Happy New Year--ABBA
For
Americans New Year’s Day is a kind
of low key and lethargic holiday. Many New
Year’s Eve revelers nurse hangovers. For other’s it is a spend the day in pajamas and robe affair to veg out in
front of the tube to watch the Rose Parade and endless college bowl games. It is the biggest day of the year for
ordering pizza delivery.
For many Americans New Year's day means drinking coffee, nursing a
hangover and watching the Tournament of Roses Parade from Pasadena.
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In
2017 Taylor Swift offered us an alternative. I know that there are folks who follow this blog who have nothing but scorn for the country/pop diva and her endlessly
autobiographical songs of failed
relationships. But I have always
thought that if you take her for what she is and don’t try to compare her
female stars of country music’s golden
age she does what she does very well.
New
Year’s Day
was off Swift’s sixth studio album, Reputation.
She co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff. She debuted
the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and was only a mid-level country music hit. But the critical
reception was very positive. The
song, however, does not seem to have long
term traction outside Swift’s large and devoted fan base.
But we are not turning to either of those songs, or a Bon Jovi entrant into the New Year sweepstakes. Instead we are turning to those relentless Swedish Pop hit makers, ABBA.
But we are not turning to either of those songs, or a Bon Jovi entrant into the New Year sweepstakes. Instead we are turning to those relentless Swedish Pop hit makers, ABBA.
ABBA around the piano for the New Year.
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Back
when they first penetrated the American
charts, my rock snob friends derided them. But their catchy melodies and tight harmonies
produced what seemed like an endless list of irresistible ear worms that have outlasted many of
the arena rockers of the era. Their flashy
‘70’s style costumes, heavy on synthetic
fibers, bright colors, and glitter and the good looks of the two women were part of the appeal.
Happy
New Year
was off of their 1980 album Super Trouper
written by Andersson and Ulvaeus with lead vocals are by Fältskog. The song’s working title was the more festive and humorous Daddy Don’t Get
Drunk on Christmas Day, presumably with different lyrics. It was released as a single in Europe in 1999 and
charted in several counties.
ABBA
also released a version in Spanish, Felicidad
and became a top hit in Argentina and
other Latin American countries. But the song never got traction in the
U.S.
ABBA's 1980 European single release of Happy New Year.
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The Argentine release of Felicidad.
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It
has, however, become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Sweden where videotaped performances are the annual highlight
of the celebration.
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