Song Analysis - The Name Of The Game

 The Name Of The Game is the first song that ABBA began recording when they got back from their 1977 tour.  With recording commencing in May, 1977, the song is basically just another song about falling in love.  I heard it said that because ABBA had been planning on including a scene in ABBA the Movie where Agnetha is seated in a psychiatrists chair during the Name Of The Game dream sequence, they decided to make this song about a woman falling in love with her therapist and had the line "Now I am here, talking to you...", but honestly, I don't think that's true.  Especially as the song had to be finished for them to lip sync to it in ABBA the Movie, and they can't retroactively add lyrics to the song and make it about something that hadn't happened yet, and I am digressing hahahaha.

Anyway, this song is among some of the last couple of songs that Stig Anderson contributed lyrics to, the last one being Move On.  Bjorn and Benny had always been the main song writers, with Stig helping out on a lot of their songs including some of their greatest hits, but after the three songs he helped with for their The Album album (I Wonder, Move On, and The Name Of The Game), Bjorn and Benny were the sole songwriters, and eventually most of the lyric ended up falling to just Bjorn.

This song is basically about a person who just met this guy (it honestly could be her therapist but really could be anyone hahaha), has only known him a week but has already met with him twice and is starting to fall in love with him.  She never had any luck with love before, as she says that she was an impossible case, no one ever could reach her, but this guy is essentially making her fall head over heals.  She's never experienced a feeling quite like this before, and she wants him to tell her all about it.  She asks that he teach her the name of this game.  She feels so comfortable around this guy, has never been able to open up this much to a person.  she feels like a child with no experience in this (not a literal child!  This song is not about a creep okay???), and she wants to know if he'll laugh at her if she tells him how she really feels about him.  

This song is honestly such a beautiful description of what it could feel like to fall in love without actually using the word "love" in the song at all.  Perhaps the woman in the song is falling in love a little too quickly, but perhaps this man is truly the one and they're just meant to be with each other.  Dare I say, this song kind of reminds me of "That's Me," a little bit, as in perhaps this is Carrie-not-the-kind-of-girl-you'd-marry finally finding someone who she truly matches with, someone who makes her feel so comfortable and in love, and she thinks she's finally found the one.  Just my personal thought, I wasn't there when Bjorn, Benny, and Stig wrote the song, but it kind of gives me a bit of an understanding of the situation that the main character of the song could be going through and what her backstory is.

I have always really loved this song in it's full 4:54 glory.  The first time I heard it was in ABBA Gold, and they had cut down the song to just 4:01, taking out the whole second verse, and so when I first heard the song as a whole, I instantly fell in love with it.  This song in particular has that incredible third voice from Agnetha and Frida, their voices blending together so perfectly in the verses.  Then there are these absolutely amazing solo passages from each lady, Agnetha singing the pre-chorus and then Frida singing the post-chorus.  This song really highlights their amazing vocals, and I love how when they're singing together with that third voice you can't distinguish their voices from each other, but then when they each sing their solo passages, you can really hear their individual voices so clearly.  And then in the chorus, you have some lovely harmonies from Bjorn and Benny mixed in (specifically in the last two choruses, with the lines backing vocals: "I Was an impossible case...  But I think I can see in you face that it means a lot.... Your smile and the sound of your voice....  Got a feeling you give me no choice, but it means a lot...) and this song is just pure ABBA magic in all of the qualities.

One of my absolute favorite parts of the song is the bridge, which is the part that goes:

"And you make me talk
and you make me feel
and you make me show
what I’m trying to conceal
if I trust in you would you let me down
would you laugh at me If I said I care for you
could you feel the same way too
I wanna know
the name of the game "

 I love the "du-du du-du"s in the background as Frida sings "And you make me talk, and you make me feel..." and then when Agnetha joins in on "If I trust in yo, would you let me down.  Would you laugh at me if I said I care for you?"  It just sounds so perfect and has that metallic sound that I talked about a bit in my post about Why Did It Have To Be Me and sounds so perfect.  I love it.

This song is also structured really uniquely.  According to Genius.com, it goes: Verse 1, Pre-Chrous 1, Chorus, Post-Chorus,  Bridge, Verse 2, Pre-Chorus 2, Chorus, Post-Chorus, Bridge, Chorus, Chorus.  This song is also quite long.  Not the longest ABBA studio track, which is tied between Eagle and The Day Before You Came, but definitely up there.  

ABBA performed this song a good number of times from 1977 to 1979, even performing it as part of the 1979 tour, though not in full as they ended up ending it before the second verse and it merges into the next track, Eagle.  We have two official releases of ABBA singing this song live at Wembley, one from the ABBA Live 1986 album and then on ABBA Live at Wembley Arena, released in 2014.  I love this song live, like the song sounds quite epic even if it's only the first 3 minutes of it.  My favorite part is honestly the outro of the song as it goes into Eagle, where they repeat "And it means a lot..." a ton, and in the audio from their last night at Wembley, Bjorn has some fun ad-libs which are, "Oh it does," "Oh yes it does", "Oh yeah" and two others than I can't really decipher, but honestly they are so cute and I really like them.

All in all, I really love this song.  It's even my alarm that I wake up to every morning and I've had it set to that for a good few years and I have yet to get tired of it haha. 

Anyways, here is a compilation of all of their TV performances/official videos of this song:

Song Analysis - Get On The Carousel

 The final song in ABBA's mini musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair, is this absolutely epic finale, Get On The Carousel!  ABBA just amp up the energy for this song, with Agnetha and Frida both performing at their absolute finest, and each getting the chance to show off their individual vocal strength.  ABBA's backing vocalists, Lena Andersson, Lena-Maria Gardenas, and Maritza Horn get the chance to shine as well, singing most of the chorus on their own.

The song has the backing vocalists trying to encourage our titular character, The Girl With The Golden Hair, to get on the "carousel", and stay put.  They try to entice her, telling her how fun it is, how much the world adores her.  It's so worth it, you know, the loss of control, that feeling of helplessness....  But the Girl with the Golden Hair does not want to!  She's had enough. She feels completely out of control, feels sick, and wants to get off this carousel asap.  After all, all she wanted to do was dance and sing!

There's a lot of really fun and heavy electric guitars, dare I say making this one of ABBA's rockiest numbers they ever performed live?  This song honestly feels like an emotional breakdown, and though I used to dislike this track a lot, I really like it now.

I mentioned in my post about I Wonder that I was curious why Agnetha was seen rehearsing this track in the dressing rooms in one scene in ABBA the Movie, and I realize now that's because she and Frida sing it during one part of Get On The Carousel that goes back and references I Wonder. The two of them sing it together and they honestly sound so good.  I kinda wish Agnetha was featured more in the studio version.  

They also go back and sing I'm A Marionette again, (before I Wonder actually), just tying together all the different parts of the musical into this finale.  And also the line "I only wanted to dance and sing" is in reference to Thank You For The Music.

Unfortunately, ABBA didn't end up releasing this song.  It ended up remaining a piece of the mini-musical and was never recorded in the studio to be included on their forthcoming album.  I'm curious if it's because ABBA never utilized other vocalists in any of the song, and this song is clearly very heavy on the backing vocalists, and honestly I don't think the energy from the live performance could have translated well into a studio environment.  

Also perhaps Bjorn and Benny were never really satisfied with the song, as they did end up reusing sections of the song.  The melody in the chorus, specifically on the lines,"Get on, the roundabout is just beginning! Get on, it's fun to see, the world is spinning!" ended up being turned into the bridge of Hole In Your Soul, specifically, "Aha, you paint your world and use all colours.  Aha, and then you find it all comes out too bright."  Interestingly, the outro of Get On The Carousel was also later reused for the outro for Hole In Your Soul live during the 1979 tour.

Now, while Get On The Carousel never saw an official release, most of it is featured in ABBA the Movie (placed before I'm A Marionette despite the song being after I'm A Marionette in the setlist). Sadly they did not include any footage of Agnetha and Frida's dance break in between I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carousel, nor did they include the full song.

