CAMELOT FANTASIES
CAMELOT FANTASIES => EMMA'S CAFE => Topic started by: britbox on August 04, 2014, 09:33:45 am
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Emma people are looking for you to discuss very important tennis matters.
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I'll never know, why I had to go
Why I had to put up such a lousy rotten show
Boy, I was tough, packing all my stuff
Saying I don't need you anymore, I've had enough
And now, look at me standing here again 'cause I found out that
Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma my life is here
Gotta have you near!
Baron!!!
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I also forgot Agnetha's Take A Chance On Me. NO!!!!!!!!!!!
It's one of their No. 1 hits. I have two performances of the same song - one was in Japan and the other one was in Switzerland around the same time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcFk6ccdtBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8yICcgg33o
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OMG! I completely forgot Agnetha's Kisses of Fire from the Voulez Vous Album. Such a sexy song!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2d69hh7hwE
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No sign of married people, eh?
Anyway, what do you think about this Spanish version? It ain't dubbed - they actually sang in Spanish. Just as good in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkT57HpeUo
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Thank you for tuning in and listening my dearest fans. Muah! Muah! I have finally come to the end of my soul journey (haha) and I'd like to end it with the final touch below. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The finest things in life are hard to come by but when they do one must acknowledge them, no? Yes.
Thank you ABBA and yes, thank you for the music.
Special mention: Thank You For The Music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zy35IQjjAeI
Honourable mention:
- Head Over Heels
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL2_PZwKDPg
- As Good As New
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k05fRjOEIWQ
- Move On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELmhtBVJgKA
- Just Like That
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5H20AR-lI0
- Hasta Manana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPeG0lmjfhs
Until next time, dear married people!
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Oh the great moment has come - yes indeedy. So exciting! I am finally ready for my No. 1 song. Please know that I did not write everything that follows. I took help from Wiki (wiki has a very long and different interpretations of this song) as well as some article and some other sources from the internet. I hope you enjoy reading it regardless and like the song. It's one of a kind and needless to say - a masterpiece. An all time classic.
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"The Day Before You Came" was released in October 1982. It's their second longest (behind "Eagle") song at almost 6:00 in length. Björn Ulvaeus wrote the lyrics. Benny said that in his opinion, "'The Day Before You Came' is the best lyrics that Bjorn has ever written. "The Day Before You Came" was the last song ABBA recorded. It was August 20, 1982. The lights were low as Agnetha put her vocal on, and everyone knew it was the end.
Many years after the song was recorded, Michael Tretow, ABBA's longtime sound engineer, recalled Agnetha performing the lead with dimmed lights and said that the mood had become sad and everybody in the studio knew that 'this was the end'. On this rumour, Stephen Emms of The Guardian continues the story by saying "finishing her vocals, our heroine was to remove her headphones and walk solemnly out into the daylight, never to return".
Musical direction of vocals
Ulvaeus commented that "you can tell in that song that we were straining towards musical theatre as we [he and Benny] got Agnetha to act the part of the person in that song", as opposed to singing it objectively. Kultur says the song is "sung by a dimmed and turned off...Agnetha Fältskog". The most interesting thing about this song is that only two people know the real meaning and interpretation of this song - Bjorn and Agnetha. Agnetha as she had to know since she's the protagonist and the narrator of the song. And of course Bjorn as he wrote the song.
Reflection on song's success
"The Day Before You Came" was released in October 1982, as both the first new song from ABBA's double compilation album The Singles: The First Ten Years, and also as a single. The song was only a minor hit (for example only charting #32 in the UK, breaking "a string of 19 consecutive top 30 hits" which started in 1975 with "S.O.S."). ABBA's recording, however, hit the top 5 in Belgium, Finland, West Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland. It also reached no. 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart in Canada.
Take40 comments that "although the single … was one of the group’s most accomplished recordings it failed to become a worldwide hit on the scale that they had been used to"... something that Bjorn Ulvaeus retrospectively puts down to the song being "too different and ahead of its time for the ABBA fans [or] too much of a change for a lot of ABBA fans."
