Really enjoyed this ... delighted also that the legendary The Day Before You Came placed so high in the poll (#3!). I thought I was the only one who loves it... :rolleyes:
When I was at school in the late 80s/early 90s, people couldn't believe I liked ABBA; they thought I was out of my mind! It's nice to see how things have changed now :cool:
Incidentally, my favourite ABBA songs, in no particular order, are:
You Owe Me One (ooh, there's an obscure one)
Me and I
The Day Before You Came (obviously!)
Under Attack
Lay All Your Love on Me
S.O.S.
Should I Laugh or Cry
I thought that too as that always seems to top those lists for some reason. I'm not saying I dislike the song, I like it and love Abba but some of the other ones are just as good. I hadn't listened to them for a while and this show made me rediscover their music
Really enjoyed this ... delighted also that the legendary The Day Before You Came placed so high in the poll (#3!). I thought I was the only one who loves it... :rolleyes:
Well there were certainly some interesting results there. Here's how the positions in the programme square up with the relative chart positions of the singles first time round:
1. The Winner Takes It All / Fernando
2. Dancing Queen / Dancing Queen
3. The Day Before You Came / Knowing Me Knowing You
4. Thank You For The Music / Money Money Money
5. Knowing Me Knowing You / Mamma Mia
6. Mamma Mia / Take A Chance On Me
7. Fernando / Super Trouper
8. One Of Us / Name Of The Game
9. Name Of The Game / Waterloo
10. Chiquitita / One Of Us
11. Gimme Gimme Gimme / The Winner Takes It All
12. Take A Chance On Me / I Have A Dream
13. I Have A Dream / Chiquitita
14. Lay All Your Love On Me / SOS
15. SOS / Voulez-Vous (and Angeleyes!)
16. Super Trouper / Gimme Gimme Gimme
17. Waterloo / Does Your Mother Know
18. Summer Night City / Summer Night City
19. Does Your Mother Know / Lay All Your Love On Me
20. Voulez-Vous / Under Attack
21. Under Attack / Head Over Heels
22. Money Money Money / The Day Before You Came
23. I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do / Ring Ring
24. Head Over Heels / Thank You For The Music
25. Ring Ring / I Do I Do I Do I Do I Do
Quite a lot of correlation, with the obvious surprise being the virtual transposition of Day Before You Came and Money Money Money. Nice to see DBYC getting the renaissance it deserves, especially in view of there being nothing 'immediate' to have boosted its popularity (ie not in Mamma Mia!, not on Abba Gold etc). I don't think I'd rate it quite so highly ahead of some of the classic singles though - it's certainly one of their top tunes IMO, but doesn't really have the immediacy of a 'single'.
Thank You For The Music was another out of left field for me. I think this one's popularity has been artificially inflated over the years first by its mystifying inclusion on Gold (above Summer Night City), and then by the godawful association with the 'Thank Abba For The Music' show and resultant megamix immortality at christmas do's/wedding receptions.
Think I agree with #1 on the whole, it's just total song power, genius. Surprised to see Super Trouper fare so lowly though, always assumed that as being a 'signature tune'. Also surprised to see Lay All Your Love On Me so far ahead of Voulez Vous, I tend to consider them interchangeable. Pity too that the show format had to drop any reference to the much maligned Angeleyes.
Where do you get that list of chart positions from, in the sense of ranking the chart toppers? Dancing Queen was number one for six weeks, Knowing Me Knowing You for five, while Name of the Game and Fernando were there for four weeks each.
Those who have championed fine songs like Eagle and When All Is Said and Done have missed the fact that this programme was a popular vote on Abba's UK hits. In that sense, Angeleyes (which I have always disliked) must sit with Voulez Vous, as it was a double A side, and the fact that there was no video, nor indeed any record that I'm aware of of any live performance of the song, does not alter that.
Polls exclusive to Abba songs have consistently ranked The Winner Takes It All above Dancing Queen. This is fine with me, as it is my own favourite Abba song by miles. In recent years, polls have shown increasing support for The Day Before You Came out of proportion to its chart success (no 32). This also mystifies me, as I have always regarded it as a pretty dull song, and some of the lyrics are pretty banal ("there's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see").
As for the programme, too many of the talking heads were irritating and did not add anything.
In recent years, polls have shown increasing support for The Day Before You Came out of proportion to its chart success (no 32). This also mystifies me, as I have always regarded it as a pretty dull song, and some of the lyrics are pretty banal ("there's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see").
Ah, but that's the point; it's the story of a woman's mundane, ordinary day immediately before a life-changing experience of some description.
As for the programme, too many of the talking heads were irritating and did not add anything.
Further to my previous post, I think it's only fair that I mention a couple of more obscure favourites of mine.
The B side of The Day Before You Came was Cassandra, a lovely song about the legendary soothsayer, and 28 years on, I still don't get why this wasn't the A side.
