Happy New Year by ABBA—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2025-26

                                                                        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.

There have not been many songs for January 1.  For years we were stuck with U2’s first big hit, New Year’s Day released in 1987 and dedicated to the Polish Solidarity movement.  It set the tone for decades of self-important and self-righteous songs with supposedly meaningful and progressive themes with Bono doing his patented vocal pyrotechnics.  A lot of folks love that stuff, but it has come to irritate the hell out of me.  

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 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.  Needless to say, Swift had a very, very good 2025 with a record shattering world tour and a hot new relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce   and ’26 might be even better for her with a new Showgirl identity.  Glad somebody is doing 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.  It 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.

ABBA around the piano for the New Year.

ABBA was formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group’s name was an acronym of the first letters of their first names and sly pun on a rhyme scheme frequently used in pop music lyrics. Originally a folk quartet, they reached international stardom when they began writing, recording, and touring using English language lyrics even in their home country. They were one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest and establishing that televised completion as the most important international venue for emerging artists.  At the height of their world-wide popularity, they were the biggest and most important Swedish economic export topping industrial giants like Volvo and Saab.

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 ‘70s style costumes, heavy on synthetic fibers, bright colors, and glitter and the good looks of the two women were part of the 

                                                        ABBA's 1980 European single release of Happy New Year.

Happy New Year was off 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.

                                                         The Argentine release of Felicidad.

ABBA also released a version in Spanish, Felicidad, which became a top hit in Argentina and other Latin American countries.  But the song never got traction in the U.S.

It has, however, become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Sweden where videotaped performances are the annual highlight of the celebration.

 

New Year’s Day by U2—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2024-‘25

 

                         

                                                                    New Years's Day from U2's third album War in 1983.

I watched Irish band U2 be presented with the Kennedy Center Honors in December 2022 on the annual CBS TV broadcast with some mixed feelings.  On one hand, the super group has a long history of churning out compelling rock anthems for almost every unjust conflict, social justice and human rights crisis, and international cause of the last 40 years, almost always on the right side if sometimes fuzzy about holding some powerful interests personally responsible for the suffering they decry.  On the other hand, the smugness, preening, and self-congratulations of the band’s leaders and main writers Bono and The Edge is more than a little off-putting.  

U2 on the red carpet for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors.

But it is natural to present today their first big international hit New Year’s Day from their third album War in 1983.  The album had an extended anti-war and pacifist theme while the song was inspired the Solidarity movement rising against Soviet domination in Poland and local Polish Communist leadership.

The band came together as students at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a secondary public school operated by the Church of Ireland (Anglican) in Dublin when 14-year-old drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posted a notice looking for fellow musicians to form a new band.  Five students responded, none of them very accomplished on their instruments.  Three of them—Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals, David Evans (The Edge) on lead guitar and back-up vocals, and Adam Clayton on bass guitar—and Mullen have remained together as the band finally named U2 in 1978 ever since.  

As a post-punk high school band, the lads posed with fire arms for a publicity shot--pretending to be revolutionaries.   

Originally inspired by English post-punk, they have evolved and re-invented themselves several times while honing their musical abilities and songwriting skills with the assistance of producers like Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Nellee Hooper, Flood, Howie B, and others.

Over the course of their spectacular career U2 have released 14 studio albums and are one of the world’s best-selling music acts, selling an estimated 150–170 million records worldwide.  They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, and in 2005, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility.  Rolling Stone ranked U2 at # 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and social justice causes, including Amnesty International, Jubilee 2000, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, War Child, and Music Rising.

Despite proudly proclaiming their Irish identity and supporting the Catholic minority in Ulster—Sunday Bloody Sunday was another track on the War album—and supporting Irish re-unification, they have stirred anger and resentment in Eire for sheltering their enormous income in a Dutch corporation.  Threatened with prosecution in the Republic for tax evasion, Bono and the Edge live together with their families in a Swiss castle and cannot safely return again to Dublin.

New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday were significant anthems on U2's War album.

They have also been criticized for lucrative corporate deals with iTunes, Apple, Bank of America, and others, as well as for sucking up to some powerful global oligarchs and unsavory national leaders for support of the One campaign and other global charities.

But on the whole, their body of work and real world positive impact are beyond quibbling.