Interpretation of the song:
"The Day Before You Came," is an absolutely beautiful synth-pop epic that everybody should hear at least once in their lives. A much talked about, debates have been made on it. The gloomy and dark melody is lifted by the vocal of Agnetha. The synthesizer plays a melancholic repetitive pattern close to the 'routine' of the life, the backing vocals operatic giving an echo of hope in this melancholy.
Agnetha is singing a woman's hesitant reconstruction of the day before she met someone we assume is her lover. The details are banal, but Agnetha makes them live anyway, and they're contrasted by keening backing vocals of such dread that it's been speculated the song's "You" is a killer, not a partner.
It is an hour by hour description of the daily routine. The workaday world is dull, and Agnetha's aversion to politics is seen in the frown brought on by the editorial. Perhaps she is displeased with a particular brand of politics. She likes the TV show Dallas ( Dallas was television's number one show during the later ABBA years) and Chinese is her favorite food. She likes reading Marilyn French 'or something of that style' (Marilyn was an American novelist of the women's movement and believed every man on this planet is a rapist). But something is not right. Instead of being a song of happiness and the end of loneliness, the song is chased by overwhelming sadness.
The best bit is that she never says she is in love, or that love is wonderful and world changing. Nor that it is also sad, and disappointing, and rarely lasts. She never tells us that it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. She never even tells us that this is a love song. It's all unsaid.
The beauty of the song is precisely that we don't know what happened next, and no clue is given. Someone came: maybe a lover, maybe a killer, maybe death itself who knows? So dark, and so sad.
The lyrics leave the ending open, but the music provides some clue. There's a morbid suspense in the music. Like something 'bad' has happened to the narrator. The voice is quite breakable, as if she's a mood of contemplation and accepted her grim destiny. The 'you' in the story is maybe her killer.
The simple lyrics feel trivial and yet, it is not. In fact, it is rather mystical. There is something mysterious, moving, sinister, neurotic about this song.
'I must have... because I always do... ....'
It's like the narrator can't remember factually, but is trying to piece together a sequence of events from the (bearable) trivial to the (never mentioned) important. Who is she speaking to? Herself? Her therapist? Her best friend? The person who killed her or her fate that's apparently responsible for her final gloom and doom?
She ironically frowns; is stressed at work; bored with the bunch; smokes heavily; and escapes into fiction. She is somewhat regimented and represses her emotions... (never realising she is actually very unhappy... With mundanity? With the alienating city? With herself?)
She uses the rain as a screen on which to project her repressed emotions and vulnerabilities... The truth that she is unhappy becomes "I was unhappy because it must have been raining."
Of course, all that was 'the day before you came...' when her life was 'well (functioning) within its usual frame...'
So what happened? We are never told. Film Noire! Continental Cinema!
Well, whatever it was, we are left with the feeling that everything changed and for the worst. Her life before 'you came' was mundane but it was still her life and she was fine with it; it was bearable, she was getting by. Previously, she had no conscious sense of living without aim. She found meaning in TV and fiction, etc. 'It's 'funny...but I had no sense of living without aim' i.e. the before-and-after contrast now makes her laugh.
But something happened after it came and it changed her life from complete order to eternal chaos as we learn from the music.
A few clues from the song:
1. And still on top of this I'm pretty sure it must have rained
(Despite having a reasonably normal day, she ends up crying (rain) during the day. The day before you came)
2. Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within its usual frame
(So the Day before he/she/it came, her life was normal, implying that afterwards it was not)
3. It's funny, but I had no sense of living without aim
(Critical. Before he/she/it came she had no sense of living w/o aim (she did have a purpose or aim in her life); however, this implies that after, there was no aim or purpose to her life.)
4. And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain
(She cried herself to sleep before the day 'you came')
If we look closer, the song's meaning becomes harder to fathom. Throughout, the lyrics are oddly imprecise – every sentence begins with "I must have … " or "I'm pretty sure … " – and it's this vague recollective tone that gives her account a tinge of unreality, even fiction. She is the perfect unreliable narrator: "I'm sure my life was well within its usual frame", she sings at one point, and we fear the reverse; later she claims, "at the time I never noticed I was blue".
