ABBA single by single thread

Hooks galore in Gimme Gimme Gimme - which made it all the more surprising that it only reached #15 on the New Zealand charts.

 

ABBA en los Estados Unidos (en español), numero uno:

Over the years, ABBA had at least three songs with Spanish-inspired titles, and all three were big hits in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. When "Chiquitita" came out and became a big international hit (other than in the U.S.), ABBA decided, as a thank-you for its many fans in those nations, to do a Spanish-language version of the song. Recorded in March 1979, as the sessions for Voulez-Vous were ending, it became a huge hit in Spain and throughout Latin America. In those territories, the Spanish version of "Chiquitita" was added to the LP, which helped make Voulez-Vous an even bigger hit than it might have been otherwise.

The RCA label owned ABBA's rights in North America south of the United States and in South America, spanning the countries from Mexico to Brazil. These rights, however, did not extend to most of the Caribbean islands, as most of them were (and still are) controlled by nations outside Latin America. For example, ABBA's rights in Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States (not quite a state, but better than a territory), were held not by RCA, but by Atlantic.

Another thing to recognize about the U.S. is that a significant minority of its citizens speak something other than English as a first language, and this has always been true. Record labels know this and have long catered to these audiences with special releases that largely fly under the radar of the English-speaking majority. For example, when RCA Victor introduced the 45 rpm record in 1949, one of its eight categories of singles was "International." Independent labels sprang up to cater to these audiences; Tico and Ansonia were two that were dedicated to Spanish musical styles and tastes.

By the 1970s, the U.S. music trade papers recognized the importance of the Spanish-speaking market; by no later than 1973, Billboard had a periodic Top Latin LPs chart. Other than "Eres Tu" by Mocedades, which was far more popular in its Spanish version than the English rendition, even among Anglophones, the Spanish-language market was constrained to pockets of certain U.S. cities with large Hispanic populations -- for example, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. Disco brought some more attention to Spanish music, especially salsa; think Salsoul Records and "Salsation" on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

Fast forward a bit to 1979. By then, both Cash Box and Record World had Latin music sections, featuring airplay and sales reports from a rotating panel of cities, both in the U.S. and elsewhere. Indeed, the accompanying analysis column in Record World was written in Spanish. By that summer, "Chiquitita" started to show up on these charts, from places such as Buenos Aires and São Paulo. And then, it made the top 10 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from imported RCA copies. To add insult to injury, covers of "Chiquitita" started to appear on the Puerto Rico charts, including one by the homegrown boy-band Menudo, which was still a few years from international stardom.

Atlantic, as the U.S. rights holder to ABBA, decided to issue the Spanish version of "Chiquitita" at the same time as it released the English version, to combat the covers. As a bonus, the B-side of this 45 was "Estoy Soñando," the Spanish-language rendition of "I Have a Dream," which, interestingly, was never released in the U.S. as a single in English.

As far as I know, Atlantic had no real experience in promoting to Hispanic markets. (Way back in 1967, the label had released a 45 of "Groovin'" by the Young Rascals with the song in Spanish on one side and in Italian on the other, but that might as well have been from the Jurassic period.) Perhaps most important as far as Atlantic was concerned, in those areas in the States (and especially Puerto Rico) that played the song in Spanish, there was now a domestic 45. They could buy the original and not an import or cover.

I have no idea how many copies of this 45 were pressed. It was deleted within a few months of its release, because in 1980, Atlantic relinquished the U.S. rights to Spanish-language ABBA music to CBS Discos International (more on which in a future post). The Atlantic 45 was not issued with a picture sleeve.

Stock copies of Atlantic 3630, one number after the English 45, came from both Specialty (SP) and Monarch (MO). The two pressings have significantly different label information. The Specialty pressing claims that both songs are from the album Voulez-Vous, which is sort of correct, but not really in this case; the Monarch pressing more correctly has no reference to an LP release on either side. Also, the Specialty pressing simply calls the B-side "I HAVE A DREAM (Spanish Version)"; the Monarch edition lists the title as "ESTOY SONANDO (I HAVE A DREAM) (Spanish Version)" -- though it lacks the tilde over the first N. The matrix numbers are ST-A-37685 and ST-A-37686, which are immediately after the promo edit of the English-language "Chiquitita" (ST-A-37684).

Both sides of this 45 appear to have been issued separately as promos, a la "Voulez-Vous" and "Angeleyes."

