The Day Before You Came
October 1982
The Day Before You Came is the last song of the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog sung by. In October 1982, the piece as a single with the Cassandra B-side was released.
The song is about a woman with a man whose encounter changed her life forever; now she muses about the things that she had done the day before.
Origin and recording
The Day Before You Came was supposed to appear on the ninth album by the band. The recordings for this purpose began in the spring of 1982, but were not continued, as the band was in the resolution. Instead, it was decided that the new recordings as singles and on the album The Singles - The First 10 Years publish. Recorded in the spring songs You Owe Me One, I Am the City and were Just Like That cheerful again in contrast to the songs on the album The Visitors, as well as recorded in early August songs Cassandra and Under Attack. Only with The Day Before You Came sat one continues the sombre style of The Visitors.
The song was recorded on August 20, 1982 under the working title The Lidande Fågeln. It was the only song in which no real drum, but a drum machine was used. Björn Ulvaeus played acoustic guitar, but was barely audible. In the instrumental breaks Anni-Frid Lyngstad delivered operatic interjections. In addition, the snare drum was contributed by Åke Sundquist.
Video
The music video consists of various scenes in which the encounter, the flirting and the contact of a woman ( Agnetha Fältskog ) and a man is shown. This is among other things the crossing over the eastern Årstabroarna in Stockholm to see as well as the railway station in Tumba.
Hit Parade placements
Andersson and Ulvaeus had hoped to be able to place well with this single in the British charts. However, the song did not even finish in the top 30 in other European countries, however, it came in the top five.
Cover versions
- The British group Blancmange released in 1984 a re-recording of the song, which was more successful than the original in some countries.
- The singer Andrea Wilke sang 1983, the German version I was too long ' alone.
- The British singer Tanita Tikaram released her version in 1998.
- In 2006, a version of the Swedish mezzo- soprano Anne Sofie von Otter appeared.
Quotes
"I believe that the song has been completely misunderstood by the public. "
"With this song the feeling was connected, that everything comes to an end. "
" Perhaps we should have gone ahead when the song had reached number one. "