Did she die the next day, or even that night? Is "You" her death itself? Is she singing to it and letting it know how she was supposed to meet the man of her dream in the train and he was going to take her away from her mundane life? It's apparent from the video clip that the guy she flirts with in the train is a dream, in the end he does not materialize. Because when she finally looks back at the same scene towards the end of the clip, the platform is now empty. A black crow flies away (a black crow is a symbol of death in many countries especially in South Asia) as the train leaves the platform seconds later leaving an impending doom.
And all this is heightened by an extended funereal instrumental coda which acts as one big question mark, leaving us with the feeling that this is not just a meditation on the quotidian but something greater, existential even.
No. 1 The Day Before You Came
And turning out the light
I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night
And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain
The day before you came
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HnOFwqpLRQ
Live Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GAPAvev-os
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Ok, so I see your reference of Elizabeth Taylor now. Duh. Yesterday I was a bit stoned again (you can actually call me Emma Stoned). This happens when I sleep very deeply at night. The next morning, my left brain totally stops working and I can't understand or get human sarcasm. I am on the divine level where there's only peace, unconditional love and compassion. You may not be able to reach me there with your cheap human sarcasm. hee hee.
Anyway, yes, yes, I am indeed like Elizabeth Taylor. I don't have to act - I am one. Why but I have been married to 10 people so far and that really gives me the right to be here, you see. Besides, I am all powerful. I can be anywhere I wish to be. There's very little you can do about it. Very little.
And why Joe Dolce? I haven't figured that one out yet, unfortunately.
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I was at a party and this fella said to me
"Something bad is happening, I'm sure you do agree
People care for nothing, no respect for human rights
Evil times are coming, we are in for darker nights"
I said, "Who are you to talk about impending doom?"
He got kinda wary as he looked around the room
He said, "I'm a minister, a big shot in the state"
I said, "I just can't believe it, boy I think it's great
Brother can you tell me what is right and what is wrong?"
He said, "Keep on rocking baby, 'til the night is gone"
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I may have hit the jackpot here but let me know, your highness.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs
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Also turned in my wings at the Tennis Frontier, so will have to edit my sig.
Wat? Why? You are like the best thing on that forum and you've done so much work. Is it because you are too busy for it?
As to your sig, please have something that shows how much you worship me. Thanks. I have my admirers, yes.
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Greetings. Long time, no see. I have been a busy bee, moving house, doing some career stuff, negotiating with security staff to allow TT entrance to Valhalla and pacing up and down my living room (a different living room than last month - since I've moved (this living room is a bit longer)) awaiting Emma's Number One Abba song.
I see nothing has changed. Emma still hasn't released the Number One Abba song and worst of all she's still strolling around the "married" thread as if she's Elizabeth Taylor.
I will return shortly to provide a critics breakdown of the Top 10 to date and begin a new thread covering Joe Dolce's greatest hits (Look him up and strike the "s" from "hits").
Hey, I am keeping your stupid 'married' thread alive while you are busy moving houses, changing career, pacing up and down in your new living room and what. In fact, I am doing a wonderful job. You should be applauding me. No, in fact, I should get a standing ovation from you all - all 5 of you on this forum. I've done extensive research, I read all sorts of stuff, I posted the finest clips and all sorts of things.
Oh and btw, this thread has my name on it so I feel it's my utmost duty to keep it going. I have a reputation to uphold, no?
And I am no Elizabeth Taylor. I didn't marry like 8 times. That's what stupid married people do. They simply can't live alone. They need love from others. They are like parasites. lolol
And also, stop ordering me around! I will look up Joe Dolce whenever I feel like it. As to my No. 1, I am working on it. Also, I want to keep the suspense alive. In other words, I like to keep you waiting. It's kind sexy. Ha ha.
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Also turned in my wings at the Tennis Frontier, so will have to edit my sig.
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Greetings. Long time, no see. I have been a busy bee, moving house, doing some career stuff, negotiating with security staff to allow TT entrance to Valhalla and pacing up and down my living room (a different living room than last month - since I've moved (this living room is a bit longer)) awaiting Emma's Number One Abba song.