The more common "Chiquitita" promo is mono/stereo, with the 5:26 length on both sides; copies came from SP and MO. Interestingly, the Monarch promo, unlike the stock copy, says that the song came from Voulez-Vous. The promo for the B-side, "Estoy Sonando" (sic), came from SP; the information on the label has been corrected to reflect what appears on the Monarch stock copy. Photos of this stereo/stereo promo appear on Discogs but not on 45cat, which raises a flag. But if the pictured copy isn't real, it's a really good fake.

Speaking of which:

Also on Discogs, but not on 45cat, is a curious promo-only 45 of "Chiquitita," the existence of which has been called into question, and not only by me.

This large-hole single, with a catalog number of PR 348, claims to have a version of "Chiquitita" with, to quote the text that appears on the pictured label, "English & Spanish Versions Combined." (Radio stations were known to do this on their own; in 1975, I used to hear a version of "Love Will Keep Us Together" by the Captain & Tennille that combined the English and Spanish versions, and only later did I learn that no such record existed.) The listed time is 5:11, thus it would have a slightly early fade. Virtually everything about this record looks legit; that said, similar to the fakes of the fictional fourth Playboy single and the stock copy of "Eagle," only one side is pictured, and it's fairly blurry. And there's another problem with this 45: No one seems to own a copy.

 

I decided not to quote your entire story, as much as I enjoyed hearing the back story on this single. I have it in my hand right now looking at it.
One of the wonders of Atlantic records that I am glad I own! Thank you for sharing this with us again Tim!!! Can't wait to hear when Gimme Gimme Gimme came into play in the USA.

 

There's a hard to find version on youtube with the original soundtrack from the live performance in Eskilstuna. The one above is from the album plus added applause. Despite the bad quality - the original it's so much more fun to listen to.
The choreography of the girls is fabolous....love it. Love the song too.

 

Tim, as always, I love your analysis. One question: how do you get all those singles reviews - did you pick up all the old copies of those magazines over the years, or is there a site online somewhere that's searchable?

I have all the Billboards from this era, and my experience has been that Billboard is much easier to find. I hardly ever see CashBox or Record World.

 

'I Wonder' was also included on 'More ABBA Gold'. I read somewhere that it is a favourite of Benny's and Björn's.

It's also strange that 'Rock Me' from 1975 is on GHV2. Wikipedia says that it was included because it became a top 5 hit in Australia and New Zealand after the release of 'Greatest Hits 1' and also because it was part of the setlist on the 1979 world tour.

 

Silly question of the day: Does a single from this group have a B-side, or a ᗺ-side?

 

There is a site called American Radio History, which is trying to preserve anything and everything in print about the radio industry. As part of its library, it has a largely complete collection of Billboard (since the late 1930s, more complete than Google Books) and a growing collection of Cash Box and Record World. The BB and CB are searchable by year; the RW are by decade (the yearly search doesn't work). The files are PDFs, so they use optical scanning to search. Most of the time, if I find a review in one magazine, the same release is reviewed the same week in the others.

 

Shame they never released a double single.

 

I think the mishandling by Atlantic Records in the US of the album "Voulez Vous" and the singles from it really hurt the chances of "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" becoming a hit. However, even though I do like GGG, it was not a masterpiece like "The Winner Takes It All", which returned ABBA to the US Top Ten for the last time. However, a true extended remix would have been a treat! I did read that there were four extended remixes of ABBA tracks done by Michael Tretow in 1980. "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" and "Lay All Your Love On Me" (another masterpiece) were two of them. I don't remember the other two. It was decided not to release them.

 

There was Eagle/Thank You for the Music in a few countries, Voulez-Vous/Angeleyes in the UK and Head Over Heels/The Visitors.

 

Sorry. I don’t mean a double A side. I mean a double single. Two singles in a gatefold sleeve. Then we could have had
A side
ᗺ-side
B side
A side

 

You could have had each side featuring one member of the group. Benny's could have been that instrumental thing he did - Opus 10.

I didn't say anything about Does Your Mother Know, which I do really like, although it annoyed me at the time because it was Bjorn singing and I wanted Agnetha/Frida. I have come to appreciate it now though as a clever 1950s tribute song.