Getting into REALLY obscure territory, I must give an honorary reference to Abba's great unfinished song. This is from 1979, and had a working title of Hamlet III. It's a sort of I Have A Dream meets Forever Autumn, with lyrics about looking back on a lost love, all sung exquisitely by the girls with Agnetha's anguished singing to the fore ("I never loved you more than on those happy autumn days..."). Bjorn and Benny admitted that, despite its obvious charms, they got so far with the song, and then got stuck. This beautiful part song is on the Abba Undeleted segment of the Thank You For The Music box set, and is available on YouTube, where a number of contributors have extended it by clever editing and repeating the bit that was released in 1994.
Further to my previous post, I think it's only fair that I mention a couple of more obscure favourites of mine.
The B side of The Day Before You Came was Cassandra, a lovely song about the legendary soothsayer, and 28 years on, I still don't get why this wasn't the A side.
Getting into REALLY obscure territory, I must give an honorary reference to Abba's great unfinished song. This is from 1979, and had a working title of Hamlet III. It's a sort of I Have A Dream meets Forever Autumn, with lyrics about looking back on a lost love, all sung exquisitely by the girls with Agnetha's anguished singing to the fore ("I never loved you more than on those happy autumn days..."). Bjorn and Benny admitted that, despite its obvious charms, they got so far with the song, and then got stuck. This beautiful part song is on the Abba Undeleted segment of the Thank You For The Music box set, and is available on YouTube, where a number of contributors have extended it by clever editing and repeating the bit that was released in 1994.
I might give that song a listen. Sometimes more obscure/unreleased songs can be good.
Where do you get that list of chart positions from, in the sense of ranking the chart toppers? Dancing Queen was number one for six weeks, Knowing Me Knowing You for five, while Name of the Game and Fernando were there for four weeks each.
The Guinness Book of Top 40 Charts
If you allocate 'points' eg 40 points for a week at #1, 39 for a week at #2 etc, then you get the order the singles come in in terms of their chart success. That's why you get things like Fernando coming ahead of Dancing Queen, because Fernardo was at #2 for 3 weeks before it's four-week stint at the top, whereas Dancing Queen leapt from 16 to 1 and therefore didn't have as much 'mileage' already behind it. It's just a bit of meaningless fun I did whilst bored
If you allocate 'points' eg 40 points for a week at #1, 39 for a week at #2 etc, then you get the order the singles come in in terms of their chart success. That's why you get things like Fernando coming ahead of Dancing Queen, because Fernardo was at #2 for 3 weeks before it's four-week stint at the top, whereas Dancing Queen leapt from 16 to 1 and therefore didn't have as much 'mileage' already behind it. It's just a bit of meaningless fun I did whilst bored
That's a rather unfair system though!
A tune could sell 2 million copies in one week, easily reaching #1 but it would still get the same score (40 points) as another tune which only sold 80,000 copies but still got to #1 in another (very quiet for sales) week.
Anyway, my favourite Abba tune is Knowing Me, Knowing You closely followed by Dancing Queen. The Day Before You Came is a work of genius but it's so sad to listen to (even more so knowing that it's the very last thing they recorded together). And Summer Night City has never been a favourite of mine for some reason.
Abba's music became sadder on Super Trouper and The Visitors, my fave albums, dont lknow what that says about me:D, obviously to do with fact one of the pairs had divorced and the other was about ro be
Abba's music became sadder on Super Trouper and The Visitors, my fave albums, dont lknow what that says about me:D, obviously to do with fact one of the pairs had divorced and the other was about ro be
Super Trouper is my favourite album.
Anyway, I mentioned Hamlet III. Someone has very cleverly taken the 55 seconds of released material (yes, that's all that was put out on Abba Undeleted) and made it into something like a song, but I wonder what Benny and Bjorn could have made of it.
A tune could sell 2 million copies in one week, easily reaching #1 but it would still get the same score (40 points) as another tune which only sold 80,000 copies but still got to #1 in another (very quiet for sales) week.
Anyway, my favourite Abba tune is Knowing Me, Knowing You closely followed by Dancing Queen. The Day Before You Came is a work of genius but it's so sad to listen to (even more so knowing that it's the very last thing they recorded together). And Summer Night City has never been a favourite of mine for some reason.
It's odd in a way that The Day Before You Came is such a sad song. It's about an ordinary woman who must have had a damn good time with a man who inexpectedly came into her life (how many men wished they were that bloke in the video?). The mystery the song poses is whether it was a brief encounter, whether they had a relationship, whether the relationship was happy...
Was it a Christmas Number one in 1980? Or was that a John Lennon track?
Neither. Super Trouper was replaced at the top by Lennon's Just Like Starting Over, which was in turn knocked off the top by There's No-One Quite Like Grandma, 1980's Christmas No 1.
I love most Abba songs but my favourite album of theirs is "Arrival."
Eagle, Are You Sure (Carrie, not the kind of girl you'd marry) Marionette
if fact I like all the tracks on that album.
Of their big hits mine would have to be "The Winner Takes It All."
Love all AdamDowd's choices too.
The song you describe as "Are you sure...." is That's Me
I love most Abba songs but my favourite album of theirs is "Arrival."
