CAMELOT FANTASIES

Hurry up... I've been pacing up and down the living room for the last few days awaiting your opinion on these matters.

Okay, here I go. I originally had 15 songs of Agnetha but then I realized I don't want to overwhelm you. lol.

Okay, so it's a split between these two songs and I can't honestly decide which one I like better.

No. 10. My Love, My life
(it has nothing to do with you, so the answer is 'no').

One of Agnetha's most beautiful vocal leads on any ABBA song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjRR3VdBS4E

But then again I listened to this one and it took my breath away especially the live version. Though it's cut short since it's from Abba the Movie but it's still so good. Very rich in sound and texture and given that it's pure live makes it all the more worthwhile. So I am going this one as my No. 10.

No. 10 I've Been Waiting for You (live version):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GCjrABCjr8

And here's the full song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ7C127Q-GY

I'll post one by one but not all at once. I'll take breaks in between to keep the suspense alive. That's what you get when you deal with me. Besides, it's a good punishment for being a Federer fan.

So here's my No. 9. A bit predictable, yes but it's such a good song. I found this tidbit on Wiki about this song that I really enjoyed reading.

""SOS" has a number of musical fans: John Lennon had declared that it was one of his favourite pop songs, and Pete Townshend in particular said it is probably his favourite pop song. Ray Davies also said that he was taken with the song after seeing the group perform it on the television show Seaside Special.[5]"

I really love this live version since it's sung with more emotion and the sound quality is very, very rich. And the Australian crowd makes it even more live - thanks to all of them.

No. 9 S.O.S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJAmhpMwRBE

This song has a quite a few cover versions but I liked the following by the British rock band 'Cutting Crew' and the German metal band 'At Vance'. I'd say though that they don't do justice to the chorus as Abba's far superior. Of course it's the original anyway and nothing can beat that anyway. I do think ABBA's chorus is the hardest thing to replicate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpB6VJW--Q4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72O0rhMT_T8

"Lay All Your Love on Me", was recorded by ABBA in 1980 for their Super Trouper album. It was released only as a 12-inch single in 1981 in limited territories, rather than as a standard 7-inch record. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at number 7.

"Lay All Your Love on Me" was an electro-disco song penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Agnetha Fältskog singing lead. Recording began at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm on 9 September 1980, with the final mix of the song being completed on 10 October 1980.

"Lay All Your Love on Me" is known for a descending vocal sound at the end of the verse immediately preceding the refrain. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slightly lower-pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. Andersson and Ulvaeus felt that the chorus of the song sounded like a hymn, so parts of the vocals in the choruses were run through a vocoder, to recreate the sound of a church congregation singing, slightly out of tune.[1]

As "Lay All Your Love on Me" was not intended to be a single, it was not released until 1981, the year after it had been recorded. It was only after a remixed version by Raul A. Rodriguez[2] - (aka C.O.D) of Disconet - had soared in popularity in nightclubs, that it topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (along with "Super Trouper" and "On and On and On").[3]

Dear married people, I now present my No. 7.

No. 7 Lay All Your Love on Me

I wasn't jealous before we met
Now every woman I see is a potential threat
And I'm possessive, it isn't nice
You've heard me saying that smoking was my only vice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1D9NMadiGo

And here's a decent cover version. I do think this one is slightly better than the Helloween version. Nothing beats the original however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdhBiCNT85c

I did not want to overwhelm you, dear married people but now it seems like I have successfully overwhelmed myself in the process. I am deciding on my song no. 6 but quite unfortunately I have two songs at this place. I just couldn't go for one only even after going over it quite a few times. Oh well, you will just have to put up with whatever I decide. Hee hee. 

At No. 6 I have first, Happy New Year. It's a very good song with a very good message. That's why it was very hard to overlook plus Agnetha's command in this song is just too good.

Here's a bit of the lyrics that I love so much...

No. 6 Happy New Year

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uo0JAUWijM

And here's my other favouite also at No. 6. I am appalled this wasn't on your list but then again you may have never heard of it because I don't think you know as much as I do. lol. Annnnnnyway, it was from their last album - The Visitors. Very emotional song by Agnetha - you'd fall in love with her once again by this sweet and yet very moving performance.

Here's a bit about the song from Wiki....

"Slipping Through My Fingers" is a song written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA from their 1981 album, The Visitors, with lead vocals by Agnetha Fältskog. The song is about a mother's regret at how quickly her daughter is growing up, and the lack of time they have spent together, as the girl goes to school.

