I know. You’re probably thinking Mamma Mia here I go again (apologies but the lyric was just begging to be misused this way… AGAIN) but being the idiosyncratic soul that I am, who doesn’t try to run counter to the majority trend (I just do), this list does not contain the usual suspects.
You will not find Dancing Queen, Money Money Money or yes even Mamma Mia here. All fine songs, every last one of them, and worthy of inclusion in anyone’s best pop songs of all time list.
But not mine. For reasons I will attempt to outline next to each song, my tastes have always run to songs that didn’t always find favour with the masses but which resonated with me in ways that the more mainstreams hits simply didn’t.
Intrigued? And maybe a little concerned at non-conformity run wild? Worried at the darkness of so many of the songs I chose? Of course you are! But worry not. There is method in my obscure ABBA songs loving madness.
1. ELAINE
It’s the paranoid fear that underpins every lyric and note in this song that make it such a compelling listen. Released as the B-side (back when we had B-sides of course!) to The Winner Takes It All, Elaine was, from the get go for me, a dark and almost nightmarish companion to the deep sadness of the single. They were not a happy pair of songs were they? But though I love the emotional resonance of Agnetha’s vocals on The Winner…, it’s Elaine’s traumatised vocals and urgent panicked melody that draw me in time after time. Both very emotional songs but Elaine seems a little more crazed, insistent, and scared, and above all, as I said, compelling.
2. TIGER
This song, released on the Arrival album of 1976 manages the deft trick of sounding playful and menacing all at once. It bounces along with a surging energetic melody that counterpoints beautifully with the implied menace of the tiger. “I am behind you, I always find you.” It’s a bleak critique of urban life sprung to life in the persona of the titular feline.
3. SHOULD I LAUGH OR CRY
This song is bleak as the woman in question, possibly fearfully, possibly with grim bemusement, reviews incident after incident in a relationship that is dominated by a narcissistic boyfriend. The relationship feels like an “eternal lie” but now she is so used to the dangerous ebb and flow of this destructive partnership that she can’t seem to pull herself away. Delightfully dark with a chilling melody that speaks of heartache and unspoken ridicule in equal measure.
4. LOVELIGHT
Lest you think I am incessantly draw to songs that love and loss, here’s a song that exuberantly celebrates the giddy joy of new found love. Traffic’s lighter, the sun is brighter, everything is beautiful. Nothing is bad, everything is good as long as her lover is around and even when he isn’t. It’s a joy to listen to and warms the heart of a romantic like me.
5. THAT’S ME
Much like Head Over Heels, which came later, this song celebrates the uniqueness of being the sort of person who can’t easily be pigeon-holed, and moves very much to the beat of her own idiosyncratic drum. Imploring a prospective love interest to see beyond the fact that she’s not a timid woman who will speak her mind, and is as free-spirited as she is iron-willed, she also speaks of softer qualities that may not be immediately obvious. It is riotous, bouncy fun with a beat that glides up and down with giddy abandon. I love it’s celebration of individualism.
6. LIKE AN ANGEL PASSING THROUGH MY ROOM
Breathtakingly, heartachingly beautiful, and desperately sad. It is the sort of song you listen to after midnight with candles burning down to the holders, their dying light plunging the room by stealth into the darkness of regret and sadness. The metronome ticking back and forth underlines that this is a song about the passing of time, and the loss of great love and possibility. So sad is the singer that solitude is welcomed as is the twilight passing into the dark of night. It sends chills down my spine every time I hear it, and speaks to that part of me that fears I won’t live life quite as well as I want to.
7. HOLE IN YOUR SOUL
Good rock ‘n’ roll fun! Life might be depressing, bland, numbing or just grindingly pedestrian. So what? When you do have time to yourself, the solution to that aching sense something is missing is the driving power of rock ‘n’ roll. This song surges with passion and the conviction of its lyrics. It energises me to dance my socks off, and yeah I do feel better after listening to it.
8. THE VISITORS (CRACKIN’ UP)
More paranoia this time but of the political kind. Centring on dissidents fearing a raid by Big Brother type authorities, it articulates beautifully the fear you must feel waiting for the inevitable to happen. Knowing that you are about to be arrested, thrown into prison, possibly killed when the other shoe does drop, the music is chilling, dark, with vocals that match the fear they must all be feeling. The driving chorus makes you want to run for over even if you’re perfectly safe and sound. A masterpiece of fear-tinged pop.
9. MOVE ON
A glorious tribute to the impermanence of life. It evokes a sense of restless wandering, inspired it seems by Jonathan Livingstone Seagull which was a popular book to put it mildly when this song was written in the 70s. It celebrates the renewal this type of life brings you and that it is worth celebrating the joy of every moment. It is a deeply-moving (no pun intended) call to value everything life offers with a melody that builds up and builds up to spine-tingling goosebumps of inspiration.
It’s been criticised as a silly, pointless song which I think misses the point entirely. It’s a song about deep, passionate unrequited love, of a woman ignored unintentionally by a man utterly consumed by his music, his art. She adores him, and his music, but wishes she could be so much closer to him, and as valuable to him as his music is. You can sense that she doubts this will ever happen, given the desperation and longing in her voice, but I don’t find it depressing. Rather it’s hopeful, pleading for her would-be lover to finally truly notice her.
So quirky choices yes? Well yes. But I warned you that would be the case. If nothing else, it speaks to how deeply I feel every emotion, and if there’s one thing ABBA were never given enough credit for, it’s their ability to tap into emotions that weren’t always sunny or joyful, or when they were, were expressed in a complex thoughtful way.
So what are you choices? What ABBA songs make you dance, cry, sing, want to fall in love?