from ABBA's Voyage album.   That song is also about nature, though mostly focusing on a fuzzy little bumblebee as he flies around the garden and collects nectar from all the flowers.  Though the song is also about how important bumblebees are so important to our ecosystem, with the current state of the world, bumblebees are at risk of dying out and without them, so much of our earth would start to crumble and fail.  The earth with all its beauty that is described so clearly in Tropical Loveland could fall apart without bumblebees, and of course plenty of other creatures that are going extinct at increasing rates.

Anyways, back to a more positive subject, this song is just so beautiful.  I love nature, animals, sunny days, and of course ABBA's sweet, sweet vocals, and this song gives all of that to me.  

Unfortunately ABBA have only performed this song three times, plus there's a clip showcasing ABBA enjoying some of Australia's beauty set to this song but that's not really a performance.  Even though there are so few performances of this song, each one is so special and beautiful, and each deserve to be watched.

Happy 13th birthday, Frida Dollstad

 Today marks 13 years since I put in the finishing stitches on my homemade Frida doll.  Wow.  Happy birthday Frida doll. :3

Song Analysis - Intermezzo No. 1

Of ABBA's entire musical catalog, there are only two instrumental tracks, and one of them, aka Arrival, isn't even a full instrumental because it features Agnetha and Frida as instruments essentially.  

Intermezzo No. 1 is basically Benny's time to shine.  Together Bjorn and Benny would come up with the music and lyrics together for all of ABBA's songs, but it's very clear that Benny was usually more into composing the music and Bjorn more into the lyrics, and both of them shine in those areas and together they create the most incredible music.  Very similar to how Agnetha and Frida's individual vocals are so radically different, with Agnetha being a soprano and Frida a mezzo-soprano, but together they blend so pefectly to create that pristine and magical ABBA sound.

Recording for Intermezzo No. 1 began in December of 1974.  I don't quite know how to describe this song.  It's an instrumental masterpiece.  There are so many different sections and pieces to this song, and it goes from slow to fast to slower to faster.  The track begins with a beautiful piano and guitar intro, and more and more instruments show up as the song progresses.  It's such a cool, musical piece, very rocky and has so many different elements.  

From their 1975 tour to their final live concert in 1980, Intermezzo No. 1 made it's way into the setlist.  I'm not sure if it was used as a bit of an intermission for a quick costume change backstage during the early 1975 tour, but ABBA would place this song right before a need for a change of costume or setup, having Benny and the rest of the band play this amazing track while Agnetha and Frida (and even Bjorn during the 1979 tour) run backstage to change out their outfits.

In 1977, right after performing Fernando, Agnetha would go backstage while Bjorn and Frida rock out with Why Did It Have To Be Me, followed by Benny playing Intermezzo No. 1 while Frida and possibly Bjorn idk go backstage, and during that break, Agnetha and Frida change into their Girl With The Golden Hair Costumes. 

And then in 1979, Agnetha would also skedaddle during Why Did It Have To Be Me to go backstage to change, Benny would then perform Intermezzo No. 1 while Frida and Bjorn change outfits, and then Agnetha would come out and perform I'm Still Alive, giving Benny the opportunity to go backstage and change into his next outfit.  Honestly very efficient.

But all of that is not to say that Intermezzo No.1 is just an intermission song.  While the studio version of this track is amazing on it's own, but this song absolutely slaps live!  Benny puts his all into these performances, and you can hear from just the bootleg audios and the live 1979 album how much fun they're having with this track.  And we also have the video footage from ABBA the Movie as well, where you get to see Benny having the time of his life and bouncing around behind his piano, absolutely having a ball.  You can kinda tell that Benny's having a lot of fun when he starts mouthing along with the instruments.  

For funsies I did sync up the live footage from ABBA the Movie with the studio track, but honestly just go look up the original clip from the movie and also listen to Intermezzo No. 1 from the Live At Wembley album.  They're just epic.

Song Analysis - Crazy World

 I've always loved Crazy World.  It's actually a pretty funny song, with the main character of the song coming to a false conclusion and basically panicking over it making rash decisions based off this misconception.  

Recorded in October of 1974, the song is about a guy, who wakes up thinking about his girlfriend, so he gets up, takes a walk, and decides to stop by her place.  Only when he gets there, he sees this guy leaving her front door, and drive off.  The main character is so shocked, realizing that his girlfriend his cheating on him!  His girlfriend steps out to see him just standing their on the sidewalk, completely stunned, and she seems so oblivious and casual, like nothing is wrong.  She has no idea why he would be acting like this.  

