And when the song came out many people said that it's just another simple pop song, not recognizing the clever mix of simplicity, complexity, combined with a !ot of time, talent and effort put into the work.
Holger ... it's my understanding that when promoters wanted to put together the 'Mama Mia!' theatrical play, they discovered that, not only was Abba's music complex & layered, Bjorn & Benny had not written down exactly how they composed their songs, so it was a monumental task to recreate the arrangements for the theatre ... Bart
This is an amazing analysis! This song was difficult one for them to complete. Many people don't know that Bjorn and Benny don't know how to write music or read it. They zen out and play it by ear. That explains why they have alot of things in their songs that shouldn't work, but do! In this case they were left with a big puzzle of how to sequence the song. They switched out verses, then completely removed half of the verse after the first complete chorus... and confessed that they had no idea how to start the song so they just did the half chorus thing and it worked! It's ABBA's brainstorm on fire. The range is all over. Going from high notes to low notes and key changes galore.... amazing! The Winner a Takes It All is another auditory masterpiece which is basically the same melody reworked the entire time... and Chiquitta impresses me, because the melody seems to work against itself, but it creates a wonderful soundscape!
I had no idea that was the story behind the song. I saw some YT clips from when they recorded it and I bet they already knew then it was something special going on there. Love that you mention Winner Takes It All, one of my absolute favorites ;)
Daniel ... when you think about Bjorn & Benny not knowing how to read/ write music, it becomes amazing to realize not only did they composed these complexly structured & layered songs, how they managed to imprint them into their minds for consistent live performances is mind-blowing ... Bart
So cool that you pointed out that insane A5 note! Must've been Agnetha belting out; she did it live in their '77 Australia tour too. This channel needs more subscribers, and more ABBA analyses plsss!!
This is awesome! For such a popular band, there's surprisingly little videos where their songs are analysed. I'm happy I found yours! I'd love to see more videos like this from you ^_^ Explain why ABBA is so genius to simple mortals like me. Also - you're very cute and I love how genuinely excited you are about the little puzzle pieces in the song
As the bass goes, as you say it works as an "error, and it works" paraphrasing, is an essential thing how we make bass since the 90s. Not back then, maybe an invention of Rutger. I just love him.
Amazing ! from two guys who did not read or write music, and two girls who barely spoke English .....together they produced the most perfect pop dance song in music history !
this is really great analysis, you really get in depth in and nerd out over really specific details in ways I haven't really seen on other channels, was kind of wishing you had done like 50 songs like this after watching this vid lol
These high notes are fantastically sung by Agnetha. By the way, their album MORE ABBA GOLD has amazing songs too, with super arrangements. :) Some of Abba's synth-pop songs were made in very modern ways at that time, for example: Elain, Should I Love Or Cry, Under Attack, I Am The City, You Owe Me One, The Visitors, On & On & On - they sound very electronic, even back vocals have sometimes very interesting solutions...
Yeah I have an Abba piano sheet music book and have spent quite some time analysing their chord progressions. There is significant use of bass inversions which make all kinds of massive differences in the sound of the end result. This is the stuff you have to learn if you want to make great music - learn from your masters, whoever they may be. Not so that you can copy them, but so that you have more tools in your toolbox.
My wife, an excellent musician (jazz and symphony clarinet) and Sop 1 symphony chorister, pointed out that a signature thing for ABBA was to introduce a slight variation in their melody at the very end of each song just to maximize the listener's interest right to the end. Therefore I'd vote for the C instead of the C# being intentional by the bass player near the end. Maybe that would be a good theme for a future video. (PS she literally knows all the lyrics on the ABBA Gold 40 album!).
Great analysis, thanks. Did you notice the vocal 'mm-mm' s after 'looking out for a place to go'. And of course the biggest hook is the opening piano slide which makes the song recognisable in literally less than a second.
Jake, brilliant analysis - you remind me of Rick Beato, also on YT. The Winner Takes it All is also one of my favourites. It would be great to see you split that one apart, too. Keep up the good work.
