Abba - So Long

Could Abba survive the curse of Eurovision one hit wonders? Abba visited Hamburg in West Germany on January 30 1975 to perform their current single "So Long" on the 50th show of the popular German tv program "Disco", which was broadcast 3 days later on Saturday February 2. Polydor presented the group with 4 gold discs afterwards, to acknowledge sales of two million copies of Waterloo.
The girls developed a special dance routine for So Long, which can be seen at the end. Agnetha gets a bit carried away with her dancing and accidently knocks into Frida at 2:40! The girls rehearsed dances with their South African born American choreographer Graham Tainton (who emigrated to Sweden) for their stage routines, doing advanced gymnastics and aerobics exercises in the dance studio at the Polar Music office in Baldersgatan in Stockholm. Graham Tainton had been Frida's jazz dance teacher before Abba and said:
"Frida is extremely talented. She could have been a professional dancer without any doubt. She made a lot of progress and this gave her an even bigger interest. When we meet we dance and dance, we can't stop dancing!".
So Long was recorded at Glen Studio, Stockholm on August 22 1974 and released on November 18 1974 as the first single from their third album "Abba", with I've Been Waiting For You as the B-side. This song was released instead of the stronger "S.O.S" because it was an up-tempo shuffle rocker with a beat and musical style similar to their Eurovision-conquering "Waterloo", and was thought to stand a greater chance of becoming a hit
It was not a great success however and has the distinction of giving Abba their worst international chart performance reaching the top ten in only 2 countries: #3 Austria, #7 Sweden. It received no air play on Radio 1 and failed to chart in the UK, as Abba struggled to overcome the curse of Eurovision one-hit wonders. From the start British critics had said things like "Abba won't survive Eurovision. They won the contest, but they'll never be able to return to the top of the charts with another strong song. Nobody has ever made a career from it." It was not until SOS was released in June 1975 that they re-established themselves in the UK charts.
Bjorn recalls: "Groups like ours that had been tagged as 'Eurovision winners from Continental Europe' were not meant to have more than one hit. There was a point a few singles into our career following that initial success with Waterloo when we had 2 or 3 flops at least in the UK. We were almost beginning to doubt ourselves, or at least I was. This was a period when we were definitely not at our best. We had been trying to be a rock band more than a pop band. We had released songs like 'So Long' trying to be just that, and then we found out that it was not us. So we said to ourselves "Let's write the songs we want to write and nothing but". And from then on we felt free to use all the styles we liked from German schlager to Italian ballads, French chanson and Anglo-Saxon pop. We tried our hand at everything."
Benny recalls: "It's not a good song at all. At this point we wanted 'Rock Me' as a single, but we were advised that with Bjorn singing it would be difficult to identify it as an Abba record. The recordings we did at Glen Studio almost never turned out that well, as the acoustics weren't exactly the best. The sound on a track like 'So Long' was much too hard and sort of steely." Glen Studio was located in the basement of the Glenmark family home. Sound engineer Michael Tretow grabbed the opportunity to try out new tricks and methods. For 'So Long' he placed the guitar amplifier in the Glenmark family's tiled pool hall, using it as an echo chamber!

Music / Lyrics: Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus
Lead vocals: Agnetha & Frida

You think you're gonna make me softer
With your fancy car, a ha ha
But I can tell you all your tricks
Ain't gonna get you far, a ha ha
They say that money's got a magic touch
But not to me it doesn't mean that much
You won't have me tonight
Alright, alright, alright, alright

So long, see you honey
Can't buy me with your money
Tracy, Daisy they may be crazy
But I'll never be your girl
So long, see you honey
Can't buy me with your money
You know it's not worth tryin'
So long, so long, so long

You didn't have to send me flowers
Like you did today a ha ha
I wouldn't keep a thing from you
I gave them all away, a ha ha
The girls might fall for everything you've got
But I'm not one of them you know I'm not
You won't have me tonight
Alright, alright, alright, alright

So long, see you honey
Can't buy me with your money
Tracy, Daisy they may be crazy
But I'll never be your girl
So long, see you honey
Can't buy me with your money
You know it's not worth tryin'
So long, so long, so long

So long, see you honey
Can't buy me with your money
You know it's not worth tryin'
So long, so long, so long
So long, so long, so long
So long, so long, so long

Category:

Music

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• Abba

[ABBAmadeinsweden]

Thanks for the video. Frida looks great in that skirt !

[abbafanglosuk]

Cheers Tiberius - yeah their outfits were often very eye catching. Their costume designer Owe Sandstrom deserves the thanks of all us fans for his creative role in their entertaining perfiormances!

[Grandpaw2511]

Howdy John, Agnetha in tight white and Frida's belly button what's not to love especially the dance number at the end.

[abbafanglosuk]

Hiya Lenny - yep they knew how to dress eye catchingly without overdoing it and their dancing was as good and original as their singing thanks to their regular choreography lessons !

[songsungu]

thanks for this one and especially the liner notes. as Abba's geatest fan i soak up all info about them. I am deeply interested in the early years as i eas with my cousins in Germany at the time and ABBA hit me between the eyes. I was amazed upon returning to the states to find out that outside of dancing queen they were mostly unheard. thanks

[abbafanglosuk]

That is a feature of my videos Christian, to put all I can about the song and performance to make the video more complete for the viewers - then I feel I've done a good job! The early years were a struggle to breakthrough, even after the success of Eurovision as the failure of this excellent song meant it was 14 months after Wayerloo before they returned to our charts with SOS. It was even harder for them to break through in USA being a group from unfashionable Sweden, as you found out yourself!

[TheSpiritofAbbaPart3]

If you watch closely, the girls give some of their best eye communication and facial expressions in this performance of any Abba song or performance; watch Aggies piercing eye stare and biting mouth at 0.05-0:15, and Frida's sultry eye and submissive mouth swoon at 1:42-1:46, both directed at the mythical boyfriend in this song. The 2 complement each other so perfectly, along with their different dance styles.

[vintagerosenz]

dont they also sing a version of this song and Frida flashes non-stop? haha :)

omg 0.54-0.59 LOL!

[lolololo004]

This is the best music is not it striking today

[Netro85]

Agneta's playback is better than Frida's playback !

[Netro85]

I'm sure, if ABBA participed int the Eurovision 2012, they would win again !!! :D

[thenutbar44]

This is a Gem, thanks for posting

[thenutbar44]

I think this is the hottest performance I remember seeing from them. I wish I were in the front row !

[MrPekisha]

1:24-1:30 Look at that women with that nice jumper :DDDDDD

[flamingcrystal05]

gotta love Frida's little dance 0:54 to 0:59 sooo cute! :))

[B52sguy]

Can anyone even imagine how much audience adoration ABBA would recieve in today's world? I've followed them for (gasp) 40 years and still do not understand how anyone could not like or love them.

Joseph F

Portland, OR  USA

[oliebbommel59]

Hot

[70Kenny]

What I wouldn't give to attend a reunion concert of these marvelous singing Swedes! Their sound is so addicting!