So he confronts her, and is like "How could you do this?  Have you been lying to me this whole time??  You tell me you love me and that I'm the only one all while hanging out with other guys behind your back???"  

But she just smiles, and is like omg nooooo, you have this all wrong.  "There's a couple of men in my life, and one of them is my brother Joe."  Joe has been away for a while, and she hasn't seen him for a long time, but he's moving back and now the main character will be able to get to know him better and learn that he's this really nice guy.  

This comes as quite a relief to the main character, and he goes from thinking to himself, "And I close my eyes,will you leave me girl, then I realise it’s a crazy world" to "And I close my eyes. never leave me, girl . when I realise it’s a crazy world."  

The sudden twist at the end, with the main character realizing that this was just a mistake on his end, is really interesting and funny, and is honestly quite reminiscent of a song from a good 7 years or so later, Two For The Price Of One.  Both songs have this sort of absurd setup, though Crazy World is a little bit more believable as you can't buy girls like is being suggested in Two For The Price Of One, only for the last part of the song to make you realize that up until now everything was a bit too crazy and brings you back to a more reasonable conclusion.  In Two For The Price Of One, the main character realizes that he's been tricked as the second girl that he seemingly gets when getting with girl number 1 is just her mother, and in Crazy World it's that the guy in question is just the girlfriend's brother and not some horrible cheating scenario.

Bjorn sings the lead vocals on this song, and sings it in such a serious way that you have no reason to suspect it's all just one big joke, and I like that a lot.  It makes you think about how serious this situation is to the main character, and it's kind of funny when you compare the seriousness of his vocals to the reality of the situation, that there is no cheating at all and he was just making rash decisions without even talking to his girlfriend first.  

Agnetha and Frida have some beautiful backing vocals on this song, during the choruses, but also specifically on the bridge, "Baby how could you do it. You just told me lies and you meet behind my back with other guys. Baby how could you tell me there was only me? I was stupid to believe you. I was blind but now I see." I also LOVE LOVE LOVE Benny's piano playing on this song. Especially when you strip out just the piano stems and isolate Benny's piano alone.  It is soooo beautiful!

I haven't reuploaded any of my old Lego animations to YouTube, the videos that got me involved with YouTube in the first place, but if you remember, I had made an animation about the song and still to this day it remains one of my favorites.  Regardless of how bad my animating skills were, I think my video captured the essence of the song perfectly.  Maybe someday I'll reupload the video.  Idk.  

Even though the song was originally recorded in 1974, the song wasn't released until 1976 as the B-Side to Money, Money, Money.  I think they also added more to the song and really finished it then as well.  Nowadays the song is included as bonus tracks to ABBA's self-titled album as it fits better on that album than Arrival.

Anyways, I love this song so much as you can probably tell.  It's just amazing, funny, and really well written. 

Song Analysis - Rock Me

 Rock Me is quite the rocking track.  I think it's quite clear what this song is about, lol, but not only that, it's also a testament to how much the character in the song loves his partner.  With lines such as "yours forever honey that’s what I wanna be..." and "your sweet lover honey that’s what I wanna be..." it's actually pretty sweet and nice.  

Bjorn takes the lead vocals on this song, and he sings really well.  He already used his rocky vocals once before in Watch Out, as I already mentioned, but I was just thinking about how it must have been for casual fans of the Hootenanny Singers must have felt hearing Bjorn since in this style.  The Hootnanny Singers, Bjorn's band before ABBA, sang pretty much entirely sweet and gentle folk songs, and the four guys in the band, Bjorn, Hansi Schrawtz, Tony Rooth, and Johan Karlberg have the sweetest and most beautiful harmonies, and their music could be enjoyed by all ages, and I'm just trying to picture what it was like for people who were interested in seeing what the members of the Hootenanny Singers were doing after the band had seemingly been put on hold when Bjorn's main focus was ABBA (the Hootenanny Singers did start releasing more music in 1979 onwards, but without Bjorn btw) and then hearing songs like Rock Me and Watch Out and hearing the contrast between his singing then and now.  (If you couldn't tell, I've been listening to a lot of Hootenanny Singers lately hahaha, and also Hep Stars, and they both have some really good songs.)