Not only "Dancing Queen" is dope, but your Channel is dope too, when analyzing more songs from Abba (10 albums... so you're in a hurry ;-) as part of your channel). I wish you, #JakeBorg a wonderful time !
Well done man. Enjoyed this. You forgot to mention the most memorable part of the song - which is its opening with a descending piano roll. I’d also like you to talk more about the intricate harmonies the girls are doing. As a singer, it’s tricky to sing those lines exactly!
Jake ... I know you posted this two-part Abba Analysis a while ago, but it's new to me ... and I must say, you do a great job in making this technical analysis interesting & fun ... I have an MBA in Quantitative Methods of Analysis & have taught Mathematics, so I find people who overwhelm an audience with "Techno-Babble" are hiding their insecurity about the subject and lose their audience's attention ... a person who really knows his sh*t ... I mean stuff ... can explain a complex topic in the simplest of terms that people can understand & relate to ... you're the latter ... keep up the good work ... Bart
Thank you very much for your warm words! I agree with you, if you can explain something complex in simpler terms it becomes way more fun to listen to! All the best teachers have this skill to bring simplicity to complex subjects.
Your high note face is hilarious 🤣 if you watch performances of this song even if it's playback Agnetha "mimics" the high note most of the times, that's how I first "discovered" it. Cause it's subtle, kind of hidden in all the arrangement
Benny Anderson released piano arrangements of their hits on Deutche Grammophon. Please Check it out. You can really hear the genius when the songs are distilled on solo piano.
great video thanks. If you could explain how the B/D# is working here as it does not belong in the key of A Major. it would be much appreciated. im guess it relates to some classical cadence which im not familiar with.
Can you tell me why ‘Slipping through my fingers’ breaks my heart? Oh, and then, in the middle 8, trample on it and kicks it to shit. There is something very particular and maybe Scandi about those chord sequences...
In the second part of the chorus, would you say the song modulates to E Major then comes back? There are too many chords there that are not from the A scale
Nice analysis. But you mainly concentrate on the melody and the chords. And nothing is said about that piano in the background that makes that unique rhythm which, among other things, makes DANCING QUEEN outstanding among most other songs in the pop music history.
Mmm, well. ABBA is a awesome band of wonderful hits. In my personal opinion, I like more the electric guitar in the track of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" with the gold voice of the beauty Anni-Frid and Agnetha, a scandinavian great style, feeling these harmony of always smell to Christmas 😅; "The name of the game" is other of these music's, then "Chiquita", "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queen". Is the time is on your way, I invite all's check my playlist here in UA-cam, I don't create videos but save greatest memories of our world; Other star of the music is in my playlist "Sarah Collins", she create also good music interpretations with her voice of the best hits of all the times. Thanks for share!.
I have not fully made up my mind yet, but I love the keys on it. The knobs seem slightly uneven but only minor issues so far. Thought I could put up a video about it in some time! :)
2:09 That was Anni-Frid (the readhead). In the songs Agneta (the blonde one) usually carried the higher notes as soprano and Anni Frid as mezzo soprano, but she had actually had classical training as a soprano as well. Her tone was warmer and more rounded but he could reach a super high note any time she wanted to.
@@sergiodelcampor no, Hole in the Soul, that's Agnetha. In The Day Before You Came Frida sings operatic part, which makes the song even mire haunting and beautiful.
One surprising nontechnical observation about Abba was that, during the 70s when the world embraced their songs, there was an Abba 'Backlash' in Sweden for their making Pop music instead of meaningful 'protest' songs ...
Yes! This was a common criticism, that it was just shallow and simple. I think it's actually really nice that they did not go down that road and have it more inclusive. It's also highly likely that it was more lucrative for ABBA too ;)
Try Summer Night City (the Unreleased full length version instrumental vocal intro ua-cam.com/video/TuZEVL61uFI/v-deo.html) one of their best... The live version is quite metal, a different version of the orginal and the organ intro is well... Pure Gold (the note at around 0:58 is a sooo good) ua-cam.com/video/e4swpxuHVTs/v-deo.html Listen to the albums there are much better songs in it than the "Greatest Hits" I advise you "The Album" (5th), "The Visitors" (8th and last one)
And when the song came out many people said that it's just another simple pop song, not recognizing the clever mix of simplicity, complexity, combined with a !ot of time, talent and effort put into the work.