Here are the lyrics, transcribed to the best of my ability.  It's not perfect, I can't guarentee it's 100% accurate, but I did my best:

Get on the carousel
Get on the carousel
Get on,
the roundabout is just beginning!
Get on,
it's fun to see, the world is spinning!
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on,
Your happiness is waiting for you!
(It’s only making me scared!)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh, I really wanna go!)

Agnetha:
I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
No, I don't think I can take much more

Frida: So won’t you tell ‘m to make it slow?
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:
I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop
Spinning!
So won't you let me get off this thing?

Frida:
I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

The roundabout is just beginning
get on!
it's fun to see, the world is spinning
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on
your happiness is waiting for you
(It’s only making me scared)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh, I really wanna go!)

Agnetha: I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
No I don’t think I can take much more

Frida; So won’t you tell ‘em to make it slow
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop spinning!
So won’t you let me get off this thing?

Frida: I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

I’m a marionette, just a marionette, pull the string!
I’m a marionette, everybody's pet, just as long as I sing!
I’m a marionette, see my pirouette,
Round and round
I’m a marionette, just a marionette,
Just a silly old clown!

The roundabout is just beginning
get on
it's fun to see the world a-spinning
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on
your happiness is waiting for you
(It’s only making me scared)
Get on
be famous, let the world adore you
(You know I don’t think I care)
Get on the carousel
(Well all I really wanna do is get off)
Get on the carousel
(Oh I really wanna go!)

Oh I’m not a coward,
Oh no I'll be strong.
One chance in a lifetime
Yes I will take it,
Yes I will take it,
It can’t go wrong…

Agnetha:
I feel so dizzy I wanna go
Listen!
Now I don’t think I can take much more

Fida: So can't you tell ‘em to make it slow
Listen!
I want the speed that I had before

Agnetha:
I’m feeling sick and I wanna stop spinning!
So won’t you let me get off this thing?

Both:
I got a feeling I reached the top, spinning!
I only wanted to dance and sing!

Now, regarding Agntha and Frida's dance break, while we don't have any officially released to the public on like a DVD or TV show or anything of the actual performance, in a couple of cases clips of Agnetha and Frida rehearsing the dance routine has been shown to the public. During the ABBA World exhibit in Syndney in 2010-2011 ish, a film by Jack Churchill featuring rehearsal footage was shown there, and you can see Agnetha and Frida working on their dances for both I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carosel.  More footage from those rehearsals was inclued in a 2005 interview with Bjorn, Benny, Lasse Halsstrom.  Then in 2023 I think it was, when ABBA the Movie was playing in Cinemas around Europe, they showed a couple more minutes of rehearsal footage before the movie.  ABBARoxAus on YouTube also has a couple of seconds of the performance in Sydney up on YouTube as well.  

So, yeah, that's Get On The Carousel.  If you want to hear the song in full, there might still be some bootleg audios up on YouTube, and I definitely recommend listening to it because it is quite the song. :)

(Also ABBA pls don't block me I just wanted to include a quick comparison.  Footage and audio do not belong to me.)

Song Analysis - I'm A Marionette

 The next song in ABBA's mini-musical is I'm A Marionette, and what a song!  For the first time in the musical, Agnetha and Frida together are playing the Girl With The Golden Hair, and they sing the song with so much dramatics!  This live version of I'm A Marionette is quite different from the one that would ultimately be released on their forthcoming album. For starters, it's quite fast paced, and honestly feels very much like when you're in an anxious situation and your heart is beating super fast and - sorry don't need to tell you all about my anxiety hahhaa.  

At the end of chorus, they sing "I'm a marionette" rather than ending with the line "... just a silly old clown.". Instead of singing "Like a doll, like a puppet with no will at all," they add a "And I'm like a doll...", and after that verse, it just goes straight into the "Look this way, just a little smile is what they say..." verse.  Also there's a couple of dance breaks after each chorus and the song doesn't have an outro like the studio version does, instead, after the last chorus, it immediately blends into the next track, which is actually another dance break.  

So basically the studio version is: Verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, verse 3, chorus, outro, where as the live version is: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, verse 3, chorus.

The song is basically about our main character from the musical, The Girl With The Golden Hair, realizing that she has no control over her life, and she's basically like a marionette.  Everyone's telling her to go here, go there, smile, spin, sing, walk, talk, fall, and she has no control or direction over her life.  Everyone's telling her "You're so free!" but she's not.  She has no freedom.  She's just a puppet, or a marionette if you will.

This song is actually really sad and stressful, and Agnetha and Frida did such a good job capturing those feelings of hopelessness and no control in their performance.  A full performance of I'm A Marionette is included in ABBA the Movie, and I'm so glad they included it in its entirety, though there are a few clips of ABBA traveling around Australia and dealing with the media interspersed throughout.  but the performance is just so good.  When I was younger I used to despise the Girl With The Golden Hair for some reason, I think because it's so different and strange and it's so weird, you go to a concert to see your idols on stage, to hear them sing, and instead they're putting on a musical???  But no, it's really creative and really cool and I like it. 

I was reading ABBA on Record the other day (I've made it to the halfway point of the book!) and I was surprised that he mentioned in regards to the Marionette featured on the cover of ABBA the Album, "the marionette refers to the group's feeling of entrapment when everyone wanted a piece of them during the tour, as depicted in the film, and to the mini musical song "I'm A Marionette;" but I don't get that at all???  Wouldn't it just be in reference to the song, "I'm A Marionette" which was written prior to the band's 1977 tour and has no connection to how they felt during the tour?  idk.

As I've mentioned my last couple of posts regarding the Girl With The Golden Hair, the musical is not about any of the ABBA members or their personal lives.  Perhaps they could have taken inspiration from some of the experiences they had experienced during their hectic lives as superstars, but the song is not about them personally.  So why would they have the marionette on the cover be about that rather than the musical, which takes up 1/3 of the album's tracklist?

Anyways, when they recorded the song in studio for The Album, they slowed down the song and made it more dramatic even, perhaps even more musical-ly, more theatrical.  There's this absolutely amazing bass throughout the song that sounds epic.  And to close out the song, they repeat the first verse, "You're so free, that's what everybody's telling me. Yet I feel I'm like an outward bound pushed around refugee.... " and the song fades out like that.  

I like the two different versions of I'm A Marionatte, even though they're so vastly different.  Each version is special in it's own way, and while I kind of wish they kept the recorded version closer to the way they performed it live, I don't think that live energy could have been replicated in the studio.  So when you're in the mood for a more toned down but theatrical performance of the song, listen to the studio version, and when you want to experience literal AnXiETy, listen to the one from ABBA the Movie or any of the bootleg audios haha.

I did sync up the live performance from ABBA the Movie to the studio version, but honestly just go look up the live performance on its own .  You won't regret it!

Song Analysis - I Wonder (Departure)

 As I mentioned in my last post, I Wonder (Departure) is the third song in Bjorn and Benny's mini-musical that they wrote as a show to be performed during ABBA's 1977 tour.  The first song was Thank You For The Music, and it introduces us to the title character, played by both Agnetha and Frida: the Girl with the Golden Hair.  When we first meet her, Agnetha plays her and she's sharing how much she loves music, singing, and dancing, and how she wants to do something with this talent that she has.

I Wonder (Departure) picks up with our character, this time played by Frida, as she's presented with the opportunity to leave her town, her friends and family, to pursue a career in music.  This everything she's ever dreamed of, however she's a little scared.  Here she is, leaving her hometown that she literally grew up in and is what feels familiar and comforting.  While she'll be off making music and reining in success, everyone around her will just be doing the usual life things.  Everyone will just continue on as they should be, you know, starting their own families and making babies, that sort of things, while she's off doing something that isn't standard.  

While she's quite frightened of this sudden large change, she says, "Who the hell am I if I don't even try?" and hypes herself up, saying that this is a once in a lifetime experience, and she's going to take it.  And it's not like it can do wrong, right?  ...Right?

 While this song is a continuation of the musical's story, it is a very good song stand alone.  Like it doesn't have to be about the girl with the golden hair being given to opportunity to pursue music and being scared.  Anyone going through any big change in their life, maybe it's getting ready for a new job or college, or something else entirely, can relate to this song.  And it's a very, very good song.