I will say, especially as Bjorn( and Benny, too) had previously done mostly soft, gentle songs (Another Town, Another Train, She's My Kind Of Girl, I Saw It In The Mirror, and their whole Lycka album), Bjorn sings really well on this song, and I think he fully committed to this song.  And clearly Rock Me ended up being a favorite as this song made it onto the setlist of all of their tours, from their 1975 tour all the way to their last concert tour in 1980.  

Of course I can't not talk about Agnetha and Frida's backing vocals as well.  They sing with Bjorn during the chorus, and honestly all three of their voices almost blend together that it's hard to pinpoint Agnetha and Frida's voices.  And then before each verse?, Agnetha and Frida sing "Don't stop the rockin' I said don't stop the rockin' don't stop the rockin'" or something along those lines, though interestingly, during the 1975 bootleg recording we have, they don't sing that and instead are replaced with a saxophone haha. 

ABBA's performances of Rock Me on the various TV shows are always fun and full of energy, but I think my favorite filmed performance is actually the one from ABBA the Movie in Australia, 1977.  There's so much energy during that performance, it's really amazing to see.  

Considering ABBA performed this song a lot, at least during their tours, I'm surprise Rock Me hasn't made it onto a lot of compilation albums.  Especially with the assumption that ABBA songs are only with Agnetha and/or Frida singing, it would be nice to show that they do have popular songs with Bjorn on lead vocals.  It's not just Does Your Mother Know that he sings.  He sings plenty.  I'm going to link you to a cringy but funny post I did 11 years ago about a fictional compilation album I made featuring only the songs that have Bjorn and/or Benny singing because they deserve a compilation album of their ABBA songs.  Would it sell?  Probably not ahahhaaha, but ~20 songs is not a small number.  

Anyways, I like this song a lot.  It's good, it's fun, and I'm fairly certain they performed this song on more TV shows than in this compilation of all their Rock Me performances, just a lot of the TV footage is lost so we will probably never get to see it.  Regardless, their TV performances for this song are still a ton of fun.

Song Analysis - Baby

ppearing at 4:19 in the ABBA Undeleted medley is a demo track titled Baby.  Recorded in October, 1974, Baby is an early version of what was to become the super fun and rocky Rock Me.  Interestingly, according to ABBA Omnibus (which is an amazing website and also generally how I'm choosing which song to write about), Baby was recorded on October 18th, 1974, and recording for Rock Me began on October 21s, 1974, so it didn't take long for Baby to evolve into Rock Me.  

Already in Baby's lyrics you can see that Rock Me is already beginning to take shape.  "Baby, you can do magic, baby, isn’t it tragic. Maybe you can do something I can’t, and I can’t get enough of it.  Baby, you can do wonders, maybe you can do something I can’t, so don’t stop doing it don’t stop doing it.  Baby, you can do wonders..."  A lot of the lyrics ended up making it into the finished product: "roll me, you can do magic, baby, and I can’t get enough of it," and  "so don’t stop doin’ it don’t stop doin’ it now".  

Baby is just a snippet of the full-length demo, so who knows what more to the song it was, but it's very interesting seeing how the song evolved into the completed song.   

While Rock Me ended up being sung with Bjorn on lead vocals, Baby is performed by Agnetha.  I love hearing the contrast between her style of singing and what ended up being the final vocal take.  I've already discussed this a bit in my post about SOS, but I have to say it again: I absolutely LOVE when we hear initial/different takes of songs featuring a different member on lead vocals rather than the ABBA member who ended up singing the final version.  Undoubtedly, I think ABBA made the right choices in picking out who sings which song, and I think Bjorn ended up being much better suited for Rock Me than Agnetha, but it's still so much fun to picture Agnetha singing the final version of Rock Me or Frida singing The Winner Takes It All even.   (Hey, people who mess with AI vocals and AI versions of Agnetha and Frida, can you please show us what it'd be like for Agnetha to sing Rock Me, or even more fun, try to make Bjorn and Benny sing Dancing Queen?  Wouldn't that be fun???)

Despite being just a demo, Baby is super fun, and Agnetha sounds like she had a lot of fun recording it as well, with a hint of playfulness to her voice, and it's really sweet.

