And so plays one of my favourite ever songs that i'm playing a helluva lot whilst strutting to and from work every day. The band is Abba and let me tell you something for nothing, they know how to sing a catchy number to get my motor going in the morning. The video starts off all grainy in black and white although we can't help notice Agnetha's regular poor taste in woolen jumpers, then as they cheer and laugh over a game of that always hilarious board game - LUDO, the picture changes to colour which leads to the girls getting a bit stroppy and ask just what the name of the game is. Now they seem like dab hands at this so God only knows why they have to ask what game it is but I'll forgive them as the song is utterly amazing.
They must've gotten bored of Ludo because in a rather dizzy sequence, Frida and Agnetha hop on a roundabout and sing their hearts out about the name of this game.... The footage couldn't have gone well as shortly after this, Frida has dragged the bearded Benny into the woods to be the bear he was born to be. Just when things seem to verging on Frida's hair getting tussled, they decide to go back to Ludo to finish off the song. It's a typical Abba video and I love it for it's cheesiness and unadulterated campness. If anyone's seen the video for Knowing Me Knowing You - they'll know what I mean when I talk about the hazy mist and the head turning in the snow. Or the red and green outfits with koala bears/rabbits the girls wear during Thank You For The Music and don't start with the white spandex of Mamma Mia!
Despite this probable career suicide with reagrd to image, ABBA are definitely one of my favourite bands. the hits are almost endless and there's something about the melody of these that make ABBA's hits almost easy listening but when you put the two voices of Frida and Agnetha together it brings it all to another level. I've learned through watching Pop Idol or the X Factor that ABBA songs are a cunt to sing although I always manage a few poorly sung choruses of Waterloo in the shower singing like a banshee. However, the two girls really pulled it together with their kind of high pitched nasal effect that for some reason must release the homosexual hormone in me and cause me to get goos bumps and think about putting my hair in a middle parting and stand at right angles to a friend and turn my head in dramatic moments.
Everyone says that their hit Dancing Queen is the best song they ever made but I've got a few contenders, here's my ABBA Top 5 - But in no particular order and there's too many but these stand out for me tonight......
THE NAME OF THE GAME - For reasons best known to people who can hear. This song has a lazy beat but the chorus is unmissable and I'd still like to know how the girls didn't know the game was Ludo or how they weren't sick going round that roundabout at breakneck speed.
GIMME GIMME GIMME - A disco stomper with a Donna Summer beat ala Dim All The Lights. I went to a pub quiz in Delmonicas one night a few years ago and as they marked the quiz, the whole pub sang along to this song. Since then it's been a perrenial favourite. I didn't win the quiz but I had the best team name "Yer Maw's Got Baw's And Yer Da Loves It" which means "Your mother has testicles and your father loves it" for those not in Glasgow!
VOULEZ VOUS - Years ago my mum bought me an ABBA Collection on cassette tape and this was the 2nd song on side B of tape 2. It came out in 1979 the year I was born and I loved to dance around the house to it - I still do come to think of it. But Voulez Vous has probably the most amount of nasal action from the girls of any ABBA track. They belt out the song as if their lives depended on it and it's so nightclub discoey and as infectious as a dose of crabs after a trip to the sauna.
TIGER - An album track on the 1977 album Arrival. This was apparently touted as a potential single but never made the cut. It's in a similar vein to Voulez Vous and the dramatic lyrics get me misty almost! When I watched ABBA The Movie, I adored that Agnetha and Frida were seen backstage warming up before this song was to be performed in concert and Frida belted out a big fat note of this song which made m love her more than pretentious Agnetha.
WATERLOO - I couldn't not put this song in my top 5. The ultimate ABBA track for most people and also my mum's favourite track of theirs. Despite wearing hideous outfits, Agnetha in blue spandex and a blue sequined bunnet that would have done the Pope proud and Frida in some godforsaken curtain affair that looked like it was made by Julie Andrews for the Von Trapp children - this song rocks. This song is the first one I listen to whilst waiting for my bus in the morning as it sets me up for the day. It deserved the Eurovision win and it deserves to appear in Muriel's Wedding as the theme tune to one of the funniest scenes in movie history. Rachel Griffiths and Toni Collette imitating the girls at Hibiscus Island as the bitchy girls get in a catfight. I almost wet myself at this scene and after the movie had ended, rolled down the windows of my car and blasted out Waterloo for all to hear - I'm such a fag and I love it!!!
1 comment:
When I was younger I used to scare my sister by singing the lyrics to "Tiger" and chasing her round the room.
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