The name of the game

The title of this article is ambiguous. For the TV series of the same name, see The Name of the Game (TV series)

The name of the game
ABBA
publication	October 14, 1977
length	4:55
Genre (s)	pop
Author (s)	Stig Anderson & Bjorn Ulvaeus
text	Bjorn Ulvaeus
music	Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Label	Polar Music
album	ABBA - The Album

The Name of the Game is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA , which was released in 1977 as the first single on their new album ABBA - The Album and was also released on this in the same year. The ABBA singers Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad took turns with the lead vocals . The B-side of the single was the piece I Wonder (Departure) as a live version, which was recorded as part of their concert tour through Europe and Australia.

background

The Name of the Game was u. a. inspired by Stevie Wonder , an important idol of the group. It was also the first song that was recorded in the sessions for their new album ABBA - The Album . The recording, which initially had the working title A Bit of Myself , began on May 31, 1977, and was slightly revised over the summer and early autumn. The song consists of six different parts, which Andersson and Ulvaeus put together into a whole. The music consisted of keyboard tracks, acoustic and electric guitars and a piccolo trumpet . In the beginning, bass and synthesizers were used. Stig Anderson provided the final title, Björn Ulvaeus then wrote the text.

success

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

The name of the game   DE 7th 10/31/1977 (20 weeks)   AT 12 December 15, 1977 (12 weeks)   CH 6th October 29, 1977 (10 weeks)   UK 1 10/22/1977 (12 weeks)   US 12 December 24, 1977 (16 weeks)   SE 2 04/11/1977 (18 weeks)

As the first new single after the ABBA world tour and from the recording sessions for the new album, The Name of the Game became a top ten hit in thirteen countries around the world. It reached 2nd place in Sweden, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, 3rd place in Norway and South Africa, 4th place in New Zealand and Zimbabwe, 5th place in Finland, 6th place in Switzerland and Australia, 7th place in Germany and 10th place in Mexico . It also made it into the top 20 in four other countries, reaching number 12 in Austria, France and the USA and number 15 in Canada. In Great Britain, The Name of the Game was number 1 in the singles charts for four weeks . It was awarded gold and sold 700,000 times. 140,000 units were sold in Sweden and another 560,000 in the USA.

literature

• Carl Magnus Palm: Light and Shadow. ABBA - The real story. Bosworth Musikverlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-86543-100-4 (German translation: Helmut Müller).
• Carl Magnus Palm: Abba. Story and songs compact. Bosworth Music, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86543-227-8 (compact story and songs, German translation: Cecilia Senge).

Web links

• The Name Of The Game - Into A New World . Retrieved July 23, 2018
• Lyrics on golyr.de
• Music video on YouTube

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ABBA Gold - The Success Story, pp. 61/62
2. ↑ see Palm: Story & Songs compact , Bosworth 2007, p. 56
3. ↑ Charts DE Charts AT Charts CH Charts UK Charts US Charts SE
4. ↑ bpi.co.uk CERTIFIED AWARDS, database accessed April 10, 2017
5. ↑ ABBA Charts: United Kingdom - Additional Information ( Memento of the original from March 10, 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
6. ↑ ABBA Charts: Sweden - Additional Information ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2011 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
7. ↑ ABBA Charts: United States of America - Additional Information ( Memento of the original from October 13, 2009 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 

Charts

1. ↑ Chart overview ABBA Charts ( Memento of the original from April 6, 2012 on WebCite ) 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. , accessed April 10, 2017 
2. ↑ ABBA Charts: Ireland ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2016 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
3. ↑ ultratop.be ABBA - The Name Of The Game, accessed on April 10, 2017
4. ↑ dutchcharts.nl ABBA - The Name Of The Game, accessed on April 10, 2017
5. ↑ norwegiancharts.com ABBA - THE NAME OF THE GAME (SONG), accessed April 10, 2017
6. ↑ ABBA Charts: South Africa ( Memento of the original from February 13, 2015 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
7. ↑ charts.org.nz ABBA - THE NAME OF THE GAME (SONG), accessed April 10, 2017
8. ↑ ABBA Charts: Zimbabwe ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2016 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
9. ↑ ABBA Charts: Finland ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2015 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
10. ↑ ABBA Charts: Australia ( Memento of the original from March 10, 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
11. ↑ ABBA Charts: Mexico ( Memento of the original from March 10, 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
12. ↑ ABBA Charts: France ( Memento of the original from March 29, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved April 10, 2017 
13. ↑ ABBA Charts: Canada ( Memento of the original from March 10, 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. Retrieved April 10, 2017