Song Analysis - Here Comes Rubie Jamie

 Here Comes Rubie Jamie, also known as Terra del Fuego, is a short 40 second snippet of a demo that was included on the Undeleted medley from 1994, appearing at the 11:43 mark.  From the little that we heard of the song, it's just a fun little piano track with some drums, and Frida and Benny singing together.  It's a very simple lyric as well.  Benny:  "Some people long for Berlin and Barcelona.  They yearn for Paris, Madrid and Rome."  Frida: "and I know some who prefer Arizona and some prefer home."  Benny: "There's only me who is dying to see."  

Though apparently the song does actually feature all four singing, I can imagine with one verse being Bjorn and Agnetha singing back and forth and the other being Frida and Benny singing back and forth as can be heard on the snippet.

I've always had a fondness for this track, mostly because in all of ABBA's officially released work, there is no song quite like this, where each B is paired off with their A and singing together.  The closest thing I can think of to another song like this is I Am An A from 1977, but that song was not officially released either.  

Considering this song is from the recording sessions for ABBA's next album, the self-titled ABBA, I don't think this song really fits in with the style of songs that ended up making it onto that album.  Though, as can be heard from ABBA's various demo versions of songs, ABBA have a way of turning what sounds like a "mediocre" track into something bigger and better.  A good example of this is Baby, the demo version for Rock Me, or Bjorn's initial demo for Like An Angel Passing Through My Room called Twinkle Twinkle.  I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the tracks Baby, Twinkle Twinkle, or Here Comes Rubie Jamie btw, it's just that these demos are very unfinished and simple and are nothing like the final versions of the song/what the final version of the song could have been.  

Unfortunately it seems we'll never know if there was a completed version of Here Comes Rubie Jame nor will we ever get to hear beyond the 40 second snippet.  But for the little bit of the song that we have, I really enjoy it.  Benny and Frida sound super playful with each other, which is quite clear as the song ends with some wholesome laughter from the two of them.  

I know it'll probably never happen, but if ABBA ever decided to release full versions of the undeleted tracks, I would be the happiest.  To ABBA, these demos are never good enough, and them being the perfectionists that they are have declared these songs as not worthy of being released.  But I wish they knew that ABBA fans, or at least obsessed and devoted fans like myself, would eat that.  They could literally release a random, ordinary phone call even between let's say between Agnetha and Frida and I would LOVE that.  I especially love when clips of flubs and behind the scenes show up with just adds a more "human" side to these four amazing people who presented themselves in such a "perfect" way.  

To ABBA, they can only release perfection.  If it's not perfect, than it's not worth publishing. And I get that, I just would love more outtakes.  Please and thank you. :')

-- Quick edit to say, I just now saw the news report about an upcoming ABBA documentary celebrating ABBA's historic rise to fame, titled ABBA: Against All Odds, which is said to feature "unprecedented access to SVT (Swedish public television) archives including rare footage that capture the band’s rise to fame and the intense negativity they faced at home. With privileged insights from sources close to the band complete with exclusive photographic memories, rare footage, deleted and unreleased audio, unique band archive from behind the Iron Curtain and several exclusive access interviews that have either never aired or were thought lost since transmission; this is the untold story of ABBA."  I am intriqued specifically by the "rare footage, deleted and unreleased audio." part.  PLEASE let this be available somewhere that my US based self can see.  PLEASEEEEEE

Song Analysis - Bang-A-Boomerang

I have been very much looking forward to writing this post haha.

ABBA began working on the song Bang-A-Boomerang in September of 1974, as part of the recording sessions for their upcoming album.  

In early 1975, Bjorn, Benny, and Stig as songwriters were presented with another opportunity to submit a song to Sweden's selections to the Eurovision Song Contest, but seeing as ABBA had just won in 1975, it made sense to them to not enter again.  So they submitted the song Bang-A-Boomerang, but instead of ABBA performing it, their friends Svenne & Lotta performed the song.  The song had already been written in English, so Stig wrote up new Swedish lyrics for Svenne & Lotta to sing, and the song became Bang-En-Boomerang.  

Svenne & Lotta didn't win the contest, but Bang-En-Boomerang came in with third place and became successful around parts of Europe and Scandinavia.  With Svenne & Lotta's newfound success, they went on record to record the song in the original English lyrics as well.

Following the success of Bang-A-Boomerang, ABBA resumed their recording of Bang-A-Boomerang, and the song was released in April that year on their next album, their self-titled ABBA.