As I mentioned, Frida takes the lead on this song, and her vocals are absolutely amazing.  Specifically in the live version, that can be heard in bootleg recordings, she manages to capture the feelings and nervousness of the character, capturing all the emotions that the Girl With The Golden Hair is feeling in her performance.

Bjorn and Benny didn't end up changing the lyrics at all in this early, live version when they eventually recorded it in the studio.  Though, they did change up the instruments a bit.  While generally it is pretty much the same, there was an absolutely beautiful saxophone solo that was performed in between the chorus and the verse that is honestly such a highlight.  It adds such a different feel to the song, adding like a sense of hopefulness at the end of each chorus.  But when ABBA recorded it in the studio, they chose to take it out, which I'm honestly so mad about hahahahhaa.  The saxophone is just epic and deserves to be put back, okay???  The song also has a sweet little piano outro, played by Benny that's different to the one in the studio version.

I mentioned in my last post that ABBA had recorded a lot of their concerts in full, I think their performances at the Royal Albert Hall, and then some if not all of their Australian leg of the tour.  Unfortunately they weren't satisfied with the recordings, and now today refuse to release them to the public.  I'm thinking they came to this decision that the recordings are bad when they were working on ABBA the Movie.  They needed a good live audio to sync up all the moving footage to, to make one consistent live audio, and they must have found that there's was always something wrong with each night's audio that they recorded, and ultimately decided to dub over all the audio that would be used in the movie with vocals and instruments recorded in the studio so it would sound cleaner and more perfect.  And with ABBA being perfectionists, it would make sense that when given the opportunity to present themselves performing live, they don't want there to be any flaws whatsoever.  When performing live in concert, unfortunately there may always be errors, but that doesn't mean they have to keep the errors.

So, all the live audio that you hear in ABBA the Movie is actually "fake-live".  The movie footage of ABBA in concert is what they were doing live on stage, but the audio is dubbed over, kind of like ADR for movies and TV shows.  This also gave them the opportunity to use footage from different nights and have it all blend together seamlessly because to the audience's ears, it's all one single performance.  Though that did allow for some inconsistencies, like some nights Agnetha had a braid in her hair, others she had a ponytail, and then sometimes she would have her hair just down.

While I Wonder didn't end up appearing in ABBA the Movie (though at one point Agnetha can be seen practicing her vocals to that song in the dressing room even though she doesn't actually sing it live), they may have been thinking about it, and ended up dubbing it over with the "fake-live" vocals.  And in October 1977, they released I Wonder (Departure) (Live) as the b-side to The Name Of The Game. While it is new vocals and new piano overdubs from Benny, if you listen closely (there are some parts of ABBA the Movie where you can hear this as well, I can think of in Dancing Queen, towards the end there are some actually live Frida ad-libs), you can hear the original, live vocals buried in there.  

The studio version that ended up being released on The Album, is really good, just kind of has a more depressing and sadder feel to it. The lack of saxophone kind of depletes from the feeling of hopefulness that is heard in the live, bootleg audios.  While Agnetha seemingly doesn't appear in the live performances in concert, I wonder if she's in the studio version at all.   When i listen to it, I'm only hearing Frida, maybe some Bjorn & Benny thrown in there with some harmonies, specifically in the chorus, but I don't hear Agnetha much in it. But I don't know.

Anyways, this song is a very hopeful song, very lovely, and Frida performs in super well.  Although the song ends on a hopeful note, unfortunately the next time we hear from The Girl With The Golden Hair, things aren't going so well, haha.  Still, the song as a stand alone song still gives a very hopeful message, and I love it.

(Also on a completely unrelated note - if you're familiar with the Glagow Willy Wonka scam situation, doesn't the narrator for the Girl With The Golden Hair sound a bit like the actor playing Willy Wonka, especially when he says "WhAT iS tHaT?  iT'S thE UnkNoWn!")

Song Analysis - Thank You For The Music

For the longest time, Bjorn and Benny had always dreamed of writing a musical.  It was something they always wanted to try out, and when the opportunity came to go on a major European and Australian tour in 1977, they decided it was time to try out something new and make those dreams into a reality.  Thus the mini-musical, the Girl With The Golden Hair was born.

The story tells the tale of a girl, with golden hair, who loves music, has always loved music, is presented with an opportunity to leave her hometown and follow her dreams, but at the cost of leaving everything behind.  So she does, but soon realizes that show business is not as fun as it sounds.  She begins to feel like a slave to the industry, and is stuck on this carousel and can't get out, and is trapped in the music industry without being able to enjoy anything anymore.  And the musical ends there.  Kinda sad and not a very positive or uplifting outcome hahahaha.  Four songs were written for this mini-musical, those being "Thank You For The Music," "I Wonder (Departure)," "I'm A Marionette," and "Get On The Carousel."  

Now, just as a disclaimer, this musical is NOT based off of the ABBA members own personal experiences.  It's a fictitious story about how the music business can stab you in the back, and take advantage of young, innocent, unknowing people who just want to make their hobbies, aka singing and performing, into a career.  A lot of people claim that Bjorn and Benny even wrote about Agnetha, considering it's claimed that she was a poor sad woman who was taken advantage of by her bandmates when all she wanted to do was be a mother to her children, and that is false and totally not true at all.  It is just a fictional story with fictional characters.  

Anyways, the first song in the musical is Thank You For The Music, which is about the girl with the golden hair and her love for music.  She's been singing since she was a very young kid.  Her mother said she was a dancer before she could walk, and she was even singing since before she could talk.  Basically performing has been her life-long dream, and she wants to make it her career.

The version that was performed as part of the mini-musical live in 1977, is generally the same as what ended up becoming the officially released studio version that everyone today is familiar with, but there are a couple of small differences.

In the chorus, the lyrics are "So I say thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing.  Thanks for all the joy they're bringing.  I can't live without it!  I ask in all honesty, what would life be..."

And then the second verse is, "Mother says I was a dance before I could walk.  She says I began to sing long before I could talk.  Now I am so grateful to all of the guys, who bring these sweet melodies into our lives. I'm in love with them all.  I mean Brian and Chuck, John and Paul."

I actually really like this line, as in a way, it's Bjorn and Benny paying tribute to some of their own personal inspirations.  Brian refers to Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, Chuck is Chuck Berry, and John and Paul refer to John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles, and it was them being such an iconic songwriting duo that Bjorn and Benny were inspired to write their own original music.

The last chorus is also repeated twice at the end of the song.

The pacing is also slightly different, with some fun piano bits from Benny thrown in throughout, especially during the second verse, and also the song feels and sounds very much like a song from a musical.

Both Agnetha and Frida played the part of the Girl With The Golden Hair, both individually and together.  Agnetha sings Thank You For The Music, and she did amazing by the way, Frida sings I Wonder, then the two of them together sing the last two songs, with there even being a dance break in between I'm A Marionette and Get On The Carousel.  Both of them wore identical costumes and wigs, and what do you know, the wigs were golden!

Now, clearly Bjorn and Benny weren't 100% satisfied with the version they presented for the musical, and so when they got around to recording it for their upcoming album, they messed around with the style of the song and changed the lyrics.  The second verse became the one we're all familiar with,

"Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk.
She says I began to sing long before I could talk.
And I’ve often wondered how did it all start.
Who found out that nothing can capture a heart like a melody can?
Well, whoever it was, I’m a fan."

And the chorus changed from "I can't live without it," to "Who can live without it?"

ABBA's first recording of the song was in more of a cabaret and jazzy style, and Agnetha sang in the style of one of her musical inspirations, Doris Day, and this version ultimately got released as the Doris Day version in 1994.  (No, Doris Day doesn't feature on the song.  It's just Agnetha trying to sing like her.)

But, they weren't satisfied with this version and arranged it to be closer to the way they performed it live, and that became official version of the song.  

Agnetha sings the lead vocals on this song, but the other three join her during the chorus, and let me just say, their joint vocals on this song are some of the most beautiful ABBA vocals.  It's got that amazing ABBA magic of all four of their voices blending together, with some lovely harmonies as well.  The way all four of them sing together in this song will always be among my top favorite ABBA vocals.