Very true! Thank you for your comment!
Holger ... it's my understanding that when promoters wanted to put together the 'Mama Mia!' theatrical play, they discovered that, not only was Abba's music complex & layered, Bjorn & Benny had not written down exactly how they composed their songs, so it was a monumental task to recreate the arrangements for the theatre ... Bart
In my book it is the finest pop song ever written,after all these years it still gives me goose bumps and makes my soul smile.
2:21 OMFG!!! O.O !!!!!! I've heard Dancing Queen more than a thousand times and I never realized about that detail!!!
Neither did I until I did this video ;)
do more song analysis this is so awesome!!!!
Thank you! I'll make more! :)
This is an amazing analysis! This song was difficult one for them to complete. Many people don't know that Bjorn and Benny don't know how to write music or read it. They zen out and play it by ear. That explains why they have alot of things in their songs that shouldn't work, but do! In this case they were left with a big puzzle of how to sequence the song. They switched out verses, then completely removed half of the verse after the first complete chorus... and confessed that they had no idea how to start the song so they just did the half chorus thing and it worked! It's ABBA's brainstorm on fire. The range is all over. Going from high notes to low notes and key changes galore.... amazing! The Winner a Takes It All is another auditory masterpiece which is basically the same melody reworked the entire time... and Chiquitta impresses me, because the melody seems to work against itself, but it creates a wonderful soundscape!
I had no idea that was the story behind the song. I saw some YT clips from when they recorded it and I bet they already knew then it was something special going on there. Love that you mention Winner Takes It All, one of my absolute favorites ;)
Daniel ... when you think about Bjorn & Benny not knowing how to read/ write music, it becomes amazing to realize not only did they composed these complexly structured & layered songs, how they managed to imprint them into their minds for consistent live performances is mind-blowing ... Bart
As a bass player I've had so many conversations about that C..wars have started over less!
Hahaha! ;)
So cool that you pointed out that insane A5 note! Must've been Agnetha belting out; she did it live in their '77 Australia tour too. This channel needs more subscribers, and more ABBA analyses plsss!!
Haha, you must really know your ABBA if you know the exact concerts they did it live ;) Thank you for your nice comment!
MORE ABBA ANALYSIS PLEASE!!!!!
Haha, I have several analysis videos planned!
Yes, please. I am interested in the analysis of The Visitors.
This is awesome! For such a popular band, there's surprisingly little videos where their songs are analysed. I'm happy I found yours!
I'd love to see more videos like this from you ^_^ Explain why ABBA is so genius to simple mortals like me.
Also - you're very cute and I love how genuinely excited you are about the little puzzle pieces in the song
Thank you very much for this very nice comment!!
Abba are so under-rated, they were geniuses. Most bands have their sig chords etc. And not 'super high note' btw I can sing it and I'm an alto.
As the bass goes, as you say it works as an "error, and it works" paraphrasing, is an essential thing how we make bass since the 90s. Not back then, maybe an invention of Rutger. I just love him.
I can't believe I never picked up on that C natural in the Bass after all these years. That blew my mind. Great analysis!
Amazing ! from two guys who did not read or write music, and two girls who barely spoke English .....together they produced the most perfect pop dance song in music history !
Haha, yes! They did probably not attend too many classes in English ;)
this is really great analysis, you really get in depth in and nerd out over really specific details in ways I haven't really seen on other channels, was kind of wishing you had done like 50 songs like this after watching this vid lol
You really know your music theory and analysis - keep it up!
Thank you! Yes, I used to read up quite a lot because I found it so interesting :)
Thanks for both the videos. Amazing explanation!
