Take a chance on me
| Take a chance on me | |
|---|---|
| ABBA | |
| publication | January 14, 1978 |
| length | 4:04 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| Author (s) |
Benny Andersson Björn Ulvaeus |
| album | ABBA - The Album |
Take a Chance on Me (German translation "Setze auf mich") is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA from 1977. It was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus ; Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad shared the lead vocals. The song was first released in December 1977 on the LP ABBA - The Album and released in January 1978 with I'm a Marionette on the B-side as the second single from the album. In addition, a live version of the piece was included on the B-side of the later single I Have a Dream , which was also released in 1986 on the album ABBA Live .
Take a Chance on Me is characterized in particular by its catchy and brisk rhythm, which is emphasized by polyphonic chanting . The text is about a woman who adores a man and asks him to give her a chance. The song is one of the most popular ABBA hits and the group's most successful singles. In addition, around 20 cover versions were created over the years , of which the A * Teens from 2000 is the best known.
Origin and background
The song was written around the headline that Björn Ulvaeus came across while jogging . While running, he became aware of a constant “tk-ch” sound, a rhythm that arose from his steady running movement. The search for the right words for this rhythm followed.
“I thought, if the music sounds like 'Chuck-a chuck chuck chuck', which English sentence could match the rhythm of a chorus? The first notes of the chorus are very short and only the last note is long. And so I came up with the line: 'Take a chance on me'. "
This very rhythm is one of the characteristic elements of the song, which is used at the beginning of the song. Take a Chance on Me begins directly with the chorus in a cappella version, in which the piece gets by without instrumental music thanks to the polyphonic singing. The recurring phrase "Take a Chance, Take a, Take a Chance Chance ..." in the background, which occurs throughout the playing time, had to be recorded in several attempts because the technology at the time meant that it was not possible to copy the sound elements. Above all to take a breath, the singers Andersson and Ulvaeus had to start over and over again the lines of text and then overlap the individual recording snippets in order to achieve a consistent rhythm.
Was recorded Take a Chance on Me , the first provisional title Billy Boy wore in Stockholm "Marcus Music Studio". The first attempt to record the song was on August 3, 1977. However, the result was not satisfactory, so a new attempt was started on August 15, 1977. An approximately two-minute instrumental excerpt from the original version was released in 1994 as part of the ABBA medley ABBA Undeleted and can be heard from around 1:36.
In addition to Benny Andersson ( keyboard ), Björn Ulvaeus ( guitar ), Agnetha Fältskog (vocals) and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (vocals), Ola Brunkert ( drums ), Rutger Gunnarsson ( bass ) and Lasse Wellander (guitar) were involved in the recordings . The sound engineer in charge was Michael B. Tretow . Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus were responsible for the production .
success
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Take A Chance On Me was released on January 27, 1978 as the second single from ABBA - The Album and reached number 1 in the charts of Austria , Great Britain , Ireland , Belgium , Mexico and Costa Rica. It also became a top ten hit in nine other countries . Thus achieved Take a Chance on Me No. 2 in the Netherlands and Zimbabwe, 3rd place in Germany, Switzerland and the United States, 6th place in South Africa, 7th place in Canada, 8th place in Norway, 10th in France and number 14 in New Zealand and 67th place on the Japanese sales charts. In the USA, Take A Chance On Me is the most successful ABBA single after Dancing Queen, with a gold award for over one million copies sold .
Music video
With the exception of a short scene, the music video only shows a white background in the chorus or a black background in the verses. On the one hand, the tracking shots are particularly noticeable, with the camera first moving away from one of the two women and then returning to the other of the two, and on the other hand the colorful costumes of the women (Anni-Frid Lyngstad wears a blue and Agnetha Fältskog a red costume in front of the white Background). The music video was shot on January 10, 1978 in the SVT studios in Stockholm.
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).
- Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Judy Craymer: Mamma Mia! How can I resist you? The story of Mamma Mia! and the songs of Abba . Krüger, Frankfurt 2006, ISBN 3-8105-0185-9 .
Web links
- Take a Chance on Me - ABBAs Farewell to Innocence.Retrieved July 23, 2018
- Additional information at www.abbaannual.com (English)
- Lyrics on golyr.de
- Music video on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ↑ release date
- ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. The Complete Guide to Their Music . Omnibus Press, London 2005, ISBN 1-84449-505-1 , p. 44 f.
- ↑ Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Judy Craymer: Mamma Mia! How can I resist you? The story of Mamma Mia! and the songs by Abba , p. 60
- ↑ a b The story of Take a Chance on Me on abbasite.com ( memento of the original from August 19, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. The Complete Guide to their Music . Omnibus Press, London 2005, ISBN 1-84449-505-1 , p. 45 and p. 95.
- ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ riaa.com