 In 1980, this song was recorded in Spanish, with the new title "Gracias Por La Musica," which also became the title of the Spanish album.  The song is pretty much the same, just in Spanish.  The first verse is, translated via Google Translate, "I am very simple and maybe a little boring.  The jokes that I know, I'm sure they come out the other way around. But there is a talent in me singular, and the thing is that the people listen to: me when I sing.  And makes me happy. I can proudly announce it, that's why."  Chorus: "I want to thank to the songs that transmit emotions. I want to thank for what they make me feel.  I must admit that with music it is worth living, that's why I want to thank you for this gift in me."  Second verse: "Everyone said that I was a precocious girl. I danced and sang and I stood out for my voice.  And today I wonder which is the reason because he always wins the great attention, a simple song.  If I have done it with my heart, that's why."  (Google translate doesn't always make the most sense, okay?? Hhahaha).  and the bridge: "How lucky I was. I am so happy when I sin.  I want us all to enjoy together. how happy, what pleasure, to exclaim."  Interestingly, I'm surprised that the reference to the Girl With The Golden Hair doesn't appear in the Spanish version.  

As the Spanish version was recorded by Agnetha and Frida alone, with Bjorn and Benny away on a songwriting vacation, that joint vocal effect that I love so much from the English version is not there.  Agnetha and Frida did an amazing job on it, no doubt, but it's just too different for me.  Agnetha's vocals are also a lot more harsh in the Spanish version, not as soft and sweet as the English one, but again, she did a good job.

The song went on to become a pretty major hit, with ABBA going on to perform it on a few different TV shows, live on their next concert tour (the recording from their last night at Wembley was also released on their 2014 live album!), live on their final live concert in 1981, and even sang a shortened version of it on their final two live performances in 1982.  The song has become pretty iconic, as it's such a lovely tribute to all musicians and songwriters, and accurately shares how much music impacts our lives and how much we appreciate it. 

The line, "without a song or a dance, what are we?" is such an impactful statement.  I don't know how the world would survive without music.  Music can play such an important part in everyone's life, whether they're just the songs of our childhood that offer a hint of nostalgia any time you hear it, a musical instrument that you're passionate about to learn and play, or as an obsessed fan of some band's music.  Music is a way to spread joy and share experiences, to read into the lyrics and find things that are applicable to you, or not if you're not into reading lyrics and just like enjoying the sound.  Music is amazing, and I think everyone is thankful and grateful for music being such a prominent part of our lives. 

 Anyways, here's a compilation of all of ABBA's performances of the song.  A lot of these were actually live performances, but I synced them up to the studio track, but I definitely recommend looking up those live versions because they sound really good.  Especially those final two performances from 1982.  They're exceptionally good and beautiful.  Also technically the earliest recording/performance of Thank You For The Music is actually from the end of 1976, when Bjorn and Benny shared a snippet of a new song on a TV report.

Song Analysis - I Am An A

During rehearsals for ABBA's 1977 tour, it's said that ABBA decided to come up with a brand new song, telling their perspective audiences a little bit about themselves. I think this is such a fantastic idea, especially as during this time, per ABBA in a 1977 interview with Sveriges Magasin, a lot of magazines and tabloids were making up myths and fake information about them, coming up with false perseptions and characters for each member. Bjorn found it quite offensive that he was labeled as very "business-minded, and Agnetha was being deemed as this romantic with of course so much attention being in her bottom. I actually really like this interview because each member, specifically Frida, is so mad about the tabloids and they're being extra snarky and are clearly upset, a sit of them that didn't really come out when they were busy promoting their music or tours or whatnots. (Never mind that in the 80s, Agnetha even went to war with some tabloid magazines and even suing them hahaha. Love that for her!)

Anyways, while I am an A is a more accurate than not telling about each ABBA member, it's definitely leaning more on the side of playfulness. ABBA are telling a bit about themselves through more of a funny lens, but everything they're saying is true and you're really getting a feel for who they are and what they're like as people. Until that point, I think ABBA had always kept a lot of their personal lives and own personalities rather shielded from their professional live, never mind that a lot of ABBA at that time was made up of personal factors- I mean they're literally two couples! But you didn't really get to know what as people. Maybe in their home country, who they were was a lot more known, but internationally, all people knew about them was what they saw on TV and what they read in magazines.

I've been reading ABBA on Record, Carl Magnus-Palm's newest book (I have a lot of thoughts on this book, and will very likely write a review when I get around to finishing it!), and I find it to be so interesting how much the ABBA members originally disliked the name ABBA, and so badly did not want their group to be called ABBA. But eventually the name ABBA was agreed upon, despite Bjorn's personal dislike for the name, and I like how by 1977, they fully accepted it and went as far as to write a song completely around that title.

Sometimes I wonder if I Am An A is the official title of the song, especially as during the 1977 tour, ABBA didn't actually introduce the song by its title. According to ABBA omnibus, the song has a couple of unofficial titles that it's also known by - "A-B-B-A", "A Simple Four-Letter Word", and "We Are A Simple Four-Letter Word". But it seems the agreed upon title, whether official or not, is I Am An A, so that is what I'm going to be calling it.

One thing I really like about this song is that fact that each member sings a verse about themselves. In all of ABBA's catalog, Benny only has one lead-vocal track, and Benny singing alone is a very rare feat, but he did for this song. Agnetha playfully states when ABBA would introduce the track right after performing Rock Me, "Benny's going to play guitar for a change, and even sing! And I promise you, that doesn't happen very often." Benny replies, "No it doesn't," and Bjorn adds, "And you'll soon see why!"

The song starts with Frida's verse, which is:

Frida: I’m Frida, hello! I’m the star of the show!
Agnetha: That’s what she thinks anyway
Frida: And I like to perform, Benny says I am warm
Benny: Well, hot is the least you can say
Frida: Independent and free, and ambitious, that’s me! Fighting for fame and success. And I’m tough too, you see
Benny: No she’s not, just ask me
Frida: Singing and dancing is what like best

 Then we have the chorus:

Agnetha & Frida: I am an A
Bjorn & Benny: I’m a B
Agnetha & Frida: He is okay
Bjorn & Benny: So is she
All four: Singing together in harmony
Agnetha & Frida: He is a B
Bjorn & Benny: She’s a bird
Agnetha & Frida: Do you mean me
Bjorn & Benny: Yes you heard
All four: We are a simple four letter word
A-B-B-A

Bjorn's verse is next:

Bjorn: I’m Björn, I’m the guy, who is careful and shy. Don’t like to spend every dime.  But I love my guitar, and I drive in my car.
Agnetha: Scares me to death every time!
Bjorn: And I don’t like to shave
Agnetha: You should live in a cave
Bjorn: No, I feel more at home on the stage. When I sing and I play, with my group, it’s okay
Benny, Frida, and Agnetha: You’re group? You’re kidding or is it your age?

Then there's the chorus again, as well as a bridge, which is:

All four: Two and two together make four, every song opens a door

Agnetha: I am an A
Bjorn: I am a B
Benny: I am a B
Frida: I am an A

Agnetha's verse is next: 

Agnetha: I’m Agnetha, hello, I’m the young one you know
Frida: And she never lets me forget
Agnetha: I am gentle and mild, underneath it I’m wild
Bjorn: Craziest woman I’ve met
Agnetha: I’m romantic they say, but it’s not quite that way. I’m down to earth, yes indeed.  And I like early nights, so I turn off the lights
Bjorn: And I never get any chances to read

Another chorus, followed by Benny's verse:

Benny: I’m Benny at last, and I’m living quite fast. I like to travel and see. I can play day and night if the feeling’s all right
Frida: And it’s sometimes a problem for me
Benny: I can play ‘In The Mood’. I like wine, I like food
Bjorn: Now that’s something he just can’t deny
Benny: But I’m the talented one, with a place in the sun
Bjorn, Agnetha, Frida: When he’s not bragging, he’s quite a nice guy!

Then there's a final chorus before the song ends.