Great analysis, man. When I started playing this song on my ac guitar, I used to play Fo (F dim) instead of C#7...Greets from Brazil
Thank you!!
These high notes are fantastically sung by Agnetha. By the way, their album MORE ABBA GOLD has amazing songs too, with super arrangements. :) Some of Abba's synth-pop songs were made in very modern ways at that time, for example: Elain, Should I Love Or Cry, Under Attack, I Am The City, You Owe Me One, The Visitors, On & On & On - they sound very electronic, even back vocals have sometimes very interesting solutions...
Yeah I have an Abba piano sheet music book and have spent quite some time analysing their chord progressions. There is significant use of bass inversions which make all kinds of massive differences in the sound of the end result. This is the stuff you have to learn if you want to make great music - learn from your masters, whoever they may be. Not so that you can copy them, but so that you have more tools in your toolbox.
Nice post! The inversions are so typical of Benny Andersson. All of his music seem to incorporate them! :D
More of these please, if you can! Superb and so interesting.
My wife, an excellent musician (jazz and symphony clarinet) and Sop 1 symphony chorister, pointed out that a signature thing for ABBA was to introduce a slight variation in their melody at the very end of each song just to maximize the listener's interest right to the end. Therefore I'd vote for the C instead of the C# being intentional by the bass player near the end. Maybe that would be a good theme for a future video. (PS she literally knows all the lyrics on the ABBA Gold 40 album!).
I genuinely enjoyed these videos, Jake. Thanks. And you made a chart!!!!! LOL
Thank you mate!!
Great analysis! Keep doing that, dude.
Carlos Arias Thank you!
Great job. 👍
wow, great analysis! i can hear even more goodie-gimmicks now.
Great analysis, thanks. Did you notice the vocal 'mm-mm' s after 'looking out for a place to go'. And of course the biggest hook is the opening piano slide which makes the song recognisable in literally less than a second.
You're right! I could've said something about that! Thank you!
Yes! The most famous glissando in pop music!
It is Agnetha singing high note.
great analysis. Loved your style.
Thank you!
Jake, brilliant analysis - you remind me of Rick Beato, also on YT. The Winner Takes it All is also one of my favourites. It would be great to see you split that one apart, too. Keep up the good work.
Not only "Dancing Queen" is dope, but your Channel is dope too, when analyzing more songs from Abba (10 albums... so you're in a hurry ;-) as part of your channel). I wish you, #JakeBorg a wonderful time !
Well done man. Enjoyed this. You forgot to mention the most memorable part of the song - which is its opening with a descending piano roll. I’d also like you to talk more about the intricate harmonies the girls are doing. As a singer, it’s tricky to sing those lines exactly!
Thank you! You're right, I totally forgot about the paino roll actually :P It's very iconic! Thank you!
Jake ... I know you posted this two-part Abba Analysis a while ago, but it's new to me ... and I must say, you do a great job in making this technical analysis interesting & fun ... I have an MBA in Quantitative Methods of Analysis & have taught Mathematics, so I find people who overwhelm an audience with "Techno-Babble" are hiding their insecurity about the subject and lose their audience's attention ... a person who really knows his sh*t ... I mean stuff ... can explain a complex topic in the simplest of terms that people can understand & relate to ... you're the latter ... keep up the good work ... Bart
Thank you very much for your warm words! I agree with you, if you can explain something complex in simpler terms it becomes way more fun to listen to! All the best teachers have this skill to bring simplicity to complex subjects.
Your high note face is hilarious 🤣 if you watch performances of this song even if it's playback Agnetha "mimics" the high note most of the times, that's how I first "discovered" it. Cause it's subtle, kind of hidden in all the arrangement
Benny Anderson released piano arrangements of their hits on Deutche Grammophon. Please Check it out. You can really hear the genius when the songs are distilled on solo piano.
You do a great job singing this as well…it’s very difficult song to sing with very high notes
great video thanks. If you could explain how the B/D# is working here as it does not belong in the key of A Major. it would be much appreciated. im guess it relates to some classical cadence which im not familiar with.
