Did Swedish radio play songs by ABBA with English lyrics in the '70s? I found it odd that the dialogue and most of the music in the film is in Swedish, but "SOS" appears here with English lyrics. And if ABBA recorded the original versions of their Americanized songs in Swedish, did the lyrics rhyme?
share[deleted]
Only Waterloo was ever made with Swedish lyrics, for the Eurovision Song Contest. All of the other ABBA songs were written in English, and in English only.
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- Who's the lady with the log?
- We call her the Log Lady.
Thanks for the reply! I could never understand why the lyrics rhymed when I assumed they were first written in Swedish.
Did Agnetha & Anni-Frid understand the lyrics that Björn and Benny were writing? In interviews, I've only heard them speaking Swedish.
I think it is Agnetha being very poor in English, never being able to speak it properly without having a script in front of her (at least that's what I've heard). I seem to remember being told she dropped out of school in an early age, which might have had something to do with it. Anni-Frid speaks quite well from interviews I've seen with her.
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- Who's the lady with the log?
- We call her the Log Lady.
Thanks for the details. I've actually tried to find these answers on the Internet, but haven't been able to so I posted here. Even ABBA's official site doesn't explain this. I guess capturing the English-language market was so important that musicians would play to that audience. Was ABBA still popular in Sweden, even though many listeners didn't understand the lyrics?
I have solo albums by both Agnetha and Anni-Frid (Frida), and it does appear that Frida has a better command of English. Probably the interviews I've seen with them were for Swedish television, so they were translated.
Oh, but Swedes DID understand English (both then and now). In the Scandinaviand countries the English education has been exceptionally good for decades. When I was in school (albeit in Norway, but I think it's similar in Sweden) I started learning English at 9, today they start even earlier.
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- Who's the lady with the log?
- We call her the Log Lady.
That's terrific. I only wish Americans were so well versed in other languages – myself included.
shareYeah ABBA really wanted to get their songs international, which is why most of them are in English. Some early ones such as Ring Ring and Waterloo were recorded in Swedish. Some of their early songs were even recorded in German.
Later on while they succeeded internationally, they recorded their hits in Spanish. They were released on the album called Gracias Por La Musica (Thank You for the Music) in 1980, as well as ABBA Oro Grandes Exitos (ABBA Gold Greatest Hits) in the 1990s.
Thanks very much for the reply. I've seen those Spanish-language albums, and I think I have "Gracias por la Musica" tucked away somewhere.
Do you know how they handled the translations from English to Spanish (and German even)? Did they have to change the words so they would rhyme and fit the syllables of the song? Or did they totally rewrite the song in the other language? It seems like it would be hard to make the lyrics fit different languages if they did word-for-word translations.
ABBA were popular with the general public in Sweden (they did sell plenty of records) but were by many (media and cultural circles) considered too mainstream and cheesy. This was the time of prog, political music and revolt. ABBA stood for something completely different. They were considered as being too commercial. A famous episode is when a reporter from the main TV news programme interview them after the Eurovision "Waterloo" victory and rather than gratulating them, angrily asks them how they can sing a glitzy pop tune about Waterloo when thousands of people died in that battle.
The fact that they were singing in English would never be a problem, Sweden had been marinated in English language pop music since the 50s.
"We fell in love. I fell in love - she just stood there." / http://twitter.com/Marielind
Dude, almost all swedes speak and understand english fluently.
shareAnn-Margret certainly has a strong command of the English language, among other things. Dude.
sharei thing the song that Rolf and his wife danced to was also english? i heard 'love' in the lyric
shareIt's been awhile since I've seen this, but I think that song is "Love Hurts" by Nazareth. Excellent song, excellent band! I saw them in concert once.
sharewow you have a very good memory! (if i assume you watched the film last year when you posted the OP) yes that was indeed the song, i just downloaded it
i don't know much about the band but it is a good song :)
Well, honestly I cheated and looked at the soundtrack listing here for confirmation, but I did remember that song being used in the film. Nazareth did another great cover – of Joni Mitchell's "This Flight Tonight," which sounds nothing like her version. Their best-known song is probably "Hair of the Dog," which totally rocks. You might check those out and see if you want to download them. Enjoy!
shareI've always thought the Nazareth version of Love hurts is a little strange. I've mostly heard it with Emmylou Harris (who co-worked with the songs writer Gram Parsons alot before he died), and her version is a very down-to-earth, quiet country version. Quite different.
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"They're coming for you, Barbara!"
My blog, Norwegian: http://jennukka.wordpress.com
A lot of it depends on what version you heard first. I was very accustomed to Nazareth's version before I heard Emmylou's, so it wasn't jarring.
I like drastically different versions of the same song, like when Judas Priest did Joan Baez's "Diamonds and Rust" -- a vastly different take on a beautiful song.