I cannot stress how much I love this song! Not only is their performance of the song absolutely amazing, with lovely acoustic guitars and such beautiful harmonies especially in the chorus, but their humor, playfulness, and close bond with each other is super evident. We have a decent amount of bootleg audios of this song, which are the only reasons why people today who didn't get the chance to see ABBA live during their 1977 tour, can enjoy this track. My favorites are the ones from the 8th of March in Adelaide, and the 10th of March in Perth. This song also has a special place in my heart as it was the song that I made my first ever ABBA Lego animation and uploaded to my original YouTube Channel in February, 2012. I was only 11, haha, and had no idea what a lot of the lyrics meant, so I would ask my Grandma what a lot of them meant. I remember asking her, "What does living fast mean?" and she gave me a very nice explanation. I can also pretty much quote these lyrics as I know them all my heart at this point haha. I just really love this song.

ABBA only performed this song during the 1977 tour, and if not for the bootleg recordings, the only memories of this song would have been from concert goers, and of course ABBA's own recordings of some of the stops in the tour that they refuse to release smh hahahhaha. If not for these recordings, I don't think anyone would have noticed that ABBA began to reuse the melody from the chorus for future songs.

In 1978, Bjorn and Benny reused part of the song for the demo Svantes Inferno, which would later become Free As A Bumblebee, which was recorded on May 29th, 1978, but a one minute and 29 second segment of it was included in the 1994 medley, ABBA Undeleted, appearing at the 14:41 mark. The melody from I Am An A was used in the post-chorus???, which goes, "What a good life, lying laid back, like an old railroad bum by the track. What a good life, living outdoors, lie in the grass and chew on a straw."

But Free As A Bumblebee remained unreleased and unused, and Bjorn and Benny, who very clearly liked the melody that was originally from I Am An A a lot, were still eager to reuse it somehow. So when ABBA went on their 40 year hiatus in 1983 onward, namely so that Bjorn and Benny could begin working on a musical, they got the chance to reuse the melody for the song I Know Him So Well. Obviously that song went on to become a major hit, and ended up being the first time this melody ended up being officially released. The original I Am An A melody is used in the first part of the chorus which is:

Florence: Wasn't it good?
Svetlana: Oh so good
Florence: Wasn't he fine?
Svetlana: Oh so fine
Florence: Isn't it madness?
Both: He can't be mine?

I Know Him So Well is not an ABBA song, so I'm probably not gonna disucss it much further in my song analysis posts, but I just gotta say, the song is almost structured like an ABBA song and I bet would have sounded amazing with Agnetha and Frida singing it tgoether, playing the parts of Svetlana and Florence.  If they wanted to do that irl sometime, or even someone who knows how to do AI vocals wanted to give us a hint of what the actual thing could sound like wanted to do that, I wouldn't mind.... :)

So yeah, there's some history on the beloved track, I Am An A.  I know ABBA did record a couple of nights from their 1977 tour, one at the Royal Albert Hall I think, as well as some if not all of their Australian leg of the tour.  I know they are 100% against releasing a 1977 live album like they did the 1979 one, but if they would please please PLEASE release I Am An A officially, I would be the happiest little ABBA fan in the world.  Please and thank you. :D

Also, if you want to listen to the song, just look it up on YouTube!  There should be some bootleg audios still on there, so if you find it, enjoy!!

Song Analysis - Arrival

 ABBA have only two original instrumental tracks in their entire catalog, being Intermezzo No.1 and Arrival, though technically speaking, Arrival is not an instrumental track.  ABBA had the idea to use Agnetha and Frida's voices as instruments so-to-speak, and they sing along with the keyboard, synthesizer, and strings as if they were another set of musical instruments.  As the song progresses, their vocals and harmonies get more prominent and more powerful, and let me just say, this song is absolutely stunning.  I find the use of Agnetha and Frida's vocals in this way to be outstanding and clever, and this song has such an ethereal sound to it.

Arrival has no lyrics, no words to the song, and I love it in that way, but I'm curious if the song was ever intended to have lyrics prior to becoming the version that was officially released?  The song went through a few different variations and working title, from August 1976 onward, first titled "Fiol", then "Ode To Dalecarlia" (which reminds me so much of Ode To Freedom from 2021), then "Arrival from Dalecarlia", and finally "Arrival."  And Arrival ended up becoming the title of this album that ABBA had been working on all year long.

This song is perfect, and I wouldn't change it for anything.  Every single element of this song was perfectly crafted, and I like it as a wordless song.

However, interesting enough, there have been a few cases now where the song was given new lyrics, though these are not official or authorized ABBA releases, I should mention.  (Clearly they were made with permission though.  I'm not trying to suggest that they weren't.) The first is the song J'Aime, performed by the singer Michele Torr in 1977, adding lyrics to the song.  Petula Clak recorded the song under the title La Vallee, also in 1977, with new lyrics in French.  Also in 1977, German singer Annegret Behrend  recorded the song with the title "Wie ein Vogel auf dem Wind."  Then in 1983, the song was performed with new lyrics under the title "Belle" for the weird predecessor to Mamma Mia the Musical, the French musical ABBAcadabra - a children's fairy tale story using ABBA's songs but changing the lyrics completely.  That is something I personally loathe, however, permission was given to use ABBA's songs in this way, and Frida even took part in it, performing the song Belle with French singer David Balavoine.  When the musical was translated to English in 1983, Frida went on to perform the song with British singer BA Robertson.  Interestingly enough, in 1999, it seems Bjorn did write new lyrics to the song, with the idea to include the song in Mamma Mia! the musical, but ultimately the song did not end up in Mamma Mia!, but singer Sarah Brightman recorded the song in 2008 using those unused, new lyrics to the song.

I just don't quite understand why in all these cases lyrics were added to the song as the song is so beautiful as it is without words  I personally really dislike covers and don't actively choose to listen to them, so I'm not going to listen to them or analyze their lyrics, especially as they are not ABBA's lyrics.  The closest thing to there being ABBA lyrics is the Sarah Brightman version of the song, but again, not ABBA's lyrics, so I'm not gonna talk about it any more.

Ultimately in my humble opinion, ABBA's version is best, and its original, wordless but absolutely stunning version is exactly how the song is meant to me.  And it's perfect.

Song Analysis - Why Did It Have To Be Me

On most of ABBA's albums until now, Bjorn would have a few couple of songs where he sang lead vocals. But over time, eventually his performances would decrease, and ABBA would go on to mostly feature vocals from the ladies.  That's not saying that Bjorn, and Benny, don't sing on ABBA songs, as Bjorn and Benny would always sing backing vocals and harmonies, but Bjorn only has one lead vocal on Arrival, that being Why Did It Have To Be Me, whereas prior to that, he has two lead vocals on self-titled (Man In The Middle and Rock Me, though after the fact Crazy World would be included in remastered versions of the album), has two lead vocals on Waterloo (Sitting in the Palmtree and Watch out) as well as some joint vocals songs such as Dance (While the music still goes on) and King Kong Song, and then so many lead/joint vocals with Benny songs on Ring Ring. Then Bjorn does not get any lead vocals on The Album (he has a spoken verse in Move On and he and Benny do sing on Hole In Your Soul, but no lead vocals), Super Trouper, or Voyage (though he and Benny do feature a little bit in I Still Have Faith In You and Keep An Eye On Dan.)

I have always liked Bjorn's vocals on songs.  I think it adds a fun twist to ABBA's most popular hits.  People who only know ABBA's greatest hits (with the exception of Does Your Mother Know) don't usually expect ABBA to have any other vocalists, and then surprise surprise, there are actually a decent selection of Bjorn-led songs.

Why Did It Have To Be Me is quite a fun track, with a bit of a back and forth between Bjorn and Agnetha & Frida together.  The songs is about a guy complaining about how he had an affair or like a one-night stand with this woman, and for her, it's no big deal, she does this sort of thing all the time, casually hooking up with people when she so desires, the problem is, this guy who she "picked", who Bjorn plays in the song, is finding it very difficult because he has fallen in love with her!  But she is the way she is, and she doesn't care that he's caught feelings for her.  Her terms were established from the start, that there will be no attachment, just a one time thing, and yet he still fell for her and is telling her, "Why did it have to be me?????"  He can't get her out of his head, he's forming to much of an attachment, but she's like "believe me, it's better to forget me.

I mentioned previously how this song is a later, revised version of Happy Hawaii.  They reused the melody for the verses from Happy Hawaii to become the verses in Why Did It Have To Be Me, but the chorus is completely different.  (I just realized, they gave that exact same treatment to Just Like That from 1982, though that time they reused just the chorus and changed the verses when they gave the song to Gemini in 1984, but I digress.)