Can you tell me why ‘Slipping through my fingers’ breaks my heart? Oh, and then, in the middle 8, trample on it and kicks it to shit.
There is something very particular and maybe Scandi about those chord sequences...
Could you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do an analysis of Chiquitita?
🥺
you have very good ears!! thnx!
Thank you! :D
Frida hit the hit Notes
Agnetha is the one who sings the higher notes.
In the second part of the chorus, would you say the song modulates to E Major then comes back? There are too many chords there that are not from the A scale
Nice analysis. But you mainly concentrate on the melody and the chords. And nothing is said about that piano in the background that makes that unique rhythm which, among other things, makes DANCING QUEEN outstanding among most other songs in the pop music history.
Good point! I could've said something about it! :)
You always have another chance. As long as you live... :)
@@Mario-xr3jo Yes! :D
2:10 and who's making?
cool analysis!
what do you mean by the lydian feel in chorus? i dont quite get it
Lydian feel refers to the lydian scale, which can be explained as a major scale with a raised 4. It has a unique sound and is very popular.
@@Rocker72 👍🏿
Mmm, well. ABBA is a awesome band of wonderful hits. In my personal opinion, I like more the electric guitar in the track of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" with the gold voice of the beauty Anni-Frid and Agnetha, a scandinavian great style, feeling these harmony of always smell to Christmas 😅; "The name of the game" is other of these music's, then "Chiquita", "Mamma Mia" and "Dancing Queen". Is the time is on your way, I invite all's check my playlist here in UA-cam, I don't create videos but save greatest memories of our world; Other star of the music is in my playlist "Sarah Collins", she create also good music interpretations with her voice of the best hits of all the times.
Thanks for share!.
Hey Jake 😊 Would you like to make a Song with me?
Sounds fun! Send me and email with your ideas to jakesmusiclog@gmail.com
@@JakeBorg Tomorrow I'll send you my Demos😜
Vill du ge dig på en väldigt komplicerad ABBAlåt så skulle jag tipsa om If it wasnt for the night. Galet mycket som pågår i den låten.
I see you are using the komplete! What is your meaning about it?
I have not fully made up my mind yet, but I love the keys on it. The knobs seem slightly uneven but only minor issues so far. Thought I could put up a video about it in some time! :)
@@JakeBorg I will watch it !!
How on earth can you sing that high note yourself?
1:01 let's be friends.
2:09 That was Anni-Frid (the readhead). In the songs Agneta (the blonde one) usually carried the higher notes as soprano and Anni Frid as mezzo soprano, but she had actually had classical training as a soprano as well. Her tone was warmer and more rounded but he could reach a super high note any time she wanted to.
Carlos Arias omg how do you know that is Frida there? And is the high note on Hole in your soul as well?
@@sergiodelcampor no, Hole in the Soul, that's Agnetha. In The Day Before You Came Frida sings operatic part, which makes the song even mire haunting and beautiful.
What a wonderful analysis of one of my favorite songs! Still being played at dance clubs. Thanks!
One surprising nontechnical observation about Abba was that, during the 70s when the world embraced their songs, there was an Abba 'Backlash' in Sweden for their making Pop music instead of meaningful 'protest' songs ...
Yes! This was a common criticism, that it was just shallow and simple. I think it's actually really nice that they did not go down that road and have it more inclusive. It's also highly likely that it was more lucrative for ABBA too ;)
Try Summer Night City (the Unreleased full length version instrumental vocal intro ua-cam.com/video/TuZEVL61uFI/v-deo.html) one of their best... The live version is quite metal, a different version of the orginal and the organ intro is well... Pure Gold (the note at around 0:58 is a sooo good) ua-cam.com/video/e4swpxuHVTs/v-deo.html
Listen to the albums there are much better songs in it than the "Greatest Hits" I advise you "The Album" (5th), "The Visitors" (8th and last one)