I see nothing has changed. Emma still hasn't released the Number One Abba song and worst of all she's still strolling around the "married" thread as if she's Elizabeth Taylor.
I will return shortly to provide a critics breakdown of the Top 10 to date and begin a new thread covering Joe Dolce's greatest hits (Look him up and strike the "s" from "hits").
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Moving on to my No. 2 song, folks. Exciting times are ahead, yes. They say it is one of greatest love ballads ever written and sang in history of music. And quite possibly ABBA's most gorgeous ballad of their career featuring utterly beautiful vocal performances and stylish arrangements. This is in fact by far the fans' favourite. It is also one of critic favourites. They rate this song very high. This used to be my No. 1 song as well until I'd discovered something greater albeit not by a big margin but nonetheless.
From the Internet:
"The Winner Takes It All," a somber but compelling song that became one of ABBA's biggest worldwide successes. Partially inspired by the real-life divorce of members Ulvaeus and Agnetha Faltskog, "The Winner Takes It All" tells the story of a jilted woman, taking a sad, clear-eyed look back at a love affair now over, and casting doubt on her ex’s new relationship. The lyrics that weave the tale have a no-nonsense tone of dark emotion, a feel that is further enhanced by an almost gothic melody that constantly descends from high notes to low notes to enhance the finality of the words. ABBA's recording pushes it into the realm of the truly unforgettable thanks to a heartrending lead vocal from Faltskog and a sophisticated arrangement that builds from soft piano lines and background vocals to a grand operatic coda subtly driven by mid-tempo but insistent drum work. Like so many ABBA songs, the melody at first seems almost elementary and even repetitive, but it builds in cycles across four verses, climaxing in the third before returning to the initial air of melancholy resignation for the finale. This stylish production makes "The Winner Takes It All" one of the most stunning items in ABBA's catalog but the song itself is strong enough that any adult contemporary could have had (or could still have) a big hit with it. Swedish in its sensibilities to the last, the song conceals any sense of reproach in the matter-of-factness of the lyrics. Events speak for themselves, but they speak volumes.
Making of the song and some song facts:
- This searingly poignant 1980 number “The Winner Takes it All,” was written at the height of their success when, ironically, both couples had already come adrift.
- ABBA member Bjorn Ulvaeus wrote this after separating from wife and fellow band member, Agnetha Fältskog. It's about a divorce where one person doesn't want to separate and clings desperately to the marriage. It put Agnetha in the strange spot of being asked to sing a breakup song written by her ex-husband. Ulvaeus didn't intend it this way. He explained: "I sang a demo of it myself which a lot of people liked and said, you have to sing that. But I saw the sensible thing of course, it had to go to Agnetha. I remember coming to the studio with it and everyone said, Oh this is great, wonderful It was strange hearing her singing it. It was more like an actress doing something when she sang it, but deeply moving. Afterwards there were a few tears as well."
- Bjorn has said that while he usually didn't use drugs or alcohol while writing, he had a bottle of brandy next to him while writing the lyrics for this song. It was very personal to him. He told The London Times March 26, 2010: "Usually it's not a good idea to write when you're drunk, but it all came out on that one. By the time I wrote 'The gods may throw their dice' the bottle was empty."
- For many people this song with its heartbroken lyrics, swelling crescendos and sudden lulls is the definitive Abba single. Benny Andersson explained to The Sunday Times June 21, 2009 how the catch in the throat music came to be written: "It's the simplest song," he said. "It has two phrases - that's it. And they just go round and round. Now it also has, around those two phrases, this counterpoint thing going on" - Andersson then played the descending theme that opens the song, runs beneath the chorus and, modulated, responds to the verse's vocal melody - "and without a doubt, without that, it would not have been a song. Music is not only melody; music is everything you hear, everything you put together. But without the core of a strong and preferably original melody, it doesn't matter what you dress it with, it has nothing to lean on." Andersson went on to say that for a long time, there were only the two phrases, the latter (the chorus) with each line following immediately after the one before. "And then one day," he went on to say as he played the song again, "we were out in the country, and I suddenly played the chorus like this, pausing each time for the phrase to gather itself, and all of a sudden it was a song. Björn and I played around with it for hours, just feeling that there was something in it that was talking to us. Then we recorded it, but still without the counterpoint, and it still was no good. It was only when, finally, I played this other part that it really made sense."