Now, there's been quite a dispute among fans about whether Bang-A-Boomerang is a cover or not.  I've already discussed this on my blog a couple of years ago, and my personal conclusion is that no, the song is not a cover.  With Bjorn and Benny being the songwriters, it is impossible for them to cover their own song.  

There have been a lot of cases of songwriters recording demo tracks to give to other artists.  Notable examples that I can think of at this moment are Kirsty MacColl and Andy Leek.  Kristy MacColl wrote the song One Little Lie for Frida's album, and Andy Leek also wrote the song Twist In The Dark for Frida's album.  Both of these songwriters recorded demos of these tracks, but the first official release for these songs is by Frida.  Since then, the songwriter's demos for these songs have been released to the public.  Kristy MacColl's version of One Little Lie was released on a compilation of her work in 2023, and Andy Leek's Twist In The Dark was included on a special edition of his Midnight Music album in 2009.   While Kristy MacColl's One Little Lie and Andy Leek's Twist In The Dark were released after Frida's in 1984, the songwriters are not covering Frida, nor is it correct to say that Frida is covering them as the songs were given to her for her album.  In fact, these tracks by Kristy MacColl and Andy Leek are the original demos that Frida was presented with when songs were submitted by songwriters for her album.

Similarly, Bjorn and Benny as songwriters make up half of ABBA, and they are ABBA.  So ABBA, as songwriters, cannot cover themselves, and Svenne & Lotta are not covering ABBA either as the song was given to them.  So yeah, there you have it.

ANYWAYS, the Swedish lyrics to Bang-En-Boomerang are very similar to the English lyrics.  First verse: "What you learn about love is that it takes talent.  It must be caught in flight because it is like a boomerang.  It takes a certain technique for that and you have to have feeling with it.  Give, and you shall be given. It is as true as written", Chorus: "Like a bang, a boomer, boomerang. Dum de dumm dumm de dumm de dumm dumm. A bang, a boomer, boomerang. The message of love finds its way. You give of yourself and from a friend you get love again. A bang, a boomer, boomerang it is, a boomerang is love."  Second verse: "What you learn about love is that you must always give. From the beginning of time, it was the idea of love. But also part of its nature. What you give you get in return.  Give, and you shall be given. It is as true as written."

The song is a really sweet song about, in order to be loved, you must give love.  And if you haven't quite figured it out yet, don't worry, you will.  "By givin’ away, I think you’ll learn, you’ll get love in return . So bang-a-boome-boomerang is love, a boome-boomerang is love."  It's a very simplistic way of looking at love, but it is true.  Relationships aren't meant to be a one-sided relationship.  You deserve love just as much as you're giving it.  If you're being all loving and nice and they're not putting in any effort, that's not fair.  

All three versions of this song that are not covers of each other are all really good.  Svenne & Lotta perform the song so well, really making it their own, and ABBA's version is also really good and sweet, with that magical ABBA sound making it extra special. 

Svenne & Lotta of course performed the song plenty, and you can find a lot of their performances all over YouTube.  Their performances of the song are always fun, and there are so many from the entire span of their career.  

Sadly ABBA only performed the song once, and that being for a music video.  (Though there's also clips from ABBA's TV special in Austrlia, 1976, of them throwing boomerangs set to bang-a-boomerang but that's not a performance.)  I think this song would have been awesome live in concert even.  It's just such a good, sweet song. 

Skyler Bird's Big Adventure

 Hi, so not an ABBA related post but I thought I'd share nonetheless.  I just published a new book, my first non-ABBA related book to be released.  It's a short, children's story about my beloved Skyler Bird, with lots of fun illustrations and simple, easy-to-read text.  It's roughly 35 pages long, and is inspired by Skyler's actual adoption story.  

If you're interested, it's available to purchase on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.  

Thanks!!

Song Analysis - I've Been Waiting For You

 I've Been Waiting For You is honestly such a beautiful and well arranged song.  From Agnetha's soft and sweet but strong vocals and Frida's amazing harmonies singing alongside Agnetha in the chorus, and the instrumentation...  The song is just perfect.

Recorded late 1974, this song is about love and being in love.  Our main character in the song has been in love before, been in relationships, but none that have ever felt as real and amazing as this one.  She feels so in love, she's almost scared that she'll lose this relationship and that she has to do whatever it takes to ensure that she will never ever lose it, with lines such as "you make me think that you possibly could release me", and "I, I’m gonna make you mine.  You’re gonna feel so fine, you’ll never want to leave me. I feel you belong to me. Someday you will agree please believe me."