I really like this song.  The energy in the song, the vocals, the story progression in the lyrics!  It's really fun, and I like how Angetha and Frida sing with Bjorn in the vocals and then sing the chorus mostly alone.  The instrumental break after the chorus is energetic and exciting, too.  There's also a lot of lovely "ooooohs" in the background of the verses, sang by Agnetha and Frida.  And the way the two of them sing "But baby, believe me, it's better to forget me," is honestly one of my favorite vocals from the two of them.  Bobby's Brother on YouTube described Agnetha and Frida's vocals, specfically on the track Kisses of Fire (which I am soooo excited to get around to talking about btw - the song is literally one of my two favorite songs ever), as metallic, and that is exactly how I would describe their vocals in this part of the song.  It always gives me chills down my spine, especially when their voices blend together and make that perfect blend of sound.  It's superb, and they did such a great job on this song. 

While Agnetha does sing in the studio version of the track, and performed it twice, interestingly enough, when ABBA would go on to perform the song live in their 1977 and 1979 tour, with just Frida performing it with Bjorn.  And this songs becomes quite the song, with so much fun and toying with each other on stage, and Frida absolutely rocking it!  She has so much fun in this song, playfully playing with the microphone stand, teasing Bjorn, and also singing some of her best vocals ever.  She took this song and really made it her own, adding her Frida shine to it.  I love her performances of this song she makes it such a memorable number, but I've always been so curious as to why Agnetha chose to bow out of this song.  I'm curious if we'll ever find out the answer.

Anyways, sadly we only have one official video of Frida rocking the stage with Bjorn during any of their live performances, that being from the 1977 tour and the whole performance was thankfully included in ABBA the Movie, but we have plenty of bootleg audio from the 1977 and 1979 tour, plenty of bootleg video footage from the 1979 tour, and even an official release of ABBA's last night at Wembley, including this song!   But we also have two TV performances, one of them even live from the ABBA-Dabba-Doo TV Special. 

I have compiled all the official releases on compilation.  Sadly I could not include any of the bootleg 1979 footage, but definitely go look them up if they're still on YouTube as they are amazing!

Song Analysis - My Love, My Life

 My Love, My Life is another one of ABBA's breakup songs, a song about a relationship coming to an end. Though this song has a very mature feel to it.  The narrator of the song is clearly heartbroken by the realization that their relationship has gone completely stale, but she deals with it in a very mature way.  Specifically this part of the chorus, "but I know I don’t possess you, so go away, God bless you.  You are still my love and my life, still my one and only."  No matter what happens, she will always love and appreciate what they had, and if it is truly time to break up and end this releationship, then they will on amicable terms.  Doesn't mean they're happy about it, as Agnetha once said (regarding her own breakup not the song My Love, My Life), "there is no such thing as a happy divorce," but at least they're civil and peaceful.

I love how ABBA have a lot of different songs about different types of breakups and divorces, and honestly this type of breakup songs I prefer.

Agnetha sings the lead vocals on this song and has the most prominent voice in the song.  She sings so beautifully and strongly, especially in the last chorus with the extended, "You are still my love aaaaaand my life."  Especially as this song has a lot of choral and almost heavenly sound to it, it always reminds me of Agnetha's "To Love," from her 1983 album Wrap Your Arms Around Me.  

However in the chorus Frida comes in with some absolutely beautiful harmonies as well, specifically on the lines "But I know I don’t possess you, so go away, God bless you."  Though Frida's blended in so well, it's really hard to hear her, however I have an observation: I have an original Arrival vinyl record from the 1970s, and when I play that record on the record player, I can hear the harmonies SO MUCH CLEARER, yet when I connect my phone and play my digital versions of the songs from the 2001 remastered CDs, or even the CD itself through the same speakers, they are not easy to hear.  I love the 2001 remastered versions, they all sound great and the sound is so clear, but there's something to the original pressings of the record that sound SO MUCH CLEARER and BETTER.  (I even compared my ABBA Gold 30th anniversary record to the same tracks on my copy of 1976's Arrival and there is no comparison, I'm sorry the original versions sound better.)

Bjorn's also in the song as well, singing "See it all so clearly, answer me sincerely."  This whole song is just so beautiful and so well done, and is honestly a top favorite of mine.  

Sadly ABBA only performed this song twice, but I bet it would have been a hit live.  It's just such a good and beautiful song, dare I say ABBA's most beautiful track...?

Song Analysis - Tiger

  Okay, so if I'm being very honest, I don't quite know what this song is about. Is it about an actual apex predator? Is it about some creep or even a serial killer who likes to hunt people in the city? Is it metaphor for something else entirely? I don't know. But I do know one thing- this song is fun!

The song is basically someone giving a warning about the dangers of the city, to always beware otherwise the tiger will get you! "The city is a jungle, you better take care. Never walk alone after midnight. If you don’t believe it you better beware of me", "The city is a nightmare, a horrible dream. Some of us will dream it forever. Look around the corner and try not to scream, it’s me!", "The city is a prison you never escape, you’re forever trapped in the alleys. Look into the shadows and you’ll see the shape of me."

Part of me wonders if this song is a warning against drugs and how unsafe they can be? During the 70s and 80s, ABBA were regarded as a very clean band, as unlike a lot of their peers at the time, they didn't openly do drugs or talk about them, they didn't have any major scandals, and they were two happily married couples for most of the band's active years. While they weren't in any way trying to push the image of being "clean", the media gave them that title, and I wonder if they felt the need to write a song about the dangers of addiction and drug use, while also being rather subtle. I don't know, it's just a thought. Again, I wasn't there when Bjorn and Benny wrote the song, so I can only speculate.

The music itself is quite rocky, with lots of heavy guitars and drums, probably the most rocky track on the Arrival album. Agnetha and Frida are absolutely rocking in the vocals, singing again in that joint, third voice, and they sound amazing. There are some fun backing vocals as well during the chorus, lots of "aaaaaaaah"s and "oooo-aaahs," as well as Bjorn and Benny coming in the 2nd chorus and onwards with some fun harmonies. There's also the post-chorus??? that goes, "Yellow eyes are glowing like the neon lights. Yellow eyes, the spotlights of the city nights." I also really like the last line for some reason, "And if I meet you, what if I eat you? I am the tiger. I am behind you, I always find you. I am the tiger, tiger, tiger," especially as Agnetha and Frida sing "Tiger, tiger, tiger," with an even higher "Tiger!!!" in the background. Their vocals are just superb on this track!

Tiger would go on to become the opening track to ABBA's 1977 tour, and what a song to choose!  It's quite a darker song compared to the rest of the songs on the setlist, (though the themes of the Girl With The Golden Hair mini-musical are also kinda dark...), and I think it proved that ABBA were not just some cutesy band that only preformed pop hits like Dancing Queen and the like.  They would start off each concert with the sound of helicopters playing loudly and then blending into a new extended intro to Tiger, as each member would run out onstage donning gold capes.  We have quite a few bootleg audios capturing the energy of the concerts, but part of their performance of Tiger, specifically that first concert in Australia in the heavy rain was captured in ABBA the Movie.  And that energy is amazing!!

Prior to the 1977 tour they also performed the song twice before, once for a music video in filmed for the ABBA-Dabba-Doo TV special, than in Poland, and then finally in 1978 in Japan.

 

Anyways I like this song.  It's fun, quite energized, and an amazing song to perform all around.  Also, can we talk about how cool ABBA looked in the ABBA-Dabba-Doo performance????

Song Analysis - Dum Dum Diddle

 So a lot of people don't like this song.  They consider it amongst ABBA's worst songs.  They say it's cheesy, silly, and is so weird.  A woman is jealous of a man's violin?  That's so absurd! If I remember correctly, even Bjorn dislikes it.  I think he once said that it was among the last song lyrics completed for the Arrival album and he was rushed on time and the result is this rather simple, and silly lyric.  

