Recording sessions for the
Arrival album:
studio recordings in September 1975
Dancing
Queen (working title: Boogaloo)
Backing track recorded on August 4, 1975 (Glen
Studio).
Continuing working on backing track on August 5, 1975 (Glen
Studio).
Guitar overdubs added on August 27, 1975 (Glen
Studio).
Backing track transfered to 24 track tape on September 4, 1975
(Metronome Studio)
Vocals recorded around September 8 -11, 1975 (Metronome
Studio).
String overdubs added on September 12, 1975 (Metronome
Studio).
Drum overdubs on December 3, 1975 (KMH
Studio)
George McCrae's hit 'Rock You Baby' from 1974 was the inspiration
for the rhythm of Dancing Queen. Michael Tretow says that a
piece of this song could be heard before the actual backing track
started, just for the musicians to maintain the right feel.
ABBA never meant to steel from this song.
With ABBA's somewhat conventional European background, they often
found it difficult to apply the right kind of dance rhythm to their
music. While they all admired soul and funk, they were well aware
of their limitations in reproducing this kind of feel.
'Boogaloo' seemed to call of a dance rhythm in the backing track,
and for inspiraton they listened hard to George McGrae's disco classic,
thus managing to find the right feel. Both Michael Tretow and session
drummer Roger Palm were fond of the drumming on Dr. John's 1972 'Gumbo'
album, and this elastic New Orleans ingredients was now applied to
the dance groove they were putting together.
As a final touch, Björn fed his electric guitar through a tape
echo, thereby lending some metronomic structure to the prodeecings.
The basic backing track of drums, bass, guitar and piano was ultimately
completed to the satisfaction of the two songwriters.
Stig gave it the title of 'Dancing Queen'. He also wrote the original
set of lyrics, buty in all likelihood these were later extensively
rewritten by Björn. Work on the track continued throughout the
autumn and early winter of 1975. (taken from the
book Bright Lights Dark Shadows
by Carl Magnus Palm)
Knowing
Me, Knowing You (working titles Ring It In and Number One, Number
One):
Backing track and vocals recorded on March 23, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
Guitar overdubs added on may 24, 1976(Metronome
Studio).
'Knowing Me, Knowing You' was probably the first
ABBA song to truly acknowledge that the group consisted of four adults.
Whereas previous lyrics about love troubles had been more generic,
couplet's like "in this old familiar room, children would play"
indicated that 'Knowing Me, Knowing You' dealt with the collapse of
a marriage, as opposed to any old teenage romance.
The title came from Stig Anderson, but the rest of the words were
written by Björn. He has since denied that the lyrics had any
bearing on his own situation at that time. "Even if the roots
are somewhere deep inside, form something what has happened to you,
it's still 90 per cent fiction, he said. " I was just working
from images. I saw a man walking through an empty house for the last
time as a symbol of divorce. I just described what I saw. I hadn't
been through that myself then." (taken
from the book Bright Lights Dark Shadows
by Carl Magnus Palm)
That's
Me (working title: Coachman's Farm):
Backing track, vocals and overdubs? recorded on March 24, 1976
(Metronome Studio).
This rhythmically odd track features lyrics by Stig
Anderson, and is one of Agnetha's absolute favourites.
(taken from the book The
Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm)
Money,
Money, Money:
Backing track and vocals? recorded on May 17, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
Björn: This song was meant ironical. There was more
talking about the millions we made than about our music. We
were called a company instead of a pop group With 'Money,
Money, Money' we wanted to hit back. If people think we are
only in it for the money, well let's write about it.
Frida's superior skills as an interpretive singer came to the fore
on the caberat inflections of 'Money, Money, Money'. Within the confines
of a three minutes format, this was a sublime performance, opening
in the tradition of European theatrical music, combined with a basic
Anglo-Saxon pop rhythm, and finally topped with Frida's dramatic delivery.
The genenis of 'Money, Money, Money' was similar to 'Why Did It Have
To Be Me', insofar as it ended up being released under its orginal
working title. Björn, who felt that "there were enough 'money'
songs around, came up with a set of working lyrics entitled 'Gypsy
King'. "But that came out a bit awkward, somehow," he recalled.
"In the end, I had to go back to 'Money, Money, Money' - that
simply sounded best." This philosophy was endemic to aBBA and
fundamental to their succes: whatever their ambitions the group never
forsook simplicity and direct communication with their audience.
In any event, the storytelling, musical-like layers of 'Money, Money,
Money' made it Benny's favourite track on the album. "Of all
the things we have done, that one is the best ever," he said.
"It's a very basic recording you could say that it's constructed
like a stage number. I imagine someone else doning it, not necessarily
us: someone standing on a platform singing these lyrics." (taken
from the book Bright Lights Dark Shadows
by Carl Magnus Palm)
When
I Kissed The Teacher (working title: Rio De Janeiro):
Backing track, vocals and overdubs? recorded on June 14, 1976
(Metronome
Studio).
This joyous track was to become one of the Arrival highlights, with
a punching acoustic guitar intro that also made it a perfect album
opener.