- Ulvaeus claimed that 90% of this song is fiction, which is why he didn't feel too bad about having his ex-wife sing it. Said Ulvaeus: "I had this image of a man walking through an empty house with all the furniture removed for the last time as the symbol of divorce and just describing what I see."
- Fältskog has also repeatedly stated that though "The Winner Takes It All" is her favorite ABBA song and that it has an excellent set of lyrics, the story is not that of her and Ulvaeus: there were no winners in their divorce, especially as children were involved.
Reception:
"The Winner Takes It All" was yet another major success for ABBA. It hit #1 in Belgium, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, and South Africa. It reached the Top 5 in Austria, Finland, France, West Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Zimbabwe, as well as ABBA's native Sweden, while peaking in the Top 10 in Australia, Canada, Italy, Spain and the United States (where it became ABBA's fourth and final American Top 10 hit. The song spent 26 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, more than any other ABBA single). It was also the group's second Billboard AC #1 (after "Fernando").
No. 2 The Winner Takes It All
"Fate controlling our lives. There are cards and dice, winners and losers, judges and rules. Love is a gamble. Agnetha likes the way it rolls on with no beginning or ending.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLd-P6lZMms
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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
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Agnetha was so incredibly popular in her days that she had a very long fan fanatics, stalkers etc. She was every other guy's dream girl in other words. Even today, at age 65, she has 3 bodyguards that guard her when she attends in any show, for example, the premier of Mamma Mia in Sweden in 2008. They had fans at that premier from all over the world and Agentha was still afraid of the crowd and left through the back door right after the show.
Did you know Mamma Mia is the most successful musical film in his history of cinema and sits in top 100 of all time box office hits? I didn't like it at all as it was cheap karaoke from Hollywood. None of them could sing or even act properly except for Maryl Streep. The stage version of this show is much better. I've seen the Toronto version on in 2003 and loved it. In fact, it was released in Toronto first in 1999. How cool is that?
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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
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Once again I have two songs at my No. 4. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lol but hey, I like being dramatic and I like what I like. And I also clearly like talking to self.
Two because it would be crime against humanity if I didn't list this Universally loved popular song called Chiquitita and it's one of my favourites too.
Chiquitita Shows a capacity for sympathy, a shoulder to cry on. ABBA had a special relationship with children. They gave UNICEF the publishing on this song. When an article came out saying ABBA might move to America, children all over Sweden reacted with tears. Chiquitita mean 'little girl'.
Here's a bit from Wiki as usual...
"Chiquitita proved to be one of ABBA's biggest hits. It was featured in a 1979 UNICEF charity event, the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the United Nations General Assembly. As a direct result of this event, ABBA donated half of all royalties from the song to UNICEF. "Chiquitita" hit #1 in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Switzerland, Mexico, South Africa and Rhodesia, and was a Top 5 hit in ABBA's native Sweden, the United Kingdom (peaking at #2 in both countries where Blondie's "Heart of Glass" was occupying the top spot),[1] Australia, West Germany and Norway, making it the most successful single from the Voulez-Vous album in terms of global charts and one of the most famous charity songs ever. To this day, 50% of the proceeds from the song go to UNICEF in recognition of the "International Year of the Child" in 1979."
I did not know it was because of Heart of Glass, Chiquitita didn't get the No. 1 spot in the UK! But on the positive side, I adore HOG so it's forgiven though Chiquitita has more meaning to it but I can see why HOG would be more popular. It had the disco element to it. And it's their biggest hit after all. But, on the other hand, while HOG sold more both in the UK and US, Chiquitita outsold them everywhere else.
