Dancing Queen
ABBA's Dancing Queen is one of the greatest pop songs of all time; when the ISO first began assigning codes to musical works in 1995, Dancing Queen was first with ISWC T-000.000.001-0.
Unashamedly inspired by Georgae McCrae's 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby", the world best selling single that year, the original working title of DQ was "Boogaloo" or "Boogaloo Nights". Additionally, as both Benny and Bjorn had folk music backgrounds, the melody and harmonies (especially the opening harmony in the demo version), are also influenced by Delaney & Bonnie's "Sing My Way Home".
Have a listen to both the above mentioned tracks before turning your ear to this uncut demo of DQ before it was revised for release. This is not to undercut the genius of ABBA in creating DQ, invention does not occur in isolation, but is inspired by various influences.
The original studio demo of DQ began with a verse that was later cut: "Baby, baby, you're out of sight/hey, you're looking all right tonight/when you come to the party/listen to the guys/they've got the look in their eyes..." Quirky lyrics, partly a product of ABBA's non-English speaking backgrounds, were part of their appeal, but that original verse, though beautifully sung, had to go. That demo track was also over 5 minutes long, and the opening lines of the official release, "Friday nights when the lights are low..." only occur some 2.34 minutes into that demo version.
Dancing Queen recording sessions began in August 1975, and there is some footage from that session; I am particularly struck by the sight of Frida with a "cafe bar" coffee cup in her hand, and Aggie wearing her sunglasses during the recordings, so very 1970s in style. And note how at around 50 seconds in to that clip, the camera suddenly focuses on Aggie, she is free of her glamour make-up and is apparently chewing gum (the band were supposedly qitting smoking), she nods at the explanation of the timing of the strings and confirms when the voices will come in.
The first live performance of DQ was 18 June 1976, televised on Swedish TV during a gala Royal Swedish Opera show in honour of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his fiance (now Queen Silvia). We cleary see Aggie and Frida make eye-contact with Silvia and the humble delight in their faces. In their period costumes the pair present a vision of classical courtly beauty.
In 1993, Frida performed an acapella version of DQ to honour Queen Silvia on her 50th birthday (backed by The Real Group). These days Frida has the official title: Her Serene Highness The Dowager Princess Reuss, Dowager Countess of Plauen.
The intended B-side of DQ, "Happy Hawaii", was supposed to celebrate the royal honeymoon, but that trip did not go quite as happily as planned and out of respect the song was buried in an album release instead. The single came out with "That's Me" on the flip side. That song includes the line "I don't believe in fairyales" which hints at royal honeymoon realities.
The official DQ video is notable for the velour leisure suits worn to great effect by the girls. Although dated now, and with a little clumsiness in the dancing, we are mesmerized as the movements chime with the euphoric rhythm. Additionally, the camera does not hesitate to give special attention to Aggie's youthful blond looks and expressive performance, giving less attention to Frida, whose darker hair and costume stand out less against the black background.
At 3:50 as they sing "see that girl" with arms out pointing into the crowd; Frida's gesture is somewhat obscured, so that we focus on Aggie, and are reminded of her similar gestures during performances of Waterloo (see at 1.08) in this video from Star Parade (1974).
The legacy of DQ is remarkable. In addition to selling millions of copies (both as singles and as part of the Arrival album), it has inspired many covers, translations, and has become a key component of the gay appropriation of ABBA after the cult movies "Priscilla queen of the desert" and "Muriel's Wedding" (both Australian productions). Aggie treats this all with great humour: in this clip from her 2013 appearance at the Heaven Club (London) the crowd demands that she sing Dancing Queen and she simply quips "I think it is here that all the dancing queens are".
Some of the better cover versions of DQ are linked here (many more can be found):
And here is the not-quite-so-polished official Spanish version by ABBA
And finally, not related to DQ as such, another ABBA song, SOS, is also acclaimed by some as the greatest pop song of all time (although the mood is more melancholy by comparison).
Supposedly the English recording of SOS took so may takes that Aggie sang lying down, unable to muster the energy to stand any longer, think about that!