"I think this is one of our very best recordings," says
Benny, "and I remember that we worked a lot on it, not least
the backing vocals. Also, there are two different tempos in the song:
it's the full tempo, and then there is the half tempo that the acoustic
guitars play. It took a lot of time to piece that together, to figure
out how to make all the different parts interact so that it would
work." (taken from the book
The Complete Recording Sessions by Carl
Magnus Palm)
Tiger
(working titles: I Am A Tiger and I Am The Tiger):
Backing track and vocals recorded on July 19, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
Continuing working on backing track on July 20, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
Dum
Dum Diddle;
Backing track, vocals and overdubs? recorded on July 19, 1976
(Metronome Studio).
The track was written at Benny's and Frida's Stockholm flat, and
at that point with quite a heavy feel to it. Björn regrets that
the song somehow became much more lightweight when the backing track
was recorded, and he is not especially proud of the lyrics eighter.
"It might as well have been Dumb Dumb Diddle!, he says. I stayed
up a whole night trying to come up with the right lyrics. The studio
was booked, we were due to record the vocals, and in those days I
had such a strong sense of duty that I felt that I simply had to come
up with something. So at five o' clock in the morning, I finally wrote
those lyrics, which I expected the others to reject - but they didn't!
'But this is OK,' they said and I said 'No it isn't,' and they said
'Yes, it is,' and that's how it was.
I remember when we toured Australia the following year and someone
said 'Dum Dum Diddle' - what kind of group would record a songs with
at title like that?', and the worst of it is that I kind of agreed
with him". (taken
from the book The Complete Recording
Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm)
My
Love My Life:
Bakcing track and vocals recorded on August 20, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
String overdubs added on August 30, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
The ballad 'My Love My Life' with lyrics by Stig Anderson was originally
titled 'Monsieur, Monsieur' and a rough demo with Agnetha singing
had been recorded in the studio in July. The theme of the lyrics,
with Paris as the setting for a romance that is now over., would later
be echoed in the 1980 track 'Our Last Summer', complete with "walks
along the Seine". However, the' French feel' that the group had
seemed to detect in this song, was somehow deemed irrelevant, and
a slower backing track in a lower key better suited to Agnetha's voice
was recorded on August 20. The dreamy, whispering backing choir was
inspired by 10CC classis 'I'm Not In Love', which had recently been
a big hit. (taken from the book The
Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm)
Benny and
Björn in Metronome Studio
Why
Did It Have To Be Me:
Backing track and vocals recorded on August 27, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
Sax overdubs added on September 3, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
When the songwriters and their backing musicians
entered the Metronome studio on April 26, they had a Fats Domino-style
song with the working title 'Why Did It Have To Be Me' on their hands.
Toying around with the song in the studio, they moved away from rock
territory and arrived at some kind of Hawaiian feel. Stig put together
a first draft lyric, and the result was titled 'Happy Hawaii'. A steel
guitarist was called in to do an overdub, the sound of crashing waves
in the intro was achieved with the help of some white noise from a
transistor radio, and then Agnetha and Frida were called down to record
a joint lead vocal. The recording was completed and mixed.
As album sessions wore on, however, Björn and Benny were getting
cold feet. 'Happy Hawaii' - what kind of silly concept was that? The
lyrics told the tale of a girl going to Hawaii to forget the lover
who jilted her but this seemed a bit inconsequential. "There
was nothing especially wrong with the recording," recalled Björn,
"but the lyrics were just too damned corny." A more countrified
arrangement of the song was then recorded entitled 'Memory Lane',
but that didn't feel right eighter. The boys had to admit defeat:
towards the end of the album sessions they returned to the Fats Domino
rock framework, adding a short burst of Beach Boys-style falsetto
backing vocals to great effect. The original working title 'Why Did
It Have To Be Me', was also brought back in, and a third version was
recorded with Björn on lead vocals. That was how the song was
presented on the finished album.'Happy Hawaii', meanwhile, did gain
an eventual release as the B-side of the 'Knowing Me, Knowing You'
single. (taken from
the book Bright Lights Dark Shadows
by Carl Magnus Palm)
Arrival
(working titles: Fiol and Arrival In Dalecarlia):
Track with backing vocals recorded on August 30, 1976 (Metronome
Studio).
This track was the second in what threatened to become a series of
instrumentals after 'Intermezzo no.' on the ABBA album. Along with
the intro to 'Dum Dum Diddle', 'Arrival' was also the first time that
Benny's fondness for Swedish fiddlers' folk music overtly coloured
an Abba album track. At one point the title of the song was 'Ode To
Dalecarlia', referring to the Swedish country most closely associated
with this particular strand of folk music.
There were some discussions about whether such experiments really
belonged to an Abba album. But Benny insisted. "Micheal and I
stayed late one night and did some work on it with the mellotrone
and the mini-moog so that we could make a convincing case of it,"
he recalled. "It's much easier to get your way if you can say
'listen to this!' instead of humming your way through a half-finished
idea." (taken from
the book Bright Lights Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus
Palm)
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