No. 4 Chiquitita
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiJMln3q7GU
And here's that famous performance from the 1979 UNICEF charity event in the US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PDlNMbQiCo
Now moving on to the second song which is my personal favourite. Over the past few years it has grown up on me so much so, that it's now one of my top 5 favourite Agnetha songs. I feel it's very underrated but ABBA had so many hits that it's so easy to overlook some of these great gems. And also, this song is something very special as it's their 2nd last recording before their departure. It's very technopop and has this great 80s flavour to it. They also performed it on German TV in 1982 and that was their last performance ever.
I love this live performance. Some fan commented, 'Swedish pop group, on German TV, singing in English! I must have seen it all!". Another described, "Shaky resistance. No strategy. She is on the eve of Waterloo! Sexual images: taking cover, about to crack, on my track, defenses (hymen) breaking."
No. 4 Under Attack
Don't know how to take it, don't know where to go
My resistance running low
And every day the hold is getting tighter and it troubles me so
I'm nobody's fool and yet it's clear to me
I don't have a strategy
It's just like taking candy from a baby and I think I must be
Under attack, I'm being taken
About to crack, defences breakin
Won't somebody please have a heart
Come and rescue me now cos I'm falling apart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWE--klrw2Q
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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!
(https://www.camelotfantasies.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fnikyke.lapunk.hu%2Ftarhely%2Fnikyke%2Fkepek%2F614305msidzher5k.gif&hash=219bafcc791e831cbe4bb46d21c3609c9a4725f7)
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Here I am with my No. 5 song. Very excited! lolol oh but I am.
My no. 5 song is also taken from their last album - The Visitors. Clearly this is my most favourite one among all albums. The song is called 'Soldiers'. Agnetha said herself that the song was written and sung from the place of 'fear'.
According to Wiki, 'The entire song rests upon a "simple two-note" statement". The song has a "string-ensemble synth arrangement". Agnetha uses a "subdued yet stoic vocal", and "the chorus vocals, while typically multi-tiered, are somewhat 'murkier' and less liberated in texture".
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There are several different critical analysis of this song such as the ones as below:
The song is about how the public don't respect the work done by soldiers, though they "write the songs and...sing the songs that you and I won't sing".
Billboard explains "emphasizing that although there seems to be so little one can do to prevent the machinations of soldiers and those who control them, we must "not look the other way/taking a chance/cos if the bugle starts to play/we too must dance".[1]
The Telegraph describes the premise of the song as "how warmongers convince themselves they are noble men".[2]
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IMO this is an abstract song and a paradox. But I found this bit on the internet that describes the song the best (just keep in mind that the song was released in 1981).
SOLDIERS by ABBA - War and rumors of war. Dancing is combat. The sight of marching armies is taken for granted as if nothing is wrong. "Soldiers" questions the relationship between reality and fantasy. It is hard to tell if things are real or only happening in our minds. The martial tone of the drumming is a sign of war, and the pale moonlight suggests a cloud cover. Typical of the apocalyptic nature of The Visitors.
November, 1979, brought Jimmy Carter's Iranian hostage crisis. The Cold War flared up, and there was fear of a possible nuclear attack. Ronald Reagan touted a newfangled technology branded "Star Wars" to defend from incoming missiles while Carl Sagan envisioned a nuclear winter in which life would become extinct.
"Soldiers" mirrors the international tensions of its time and the threat of nuclear war. "All that thunder and the blinding light" are atomic bombs. "In the winter night" is nuclear winter. "The beast" is war.
Benny and Bjorn condemned the Communist government in Poland for its crackdown, making the statement: "Let the Polish rule Poland." As a result, ABBA records were banned in Russia.
No. 5 Soldiers
Do I hear what I think I'm hearing?
Do I see the signs I think I see?
Or is this just a fantasy?
Is it true that the beast is waking
Stirring in his restless sleep tonight
In the pale moonlight
In the grip of this cold December
You and I have reason to remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVB0LcR_3Q
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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.
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When the night comes with the action
I just know it's time to go
Can't resist the strange attraction
From that giant dynamo
And tomorrow, when the dawning
And the first birds start to sing
In the pale light of the morning
Nothing's worth remembering
It's a dream, it's out of reach
Scattered driftwood on the beach
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"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
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Not sure if you have stopped pacing up and down in your living room (I sure don't want you to have a heart attack) but here's my no. 8. I am surprised this didn't cut your list. In any case, it was their last major hit and their last No. 1 hit in many countries. And their last single from their last album - The Visitors.