The song kind of reminds me of Kisses of Fire, a song from nearly 4 years later, just on how in love the main character feels with being with their new love and their constant fear of losing it. "...still it’s making me scared that my love is so strong.  Losing you it’s a nightmare, babe, and to me it's new."  And both of these songs, Kisses of Fire and I've Been Waiting For You are among my top favorite ABBA songs btw.

Anyways, ABBA would perform this song during their 1975 tour and their 1977 tour.  The version that is heard in ABBA the Movie is absolutely beautiful, and of course the bootleg recordings from these tours are just as stunning.  Especially during the 1975 version with no additional backing vocalists, just Frida and Agnetha harmonizing BEAUTIFULLY during the choruses.  

ABBA performed this song on only a couple of TV shows, and I wish they had performed it even more because this song is amazing and deserves to be played everywhere.  I just love it.

50 years ago today...

This year is a big year for ABBA, so there's going to be a lot of posts like this haha.

It was 50 years ago today that ABBA performed Waterloo as their entry to the Melodifestivalen, Sweden's selections for the Eurovision Song Contest.  It was that day that history was made, and our favorite band won first place.  

ABBA won for a multitude of different reasons - their unique song choice, their exquisite presentation, and their amazing songwriting.  Out of all the entries, ABBA stood out.  They didn't let their loss from the year before let them down, and instead they came back stronger.  ABBA faced their Waterloo, but they didn't let themselves get defeated.  Instead they won.

Of course, as we all know, for ABBA, their story was just getting started. But today, let's celebrate ABBA's historic win, just two months before their next big win - Eurovision, 1974!

Song Analysis - Rikky Rock 'N' Roller

Rikky Rock 'N' Roller is a demo track that ABBA recorded in September, 1974, but wasn't released-ish until the ABBA Undeleted medley from 1994.  The track is only like a minute long, but it's quite a gem in my opinion.  It's got that classic ABBA song with Agnetha and Frida's joint lead vocals along with some exciting piano playing, a loud, rumbling guitar, and fun backing vocals with the "dum-dum-dum-dum-dummy-doo-ha"s.  Bjorn and Benny are hear in the backing vocals as well, and there are some really fun ad-libs?? heard in the last chorus.

The song is about a rock star named Rikky, and he is really tasting the world of success.  He's a headlining act, fans scream when they see him.  He travels around a lot, taking jet planes and staying in different hotels often.  He makes a lot of a money, and whoever the character is who is singing the song is envious of him.  "What a dream to be what you are, a rock and roll star, to make such a lot of money."  "Oh I wish I could be like you, Rikky Rock'N'Roller."  

One thing I find interesting is the use of the words of the word Funny to rhyme with Money. "To make such a lot of money would be funny," as that rhyme would show up a good two years later in Money Money Money. Which also leads me to the question if Bjorn and Benny are using the correct definition for funny?  Funny has to do with amusement, laughter, humor, and I wonder if that's what they mean, that having a lot of money is amusing.  Or going by the other meaning of funny - that it's strange or odd, and having money is so unusual.  Or they mean to use the word fun instead, as having money is enjoyable and exciting.  Regardless, Money and Funny do rhyme well, so I'll give them that.

Anyways, while ABBA never ended up releasing this as a full song, the song was given to artist Jerry Williams, and he released the song as a single in 1975 and then subsequently included in  1976 on his album, Kick Down.  This officially released version is fun, and I think Jerry Williams performs the song really well.  And of course me being a biased ABBA fan, of course I prefer ABBA's demo version, but that doesn't mean that his version is bad in any way because it is great.

As ABBA's demo version is only a mere snippet, we never got to hear them sing the first verse, which is:"A face in the spotlight. The sound of a wild guitar.  A standing ovation. The sound of a brand new song."  I can't find the lyrics to Jerry Williams' version written down anywhere, so there, I wrote it down for you.  The rest of the lyrics are the same in ABBA's demo version, so I don't have to transliterate that. 

ABBA's demo of Rikky Rock'N'Roller shows up the 6:46 mark in ABBA Undeleted, and you can take a listen to Jerry Williams' version here.

Again, both versions are really good and are great in their own ways.