Happy New Year’s Day!

Happy New Year by ABBA—Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2023-‘24

                                                        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.

There have not been many songs for January 1.  For years we were stuck with U2’s first big hit, New Year’s Day released in 1987 and dedicated to the Polish Solidarity movement.  It set the tone for decades of self-important and self-righteous songs with supposedly meaningful and progressive themes with Bono doing his patented vocal pyrotechnics.  A lot of folks love that stuff, but it has come to irritate the hell out of me.  

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 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.  Needless to say, Swift had a very, very good 2023 and ’24 might be even better for her.  Glad somebody is doing 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.

ABBA around the piano for the New Year.

ABBA was formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group’s name was an acronym of the first letters of their first names and sly pun on a rhyme scheme frequently used in pop music lyrics. Originally a folk quartet, they reached international stardom when they began writing, recording, and touring using English language lyrics even in their home country. They were one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest and establishing that televised completion as the most important international venue for emerging artists.  At the height of their world-wide popularity, they were the biggest and most important Swedish economic export topping industrial giants like Volvo and Saab.

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 ‘70s style costumes, heavy on synthetic fibers, bright colors, and glitter and the good looks of the two women were part of the appeal.

                                        ABBA's 1980 European single release of Happy New Year.

Happy New Year was off 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.

                                        The Argentine release of Felicidad.

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.

It has, however, become a New Year’s Eve tradition in Sweden where videotaped performances are the annual highlight of the celebration.

New Year’s Day by U2—The Murfin Winter Holidays Music Festival 2022-‘23

                                                       New Years's Day from U2's third album War in 1983.

I watched Irish band U2 be presented with the Kennedy Center Honors last Wednesday on the annual CBS TV broadcast with some mixed feelings.  On one hand, the super group has a long history of churning out compelling rock anthems for almost every unjust conflict, social justice and human rights crisis, and international cause of the last 40 years, almost always on the right side if sometimes fuzzy about holding some powerful interests personally responsible for the suffering they decry.  On the other hand, the smugness, preening, and self-congratulations of the band’s leaders and main writers Bono and The Edge is more than a little off-putting. 

    U2 on the red carpet for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors.

But it is natural to present their first big international hit New Year’s Day from their third album War in 1983.  The album had an extended anti-war and pacifist theme while the song was inspired the Solidarity movement rising against Soviet domination in Poland and local Polish Communist leadership.

The band came together as students at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, a secondary public school operated by the Church of Ireland (Anglican) in Dublin when 14-year-old drummer Larry Mullen Jr. posted a notice looking for fellow musicians to form a new band.  Five students responded, none of them very accomplished on their instruments.  Three of them—Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals, David Evans (the Edge) on lead guitar and back-up vocals, and Adam Clayton on bass guitar—and Mullen have remained together as the band finally named U2 in 1978 ever since. 

U2 post-punk in high school pose with guns.

Originally inspired by English post-punk, they have evolved and re-invented themselves several times while honing their musical abilities and songwriting skills with the assistance of producers like Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Nellee Hooper, Flood, Howie B, and others.

Over the course of their spectacular career U2 have released 14 studio albums and are one of the world’s best-selling music acts, selling an estimated 150–170 million records worldwide.  They have won 22 Grammy Awards, more than any other band, and in 2005, they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked U2 at number 22 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.  Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and social justice causes, including Amnesty International, Jubilee 2000, the ONE/DATA campaigns, Product Red, War Child, and Music Rising.

New Year's Day and Sunday Bloody Sunday were significant anthems on U2's War album.

Despite proudly proclaiming their Irish identity and supporting the Catholic minority in Ulster—Sunday Bloody Sunday was another track on the War album—and supporting Irish re-unification, they have stirred anger and resentment in Eire for sheltering their enormous income in a Dutch corporation.  Threatened with prosecution in the Republic for tax evasion, Bono and the Edge live together with their families in a Swiss castle and cannot safely return again to Dublin.

They have also been criticized for lucrative corporate deals with iTunes, Apple, Bank of America and others, as well as to sucking up to some powerful global oligarchs and unsavory national leaders for support of the One campaign and other global charities.

But on the whole, their body of work and real world positive impact are beyond quibbling.

Happy New Year’s Day!