They never sung this song live so I don't have a live version alas but the video is pretty good so that will do. Better than nothing. Agnetha said it was one of her personal favourites.
No. 8 One of US
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIKAe8Wi0S0
I also like this slow version by the Flowing Tears - a German gothic metal band. The emotion is a bit over the top but I still like it. To be honest, there are many covers of ABBA songs but I only prefer the metal versions and I am not even a fan of the metal genre. Abba songs just go very well with metal IMO.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_SpQOXldaA
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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
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Have you heard this song by Agnetha's? It's not an ABBA song so it's not for the list I am posting. It's separate from that. I thought you might like it. Maybe herc darling can check it out too.
She wrote this song when she was 16/17 and sung it when she was a few months shy from turning 18.
Here's a few lines from her biography. It's a beautiful song.
Jag var så kär" ("I Was So In Love")
"The song had been written and sung by Fältskog, and was about a recent break-up she had gone through. The producer invited Fältskog to record an album with Cupol; though she had some reservations about leaving Enghardt's band behind, the allure was too great. She signed with Cupol, and her first album, Agnetha Fältskog, reached the top of the Swedish charts in January 1968.
Still a few months shy of her 18th birthday, Fältskog had already become famous in her home country. Throughout 1968 and 1969, her singles and albums remained very popular with Swedish listeners, but Fältskog was poised to take on a larger audience."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XPtSbzWX8U
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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.
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You haven't answered though why you don't like Lay All Your Love on Me.
Do you not want me to lay all my love on you? Did I not tell you that smoking is my only vice? Am I wasting my emotion on you?
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Hurry up... I've been pacing up and down the living room for the last few days awaiting your opinion on these matters.
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Anyway, I shall return with my favourte list of Agnetha songs later as I have much to contribute. You might want to anxiously stay tuned.
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^ Good.
No, hercules isn't involved in security directly. He's the head guy in the leather chair with buttons on and stroking a white cat while wearing an eye patch. He's an overall strategy guy rather than a "hands on deck" minion.
The Security detail is lower level than this... much lower. Think of a bunch if thugs wearing bomber jackets with "SECURITY" emblazoned on the back sporting skinheads.
If you think your false moustache will save you then good luck.
You seem to have mistaken me for a women who takes you seriously.
(https://www.camelotfantasies.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.giphy.com%2Fmedia%2FzTzVwYEtqNBsI%2Fgiphy.gif&hash=6ccf4aeafeeea87664935f5cbc800d8b6952aac1)
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Now I am going to guess your next 5 songs by Agnetha (btw, what do you think about my signature?)
- S.O.S
- The Winner Takes It All
- Lay All Your Love on Me
- Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!
- Chiquitita
Safe substitute: Thank You for the Music.
So, am I right?
Replace "lay all your love on me" with "thank you for the music" and you're close. Actually, another Frida song should be in that company - "Super Trouper:
If I replace "Lay All Your Love on Me" with "Thank You for the Music" then how I am still "close"? I should be dead on if anything. In case, why do you not like "Lay All Your Love on Me"? If you can like "Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie", then I see no reason why you wouldn't like LAYLOM. Both are fabulous songs.
Unless you think you too need 'a man after midnight'?
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Now I am going to guess your next 5 songs by Agnetha (btw, what do you think about my signature?)
- S.O.S
- The Winner Takes It All
- Lay All Your Love on Me
- Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!
- Chiquitita
Safe substitute: Thank You for the Music.
So, am I right?
Replace "lay all your love on me" with "thank you for the music" and you're close. Actually, another Frida song should be in that company - "Super Trouper:
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^ Good.
No, hercules isn't involved in security directly. He's the head guy in the leather chair with buttons on and stroking a white cat while wearing an eye patch. He's an overall strategy guy rather than a "hands on deck" minion.