The inspiration for the song was Ulvaeus' and Fältskog's daughter, Linda Ulvaeus, who was seven at the time the song was written.

No. 6 Slipping Through My Fingers

Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSCi7kCXKDA

There are cover versions of both of these songs however there's no decent version out there. And since I hate the Mamma Mia movie which I call Hollywood gone karaoke, I am not going to post their version. That movie, though hugely successful worldwide, is an utter disgrace to humanity.

Tried to sneak out without saying
With my loudest record playing
Ooh, my mama said, "Look at this, you haven't done your bed"
My mama said, "That's a thing that you should do instead"

Yeah, I did what she had told me
Dying for my friend to hold me
Oh my mama said, "Try and get one thing into your head"
My mama said, "Pa and me, we give you room and bed"

I said, "I can't live without him.
How I wish you wouldn't doubt him."
Oh oh, my mama said, "If you want to hurt me go ahead"
My mama said, "I suppose you'd rather see me dead"

How I wanna live my life
Oh I wanna live my life
La-la-la, la-la-la, life!

I am ready for my No. 3! Ha ha but this number should not come as a surprise, really. It's a very hot hit all over the world. Even Madonna took a sample of this song (Hung Up) and made millions out of it. There are a myriad number of versions of this song all around the world but nothing will beat the original. Because one can never make an argument and say, a copy of Mozart is better than the original.

Here's a bit from Wiki...

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man after Midnight)" was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with the lead vocal sung by Agnetha Fältskog. Agnetha, as the narrator, weaves the image of a lonely young woman who longs for a romantic relationship and views her loneliness as a forbidding darkness of night, even drawing parallels to how the happy endings of movie stars are so different from her own existence.

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was another highly successful song for ABBA. It hit no. 1 in Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, and Switzerland, while reaching the Top 3 in Austria, West Germany, Great Britain, The Netherlands, and Norway. It also proved to be ABBA's most successful song in Japan.

Jim Colyer describes, "this is about the fear of being alone as Agnetha laments the gap between her life and the lives of movie stars. Our preoccupation is with their glamorous lives, so different from our own.

The climate in Scandinavia is always a factor. It is after midnight, and autumn winds are blowing outside Agnetha's window. She is watching the late show. It is gloomy. Shadows are everywhere, and she is depressed. She prays. Since Swedes are largely atheist, she has no reason to believe her prayer was heard. She wants a man!

Agnetha opens her window and looks into the night. No one is there. She needs a man to take her through the darkness to the break of the day. Sex is implied! The effect of long winter nights on the Swedish psyche cannot be overestimated. 19 hours of darkness make for a high suicide rate. Agnetha's mother committed suicide, something the fans do not like to talk about."
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Did you know Agnetha's mum actually committed suicide by throwing herself out the window from the six-story flat she shared with her husband? She hid her mum's suicide for 10 years. She did not even mention it in her autobiography 'As I Am'. A former friend said later that they had marriage problems. Her father was a heavy drinker and it made her mother very depressed. Agnetha til this day is very haunted by this horrific suicide. She couldn't comprehend that her mother would take such a terrible step. She used to visit her dad after that incident but he too died a year later. Her father lived in a special home after her mum committed suicide.

One of her former friends revealed later, "From the moment her mother killed herself, everything about her changed. She shut herself away from the world. It was then that people noticed how strange and reclusive she had become."

She's known as Garbo the Second in Sweden.

No. 3 Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wCK6INQcHs

And here's the live version of the song. They made the song faster here and also, the instrument after the first two choruses is a bit different than the studio version. Fans say, Agnetha is at her best here in this hot live version from 1979 from 'ABBA In Concert'.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb9-6c6A9Lk

Some streets are emptiness, dry leaves of autumn
Rustling down an old alley
And in the dead of night I find myself
A blind man in some ancient valley

I let the music speak, leading me gently
Urging me like a lover
Leading me all the way
Into a place
Where beauty will defeat the darkest day
Where I'm one with every grand illusion
No disturbance, no intrusion
Where I let the wistful sounds seduce me
I let them use me

Let it be a joke
Let it be a smile
Let it be a farce if it makes me laugh for a little while
Let it be a tear
Let it be a sigh
Coming from a heart, speaking to a heart, let it be a cry