Eagle, Are You Sure (Carrie, not the kind of girl you'd marry) Marionette
if fact I like all the tracks on that album.
Of their big hits mine would have to be "The Winner Takes It All."
Love all AdamDowd's choices too.
The song you describe as "Are you sure...." is That's Me.
I'm A Marionette is on Abba The Album, not Arrival.
Comments
I don't know, it wouldn't really have sounded right.
SUMMER NIGHT CITY
Great song.
Really upbeat with such a great melody.
I thought Dancing Queen would win it
When I was at school in the late 80s/early 90s, people couldn't believe I liked ABBA; they thought I was out of my mind! It's nice to see how things have changed now :cool:
Incidentally, my favourite ABBA songs, in no particular order, are:
You Owe Me One (ooh, there's an obscure one) Me and I The Day Before You Came (obviously!) Under Attack Lay All Your Love on Me S.O.S. Should I Laugh or Cry
And I'll probably think of more!
I thought that too as that always seems to top those lists for some reason. I'm not saying I dislike the song, I like it and love Abba but some of the other ones are just as good. I hadn't listened to them for a while and this show made me rediscover their music
But I must be the only person who really didn't like the show and film Mamma Mia.
It's one of my favs too.
Me, you and tens of thousands of others
Where do you get that list of chart positions from, in the sense of ranking the chart toppers? Dancing Queen was number one for six weeks, Knowing Me Knowing You for five, while Name of the Game and Fernando were there for four weeks each.
Those who have championed fine songs like Eagle and When All Is Said and Done have missed the fact that this programme was a popular vote on Abba's UK hits. In that sense, Angeleyes (which I have always disliked) must sit with Voulez Vous, as it was a double A side, and the fact that there was no video, nor indeed any record that I'm aware of of any live performance of the song, does not alter that.
Polls exclusive to Abba songs have consistently ranked The Winner Takes It All above Dancing Queen. This is fine with me, as it is my own favourite Abba song by miles. In recent years, polls have shown increasing support for The Day Before You Came out of proportion to its chart success (no 32). This also mystifies me, as I have always regarded it as a pretty dull song, and some of the lyrics are pretty banal ("there's not I think a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see").
As for the programme, too many of the talking heads were irritating and did not add anything.
Ah, but that's the point; it's the story of a woman's mundane, ordinary day immediately before a life-changing experience of some description.
So true
I thought the show would have been better without them.
The B side of The Day Before You Came was Cassandra, a lovely song about the legendary soothsayer, and 28 years on, I still don't get why this wasn't the A side.
Getting into REALLY obscure territory, I must give an honorary reference to Abba's great unfinished song. This is from 1979, and had a working title of Hamlet III. It's a sort of I Have A Dream meets Forever Autumn, with lyrics about looking back on a lost love, all sung exquisitely by the girls with Agnetha's anguished singing to the fore ("I never loved you more than on those happy autumn days..."). Bjorn and Benny admitted that, despite its obvious charms, they got so far with the song, and then got stuck. This beautiful part song is on the Abba Undeleted segment of the Thank You For The Music box set, and is available on YouTube, where a number of contributors have extended it by clever editing and repeating the bit that was released in 1994.
I might give that song a listen. Sometimes more obscure/unreleased songs can be good.
The Guinness Book of Top 40 Charts
If you allocate 'points' eg 40 points for a week at #1, 39 for a week at #2 etc, then you get the order the singles come in in terms of their chart success. That's why you get things like Fernando coming ahead of Dancing Queen, because Fernardo was at #2 for 3 weeks before it's four-week stint at the top, whereas Dancing Queen leapt from 16 to 1 and therefore didn't have as much 'mileage' already behind it. It's just a bit of meaningless fun I did whilst bored
That's a rather unfair system though!
A tune could sell 2 million copies in one week, easily reaching #1 but it would still get the same score (40 points) as another tune which only sold 80,000 copies but still got to #1 in another (very quiet for sales) week.
Anyway, my favourite Abba tune is Knowing Me, Knowing You closely followed by Dancing Queen. The Day Before You Came is a work of genius but it's so sad to listen to (even more so knowing that it's the very last thing they recorded together). And Summer Night City has never been a favourite of mine for some reason.
Super Trouper is my favourite album.
Anyway, I mentioned Hamlet III. Someone has very cleverly taken the 55 seconds of released material (yes, that's all that was put out on Abba Undeleted) and made it into something like a song, but I wonder what Benny and Bjorn could have made of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMVbERJMBkU
It's odd in a way that The Day Before You Came is such a sad song. It's about an ordinary woman who must have had a damn good time with a man who inexpectedly came into her life (how many men wished they were that bloke in the video?). The mystery the song poses is whether it was a brief encounter, whether they had a relationship, whether the relationship was happy...
Neither. Super Trouper was replaced at the top by Lennon's Just Like Starting Over, which was in turn knocked off the top by There's No-One Quite Like Grandma, 1980's Christmas No 1.
The song you describe as "Are you sure...." is That's Me
The song you describe as "Are you sure...." is That's Me.
I'm A Marionette is on Abba The Album, not Arrival.