But I dispute all of that.  Personally, I think this song is a masterpiece.  Okay maybe not a masterpiece, but sonically, it has that pure ABBA sound, that beautiful blend of vocals from Agnetha and Frida singing lead, some amazing harmonies from all four blending together in the chorus and even during the second verse, and some amazing synthesizer from Benny.  This song is another example of happy, jubilant sound but actually some really sad and rather depressing lyrics.  

The song on the surface is about a woman who really wants the attention of his guy, but he's too busy playing his fiddle all the time to even notice her.  He's only ever happy when he's with his fiddle, and she kinda wishes she was his fiddle. But I think the song is a lot deeper than that.

There's a line in the first verse, "but it’s bad.  You’re so sad, and you’re only smiling when you play your violin."  It can happen to a lot of people when depression hits and you become so hyper focused on the one thing that brings you joy to the point of solely focusing on that and cutting out everyone around you.  Perhaps this guy is a close friend of the narrator, and something has happened and his mental health isn't doing so well, so he's distracting himself with the one thing that makes him happy.  He's been practicing so much, playing night and day, and he's gotten really, really good at it.  But he's so distracted with this, he doesn't notice the narrator and her really strong interest in him.  

I know the second verse, "But I think you don’t know that I exist, I’m the quiet kind, wo-oh. From the day when I first listened to you you’ve been on my mind, wo-oh" kinda refutes this theory, but like maybe she's someone who kinda knows him, but not super well, and she's developed some really strong feelings for him but maybe he only sees her as a friend or even just an acquaintance, and when she's around him she's always quiet and shy and he has no way of knowing she's interested in him.  Plus with whatever has been going on that has made him so sad, he's cut everyone out and would never really notice her. 

And because she cares about him, and really likes him too, she wishes she could be the person to bring him joy rather than his violin.  It's not that she wants to be his violin, she wants to replace the violin.  She thinks she can make him smile again and be happy again instead of being so distracted and only focusing on his violin.  But if only he would just notice that she's there, thinking and caring about him.

I know this is only my interpretation of the song, and that doesn't mean that's what 100% truly accurate an factual and that I know exactly what Bjorn and Benny were thinking of when they came up with the song, but for me it really opens up the world of the song and makes it even greater than it seems.  And for that reason I think it's underrated.

A bit of a digression, but my type of young adult novels and romance-ish genre that I enjoy reading are ones when you have emotionally-scarred man who's not like evil or hurting anyone, but he's going through some stuff and has never really been able to open up or be comfortable around anyone, but then there's this one girl who's determined to get to him and is trying to convince him that she can be there for him, she'll make things better, and she spends a lot of time trying to get him to see that she's there, and there's maybe a little bit of friends-to-lovers aspects as well.  Honestly this is what my own personal book that I have been writing for the last decade or so but don't have the guts to share anywhere is kind of about, at least one of the many characters in my series is going through in one of the many subplots and arcs.  And for that reason as well, with my personal interpretation of the song, Dum Dum Diddle really resonates with me.

Back to the song, the music itself is so jubilant.  It sounds so happy.  And Agnetha and Frida sound superb in the song.  Their vocals are just perfect, the harmonies are some of their best.  And when performing this song live, which they did once in 1976 for the ABBA-Dabba-Doo TV special, and during the 1977 tour, they sound just as amazing.  Especially as Benny plays this song with an accordion rather than synthesizer. 

So yeah, I really, really love this song.  I think it is so underrated and everyone should really take a chance on it (heheheh I had to) and see that it can be more than a song about a woman jealous of a violin.

Song Analysis - Monsieur, Monsieur

 In July 1976, ABBA began working on a track titled Monsieur, Monsieur.  The song is very simple track about finding romance in France, a concept that would later, sort of get revisited four years later in ABBA's Our Last Summer,  specifically with the line, "Strolled through Paris in the night, you and me.  Oh, and we walked along the Seine." However, the song would ultimately get turned into a different song, that being the beautiful My Love, My Life which is similar in concept about leaving a relationship, but a completely different context.

Still, this song is quite beautiful on its own as well. The song starts out with the main character walking through Paris, with this man who she met and fell in love with while visiting France, however as she's only here for a vacation, she unfortunately has to leave.  Similar to Dance (While The Music Goes On), she sings about how "This is our last night in France, Monsieur, Monsieur, so tonight is our last dance," and that tomorrow at the station, is the end of her vacation, so she has to bid her new man an adieu.  Though she struggles with the thought of leaving him as she thinks she's in love.

Agnetha sings the lead on this demo, with honestly some of the most heavenly and sweet vocals I have ever heard from her.  It's just a demo, so there is just a simple piano track with minimal instruments over it, and Agnetha's vocals with no other backing vocals or harmonies.   

While this track has never been officially release anywhere, and definitely not in high quality, a snippet of the track was included in a radio documentary that Swedish radio did on each ABBA member in December 1976, specifically in the one about Agnetha titled "A for Agnetha." There's a lot of talking over the track from Agnetha and the radio presenter, and unfortunately because I don't speak Swedish and only understand a very minimal amount from when I did Duolingo, I can't understand what they're saying but I'm guessing it's a little bit about the history of the song and how it became My Love, My Life...?

Still, if you listen closely you can hear the demo track and make out the lyrics.  A very kind soul on YouTube did reconstruct the song by filtering out the talking so you only hear the track, but that video has sadly been removed from YouTube so I don't have any way of sharing it.  But here are the lyrics mostly transcribed if you're interested.  It's not perfect or complete as it is hard to hear but I did the best I could.

Verse 1:

We wandered aimlessly
Strolled through Paris in the night, you and me
Oh, and we walked along the Seine
Now I have ????
I was so sad when I had to say

Chorus:

This is my last night in France
Monsieur, monsieur
So tonight is our last dance
Monsieur, monsieur
And tomorrow at the station
End of my vacation
When we say our adieu

This is my last night in France
Monsieur, monsieur
And it`s been a short romance
Monsieur, monsieur
But it`s something to remember
A gray day in December
Now I think I love you monsieur
Yes I think I love you

Verse 2: 

We walked down to the ...???
And I tried to put tomorrow away
Oh, my .....?????
But in my heart I knew
Nothing has changed, nothing I could do

 

Anyways, you can listen to the full A For Agnetha radio documentary below, though I have it linked to the section with Monsieur, Monsieur,  If you wanna try transcribing it yourself, please be my guest!

Song Analysis - When I Kissed The Teacher

So far on Arrival we have two songs about youthful experiences, Dancing Queen, and When I Kissed The Teacher.  Recorded in June, 1976, This song is about someone who has a major crush on her math teacher.  She dreams about him every night, and can't stop thinking about him at all.  Like he is all she can think about at all times of the day, and one day she just can't stop herself and kisses him in class.

My favorite thing about this song is the fact that it's written from just the student's perspective, and  she has these kinda immature statements like, "one of these days, gonna show him I care, gonna teach him a lesson alright," but all of this is from her perspective.  The teacher NEVER reciprocates her feelings, never does anything to tell her that omg yes he will make all her dreams come true because it's wrong, creepy, and illegal.  All he does in the song is blush a bit when she first kissed him and just smile a little bit after the fact, and that's it.  The student hasn't done anything wrong to have a crush on him and then act on her impulses and kiss him when he was leaning over her desk and helping her understand geometry, and it is the teacher/adult in the situation's responsibility to make sure it ends there and nothing more comes of it.  And this song is just that.  Especially with the phrasing, "but then he just smiled," all he did was smile.  That's all.  And that's the end of it.  Doesn't mean it made the student's crush fade at all, in fact now she thinks she's in the seventh heaven and really wants to "hug, hug him", but that's okay.  

I love this song a lot.  It's very cheerful, happy, and I think perfectly captures the immaturity and youthfulness of the narrator, and also what it's like to have a really intense crush.  I love the acoustic guitar intro, and the happy instruments throughout the rest of the song, the incredible backing vocals that I think are, "hug, hug him, wanna kiss him, wanna kiss him, wanna hug, hug him, wanna kiss him, wanna kiss him, wanna" etc.....  Both Agnetha and Frida sing most of the song together, but Agnetha sings the lead on the chorus, with some absolutely beautiful harmonies behind her.  This such is just so fun, energetic, enjoyable, and also the outro of the song is amazing as well.  