The guitar is very rock n roll, as is the piano. It has great rock n roll saxophones, and the lyric seems to be sung by a 50s rock n roll star to a teenybopper/groupie. "I can read in your face that your feelings are driving you wild." (The ego!)
Bjorn does a surprisingly good job of it. I do have a little trouble imagining him as a leering rock & roll predator though - he seems more the studious executive type than an Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis (but I think he started off in a rock & roll band, or was that Benny?).
I imagine a 50s singer at the edge of a small venue stage leaning on the mic stand, winking and grinning at the girl in the front row. When he sings "That's something I couldn't do" it's so funny - he sounds so sincere - exactly like a rock n roller would try to sound getting off with a girl. Would you trust Bjorn if he said that?
It's a bit like the Big Bopper in Chantilly Lace "But...but...I ain't got no money honey. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! You know what I like!"
Bjorn even rhymes honey and funny - very 1950s - and comes over like the Fonz with "chick" and "cool it girl".
As mentioned by others, the backing vocals are excellent.

 

This would make a nice record store day release with picture discs and highlighting one member on each side.

 

Well the reason someone might use it in a critical or semi-critical way is simply that they feel the repetition has been overdone. Seems pretty obvious to me. Of course people will differ on how much is too much. It also depends on the listening environment. In the dance clubs, the consensus seems to be that if something sounds good, repeating it 200 times will make it 500 times as good.

 

For those who dislike disco, the boom-cha, boom-cha disco beat that is highlighted on Gimme Gimme and nearly all disco is like the blank canvas on which an artist adds paint and form. It's on most pop but you just don't notice it. Remember that Stars On 45 record that had it all the way through The Beatles and other 60s songs, also Abba? I'm not saying it was that great, but I'm using it for illustrative purposes.
Paint whatever you like. Disco just emphasises the canvas, or using the case of architecture is the Pompidou Centre, with the foundations on the outside.

 

Gimme Gimme Gimme ( A Man After Midnight)
Same excellent vein as Voulez Vous. Another great single.
5/5

 

It’s almost as if it carries a concept.
Benny and Frida getting into it and Agnetha and Björn like they just had a fight.

 

That’s the one my sister had, back in Holland when I was little.

 

ABBA Singles That Weren't: Under My Sun (1979)
Intended Release: None



Although Stig Anderson had retired from the creative side of ABBA's activities in 1977, he retained a strong grip on the group's business affairs. His influence was possibly most evident in 1979 where ABBA fans were milked for all that they were worth.

By August that year, dedicated fans would have shelled out for three singles, an album and concert tickets for one of the group's rare live tours. But Anderson clearly had no mercy - ABBA would release two more singles and another album Greatest Hits Vol. 2 before the year had ended.

To maximise sales, Bjorn and Benny were expected to come up with a new track for Greatest Hits Vol. 2 which could also be released as a new single. Their first attempt was 'Rubber Ball Man', an excerpt of which appeared on the Thank You For The Music boxset in 1994.

At some stage, this tune's silly demo lyrics were replaced by a new set and the song was retitled 'Under My Sun'. While the new lyrics were never recorded in studio, the track was recorded informally during rehearsals for the group's forthcoming tour.

By that stage, Bjorn and Benny were also trying out another possibility entitled 'Been And Gone And Done It', which according to Carl Magnus Palm's The Complete Recording Sessions, featured lyrics about "a woman who, despite being in love, feels no need to tie the knot since she considers marriage outdated, yet finds herself being the bride at a wedding, not quite understanding how she ended up in that situation". Bjorn later concluded that this mind-boggling concept was overambitious.

By the end of August 1979, both tracks were being worked on simultaneously with strings overdubbed on both on August 30th. For 'Under My Sun', all that was left to do was to replace the original 'Rubber Ball Man' vocals. This was never done though as Bjorn and Benny felt more confident about 'Been And Gone And Done It' which, having been stripped of its overly elaborate lyrics, had become 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)'.

You may notice, however, that 'Under My Sun' sounds strangely familiar. That's because the tune was exhumed and reworked in 1982 into what was ABBA's final single (before their extended 36 year break) 'Under Attack'.

ABBA Singles That Weren't will return after Super Trouper.

(Apologies for the video - you have to view it on YouTube and the song proper starts at 01:30)

 

That CD is actually a bootleg. Greatest Hits Vol 2 was deleted on all formats about eighteen years before the apparent copyright date on that CD back cover.

 

Yes, I got that scan off Google.

 

'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!' is one of Abba's masterpieces. I only wish that they had done an extended 12" mix.

 

I Have a Dream (1979)


B-side: Take a Chance on Me (Live at Wembley)
Released: December 7, 1979
Charts: #2 (United Kingdom), #64 (Australia)

 

I think this has the same problems as "Chiquitita". The song itself is inoffensive but it goes on a bit too long and feels slightly tedious by the end.