The Security detail is lower level than this... much lower. Think of a bunch if thugs wearing bomber jackets with "SECURITY" emblazoned on the back sporting skinheads.
If you think your false moustache will save you then good luck.
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WTF?!
You do realize that you will be talking to yourself only here as the only married person here? Ha ha. Oh maybe masterclass can keep you company but he's too amused by his own posts to notice anything else. lolol
Anyway, name your favourte songs by Frida and Agnetha. I'd like to see if we have anything at all in common.
There I commented on the results. I want to see what you can you do about this.
Shhhh... stop drawing attention to yourself. Singles aren't allowed in this thread. Sit in the corner wearing a false moustache to cover your tracks before security burst in to escort you off the premises.
Will this work? Cute, aren't I?
(https://www.camelotfantasies.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia-cache-ec0.pinimg.com%2F236x%2F74%2F54%2F51%2F745451f53334b769faeba5ec9938ac63.jpg&hash=c0fc7167b01673931f1268ed5fa1e84feaacd5e2)
Anyway, who is this security you speak of? If you mean our herc darling then know he adores me. He'll probably escort you out. All I'll have to do is just nod my head. Samjhe?
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Now I am going to guess your next 5 songs by Agnetha (btw, what do you think about my signature?)
- S.O.S
- The Winner Takes It All
- Lay All Your Love on Me
- Gimmie! Gimmie! Gimmie!
- Chiquitita
Safe substitute: Thank You for the Music.
So, am I right?
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^ Fernando is one of them.
The other is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFJHPEh8ETk
Anyway, how did you get in this thread. You're single... I'll have to have you frogmarched out of the thread by Camelot Security.
Oh, that's a good one. I really love this one too. I love the last verse where children join and they all sing it together. Very celestial kind of music.
I like lots of songs by Frida that aren't very mainstream. The one below is a hidden gem and in my opinion, one of ABBA's very best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx1ZfuZXztA
Others are:
- Our Last Summer
- The Visitors
- Andante, Andante
- When All is Said and Done
- Cassandra
- Put on Your White Sombrero
- Tropical Loveland
- I Wonder
- One Man, One Woman
- Should I Laugh, Should I Cry etc.
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WTF?!
You do realize that you will be talking to yourself only here as the only married person here? Ha ha. Oh maybe masterclass can keep you company but he's too amused by his own posts to notice anything else. lolol
Anyway, name your favourte songs by Frida and Agnetha. I'd like to see if we have anything at all in common.
There I commented on the results. I want to see what you can you do about this.
Shhhh... stop drawing attention to yourself. Singles aren't allowed in this thread. Sit in the corner wearing a false moustache to cover your tracks before security burst in to escort you off the premises.
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^ Fernando is one of them.
The other is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFJHPEh8ETk
Anyway, how did you get in this thread. You're single... I'll have to have you frogmarched out of the thread by Camelot Security.
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baron darling, I am going to go and guess your two favourite Frida songs. Let me know if I am right.
- Fernando
- Knowing Me Knowing You
Don't be too proud and tell me I am wrong and come up with two other songs.
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Btw, you can't possibly borrow my cafe's name and claim it to be your own and for married people only, you copy cat.
Change it to Britbox' Cafe for Married People only (only Emma is allowed because she's my Goddess - more so than Agnetha!)
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WTF?!
You do realize that you will be talking to yourself only here as the only married person here? Ha ha. Oh maybe masterclass can keep you company but he's too amused by his own posts to notice anything else. lolol
Anyway, name your favourte songs by Frida and Agnetha. I'd like to see if we have anything at all in common.
There I commented on the results. I want to see what you can you do about this.
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Seeing as nobody else can vote in here except me, then the WINNER IS...
AGNETHA!
by the width of a piece of paper.
Anna-Frid actually sung my favourite two ABBA songs... but the next 5 were by Agnetha so she sneaks it.
^ If you are single, please do not comment on this result. You are banned from the thread. Go and get a hubby or wife to qualify for this conversation.
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--- STAY OUT IF YOU ARE SINGLE ---
Single People aren't allowed in here.
So who was the best singer in ABBA? Agnetha or Anna-Frid?