ABBA performed this song a good number of times, once with it's own music video for the ABBA-Dabba-Doo tv-special, at least three more times for TV perfomances, and then also during the 1977 tour, and thus included in ABBA the Movie.  We have a lot of bootleg audios from the 1977 tour and they sound incredible live.  They even have a bit of an extended outro during the live performances, repeating "Everybody screamed, when I kissed the teacher, and they must have thought they dreamed, they dreamed, they dreamed.....".  Really pretty.

Anyways, here's a compilation of all of their performances.  I love how Frida has so much energy during this song, especially in the outro.  Really, really fun performances. :)

Song Analysis - Money Money Money

During the 1979 tour, while performing this song live, Frida would jokingly say, "This is my song!" before jumping immediately into the chorus.  And Frida speaks the truth - this IS her song!  And I'll get into that in a little bit.

Money, Money, Money had two working titles before becoming the song that it ultimately became: Gypsy Girl and Lebensraum.  ABBA began working on the song in May, 1976, and it wouldn't take long for it to develop into the final version of the song.

Often times when people see the title Money, Money, Money and ABBA, they think it's about ABBA and their obsession with money.  The number of news reports and articles that love to talk about ABBA and their money, starting from way before Money, Money, Money even existed.  There was always an assumption that ABBA had a lot of money, liked money, only did things for the money, and I think a lot of famous people, celebrities, and anyone remotely successful are treated that way. Money is nice to have, everyone wants to have money, but that doesn't mean that they're only doing things for the Money.  And clearly ABBA never liked this assumption about them.  I've always liked this specific interview because we get to see Agnetha and Frida fired up and a bit annoyed, an image that they didn't really present much when doing interviews to promote their music.  

Anyway, Money, Money, Money is not a song about flaunting wealth.  The song is actually about your average working class person who works all nigh and works all day to pay the bills.  Interestingly ABBA have a lot of songs about the working class.  Off the top of my head, there is Nina, Pretty Ballerina, The Day Before You Came, If It Wasn't For The Nights, and several more.  (I had made a compilation of it, but I have yet to reupload it to my YouTube channel since the purge of my original channel....)  Anyways, I digress.

Our main character finds life to be repetitive, sad, and not really productive.  So she derives a plan to maybe bootstrap her way up in life, like maybe marrying a wealthy man so she wouldn't have to work at all, and can just live her life as freely as she'd like.  But she realizes that's not practical, as men like that are hard to find and probably wouldn't be interested in her, so she comes up with a better idea.  She'll go to Las Vegas or Monaco, and it hit it big by winning a fortune and her life will never be the same!  

In the chorus, Agnetha and Frida sing "Money, money money, must be funny in the rich man's world."  I already talked about this a bit in my post about Rikky Rock N Roller, but I've always wondered if they meant that money is fun, as in enjoyable and exciting, and they chose the word funny to rhyme with money, or they truly mean funny, as in humorous, hilarious, or in a sarcastic manner.  I would love to ask Bjorn and Benny this one day haha.

I love how when crafting the lyrics, Bjorn and Benny came up with such a crafty and unique scenario.  It's so wacky and fun, and this song slaps.  Also,this song also features some really fun piano, especially in the intro and outro to the song, and some fun "wee-ooo-weee-ooo-weee"s in the background of the second verse.  In fact during a demo version for the song, there are some even more fun backing vocals that can be heard during the line "so I must leave, I’ll have to go to Las Vegas or Monaco and win a fortune in a game.  My life will never be the same," but I think they were removed in the final mix.  This song also uses the word Aha, another classic ABBA move.

Then we have Frida singing the lead vocals, and she gives this performance her all!  She has such a lovely almost cynical sound to her voice during the verses, and my absolute favorite part is that with each "Aha, aha", the key gets higher and higher, and she absolutely nails this song.  Not only does she nail it in the studio, she does it live as well.  We have two official live releases, one on the 1986 Live album from the 1977 tour, and the other from the live at Wembley album, and Frida has so much fun on stage, as does Benny, always throwing in some extra piano notes between the first verse and first chorus.  We have a fair bit of bootleg footage of ABBA during the 1979 tour performing this song, and Frida can be seen having a lot of fun as well.  I get the feeling that she really enjoys this song, and she really shares that energy on stage.

Agnetha's harmonies and vocals in the chorus are really beautiful as well.  Where Frida really shines on this song, Agnetha's vocals add this sparkle that really makes the song perfect.  Everything combined, all the little details, makes this song honestly one of ABBA's best in my opinion.  It shows the versatility in singing style, music, and lyrics, and their ability to write such intricate songs over the most interesting of topics.

Of course ABBA performed this song a lot on various TV shows, and I have compiled that for you.

If I'm being honest, when i first listened to ABBA Gold back in the summer of 2009 or 2010, this song didn't stand out to me all that much.  But I have learned to love it, and lately have had an even greater appreciation to the song, specifically with the "Aha, aha"s getting higher and higher.  Frida can really sing (I mean obviously) and I'll always love her performance on this song.

Song Analysis - Happy Hawaii

Happy Hawaii is a song that is a perfect example of how ABBA, or more specifically Bjorn and Benny, would reuse and recycle their melodies if they for some reason didn't like how the song originally turned out.  

From what I can piece together, in April 1976, ABBA began working on a demo titled Why Did It Have To Be Me.  But then the song changed vibes entirely and became Hawaii, and from there, in May 1976, became Happy Hawaii.  However, the song didn't stay as Happy Hawaii, with the song going back to Why Did It Have To Be Me, in August of 1976.

Happy Hawaii is basically about a woman who's so done with "work", she's taking a vacation to Hawaii.  From the first part of the song, it just sounds like she needs a vacation from her busy job, longing for walks in the sand, swimming and surfing, and enjoying the beauty that is Hawaii.  Her friend Alice had been here before, had good things to say, so she's really excited.  

 However, as the song progresses, specifically in the second verse, you get the line "I can imagine the beach and the sand, walking with someone and holding his hand. Hey Honolulu, I’m going to happy Hawaii" which indicates the song is actually about love, and leaving a relationship, rather than taking a break from a job.  It's further emphasized by the last line of the song, "I’ve got a feeling the dream will come true, somebody’s waiting and I forget you. Hey Honolulu, I’m going to happy Hawaii."  I find it pretty cool, how the song suddenly takes a sudden twist and is revealed to be about something entirely different.  Kind of similar to Crazy World or Two For The Price Of One in that manner, but not necessarily taking the humorous route.  Or maybe it is, I don't know.

I like this song a lot.  The instruments are fun, Agnetha and Frida have some lovely join vocals, and some fun vocals from the guys as well, with some "lulu, I'm going to Honolulu, I'm going to Honolulu" repeated throughout the verses.  It's really fun and clever lyrics, and I like it a lot.  I also find the use of the name Alice interesting, as the name also later got used in Two For The Price Of One.

Although Happy Hawaii was recorded and completed in 1976 for ABBA's upcoming Arrival album, the song ultimately got recycled into Why Did It Have To Be Me, which was released on Arrival  Usually when that happens, the various original versions of the songs don't see the light of day and don't get an official release.  Like, for example, ABBA's song I Am An A from the 1977 tour, a simple funny song introducing each ABBA member, was never recorded in the studio, but the melody was reused for the track from 1978, Free As A Bumblebee.  But that song also never got officially released (there's a snippet of it included in ABBA Undeleted but that's all we ever get to hear of it), and instead Bjorn and Benny reused the melody for I Know Him So Well for their musical Chess.  However, clearly ABBA liked Happy Hawaii enough that in early 1977, the song was released as the B-side to Knowing Me, Knowing You, and was explicitly labeled as "Happy Hawaii (Early version of Why Did It Have To Be Me.)  As far as I know that's the only case of them officially releasing a song that was turned into another song after the finalized song was already released.

ABBA never performed Happy Hawaii, but the song was turned into a cartoon for what was possibly going to be an ABBA cartoon, maybe similar to the Beatles cartoon show?  I'm not sure. But the ABBA animated tv-show didn't end up going through, but in 2006 this clip was made public. 

 

Honestly not a big fan of the animating or the idea of an ABBA cartoon, so I'm glad they didn't go through with it, but the song is still amazing and I like it a lot.