Summer Night City
September 6, 1978
Summer Night City is a song by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song has a playing time of 3 minutes and 35 seconds, with the lead vocals are alternated in pairs from all four members or sung together. In September 1978, it appeared as the first single from the sessions for the sixth album by the group; Voulez -Vous.
The song is from the so-called " Disco Lives " a large city.
Formation
Recording begins for Summer Night City was the 29th May 1978. The working title was Kalle Skändare. By August, one month before the first publication, the song was still being revised. As one of the rather few ABBA songs, it has a real disco beat and pulsing, driving rhythms. Although Summer Night City was successful later, Andersson and Ulvaeus were never really happy with it. They regarded him as a track that was not unusual enough. Although they had tried everything, from a compression until the removal of some passages, he lacked after that something fundamental. It is probably due that this was originally planned for the new album track was ultimately not placed on the track list. Summer Night City also was the first song that was produced in the new recording studio of Polar Music.
On 22 and 23 August 1978, a music video was shot for the song.
The B-side, a medley of the songs Pick a Bale of Cotton, On Top of Old Smokey and Midnight Special, had been taken as early as May 1975. The benefit was a West German Charity Benefit ( "Stars in the sign of a good star " ), the proceeds of which should benefit the fight against cancer.
Success
The result of Summer Night City was also not satisfactory for ABBA, as the previous single - Eagle. For one, it was the first single that did not come since SOS in the top 3 in the British charts, on the other hand it cut not particularly well in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In the United States the single was not released. Sweden, Finland and Ireland were the only European countries where Summer Night City topped the chart. In Belgium ( # 2), Mexico ( # 10) and Zimbabwe (# 4 ) experienced at least among the top ten.