Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)
October 29, 1979
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight ) is a song by ABBA from the year 1979. It was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the lead vocals were taken over by Agnetha Fältskog. In October 1979, the title on the second greatest hits album by the group was published and appeared in parallel as a single. As a B-side there was the song The King Has Lost His Crown from the album Voulez -Vous, which was published in April of the same year.
The play is about a woman who must spend their evenings alone always and ardently desires a man. 1992 was Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! set to the track list of the album ABBA Gold, in the first edition, however remastered and in a slightly shortened version. The catchy theme tune of the song, consisting of keyboard and synthesizer, was taken up in 2005 by the American singer Madonna and used for their hit Hung Up, which reached # 1 on the charts in over 40 countries and sold more than nine million times.
Formation
Andersson and Ulvaeus were convinced that was just a title with a danceable rhythm sell well. So they started to work in August 1979 on a song with the working title Been and Gone and Done It. The recordings took also part of September in claim, wherein also the music video was filmed on September 5, parallel recording. For this he has been reduced to 3:15 minutes. Also in early September, the photo shoot for the cover of this single as well as for the new best-of album of the group took place.
Originally came also another recording for a single release being: Rubber Ball Man. Because Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight ) but longer corresponded to a disco recording, Rubber Ball Man was never completed and not released as a single.
In the spring of 1980, the song for the compilation Gracias por la música was Lady under the title of ¡! ¡ Dame! ¡ Dame! recorded in Spanish and published in the same year in Spain as a single, but could not get into the charts. In Argentina, this version served as a B-side for the single Gracias por la música, which reached # 4.
Success
The single reached number one in six countries, including Belgium, Finland and Ireland. A big hit with the song ABBA landed in France, where it topped the charts five weeks and sold over half a million times. In six other countries Gimme arrived! Gimme! Gimme! in the top ten, for example, in Australia, where the single reached number 8. In New Zealand, South Africa and Japan they came in the top 20 of the charts, while it was not released in the United States.