SOS (ABBA song)
| SOS | |
|---|---|
| ABBA | |
| publication | June 1975 |
| length | 3:21 |
| Genre (s) | Pop / Europop |
| Author (s) | Benny Andersson , Stig Anderson , Björn Ulvaeus |
| album | ABBA |
| Cover versions | |
| 1975 | Lena Andersson |
| 1992 | Erasure |
| 2018 | Cher |
SOS is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA from 1975, which is considered the group's “first real pop song”. The music is by Benny Andersson , text and title by Stig Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus , the solos were done by Agnetha Fältskog . In June 1975 SOS was released as the third single from the album ABBA and reached the top of the charts in seven countries.
The genesis
The recordings for SOS were one of the first for the album ABBA and took place on August 22, 1974. The working title was initially Turn Me On . The synthesizer and guitar tracks were added during a makeover when Andersson and Ulvaeus were on a night shift. The song was also recorded in Swedish by Agnetha Fältskog for her solo album Elva kvinnor i ett hus .
Although the group believed the song had hit potential when it was finished, it was only released in June 1975 as the third single from the ABBA album .
The B-side Man in the Middle has been replaced in some countries by I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do , Bang-a-Boomerang or Mamma Mia .
Success and importance
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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The single was decoupled from the album in June 1975 about two months after the release of the LP ABBA and was a further attempt by the group and their manager to establish themselves on the international and especially on the English-speaking music market. After the two previous singles So Long and I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do had hardly any success, SOS was now hoping for a new chart hit. The expectations were fulfilled, because the single reached number 1 in Germany , Belgium , Australia , New Zealand , Mexico, Costa Rica and South Africa and became a top ten hit in ten other countries . Thus achieved SOS 2nd place in Austria, Norway, Italy, the Netherlands and Zimbabwe, as well as 3rd place in Switzerland, number 4 in Ireland, 6th in the UK, 7th place in Denmark and No. 9 in Canada.
In the UK, the success of SOS was particularly significant for ABBA, as the single was the first to make it into the top ten again 18 months after its number one hit, Waterloo . The group had put its image as a one-hit wonder here. In Germany, SOS was at the top of the charts for seven weeks and sold around 500,000 times; The song was also number one for six weeks in New Zealand and four weeks in South Africa. In Australia, SOS reached the top position in January 1976 as the third ABBA single in a row and sold over 75,000 copies. The single was not released in Sweden because the ABBA album quickly became the country's best-selling album to date and, in the opinion of the group's manager, no further singles were necessary for album advertising. After a promotional tour of the USA in November 1975, SOS came in at number 15 on the Billboard charts , which was a relatively great success for the group.
Cover versions
The song has been covered frequently by Men Without Hats (1989), Erasure (1992), Manfred Mann's Earth Band (2003), The Rasmus (2006), Chris de Burgh (2011), Portishead (2016), Cher (2018) ) and Gotthard (2020).
literature
- Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. Story and songs compact. Bosworth Edition, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86543-227-8 (German translation: Cecilia Senge).
- Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. Bosworth Edition, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-86543-100-4 (German translation: Helmut Müller).
Web links
- Sending Out An SOS Retrieved July 23, 2018
- List of cover versions on secondhandsongs.com
- Lyrics on golyr.de
- Chart overview ABBA Charts , accessed on February 6, 2017
- Christoph Dallach: An SOS for your career . Spiegel Online, January 4, 2013
- Music video on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ Palm, Licht und Schatten, 2006 edition, p. 316
- ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Abba - Story and Songs compact, p. 37.
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ UKmix.org estimate based on the German Top 20 - The Chart Of 1976 (Engl.) Retrieved on February 7, 2017
- ↑ Peter Charley: THE ABBA ALBUM Horowitz Publications, January 1977 (?) Retrieved February 6, 2017
- ↑ SOS by ABBA on secondhandsongs.com (accessed October 10, 2019)
- ^ ABBA tribute: Nic Maeder sings «SOS». Retrieved March 13, 2020 .
Remarks
- ↑ Mexico ( Memento of March 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on February 6, 2017
- ↑ Costa Rica ( Memento of October 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved on February 6, 2017
- ^ South Africa ( Memento of February 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved February 6, 2017
- ↑ Italy ( Memento of March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 6, 2017
- ^ Zimbabwe ( Memento of March 8, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 6, 2017
- ↑ Denmark ( Memento of October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved on February 6, 2017
- ↑ Canada ( Memento March 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ). Retrieved February 6, 2017