The Tale of Abba’s ‘Dancing Queen’

A new authorized biography about Swedish superstars Abba offers a behind-the-scenes look at the making of one of their best-known songs, “Dancing Queen”.

Melancholy Undercover: The Book of Abba by Jan Gradvall is scheduled for release this autumn. It features rare interviews with band members Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Agnetha Fältskog, alongside those who know and work with them, covering more than a decade.

Abba was in the midst of creating what would become their fourth studio album, Arrival, which Gradvall describes as “their first true masterpiece”. Despite their 1974 Eurovision victory with “Waterloo”, the group faced a slow period, so recording sessions were frequently interrupted for promotional tours.

“Dancing Queen” was recorded in August 1975 and marked the group’s first foray into disco. Gradvall reveals that the song’s iconic rhythm was inspired by two sources.

“One was George McCrae’s ‘Rock Your Baby’, one of the first disco recordings, which the members of Abba had heard many times at Alexandra,” he explains.

“The other was the New Orleans rhythm on the 1972 album Dr John’s Gumbo, which Roger Palm had been listening to.”

Gradvall continues, “These two templates were American, but when Abba plays disco there is an unmistakably European sound to it. The song opens with Benny running his finger over the keys on the Bolin grand piano, then the song starts – and it is always slower than you remember.”

He also notes how the track influenced artists like Elvis Costello, who admitted borrowing Andersson’s grand piano style from “Dancing Queen” for “Oliver’s Army”, one of Costello’s biggest hits.

The initial working title for “Dancing Queen” was “Boogaloo”, writes Gradvall.

“When the recording was finished, Bjorn and Benny knew they had created something special. They went home late that night, eager to play it for their respective partners.”

“I cried when I heard it,” says Lyngstad. “I thought it was so incredibly beautiful.”

Fältskog was already asleep when Ulvaeus got home, and he “didn’t want to wake her”, so he went to his sister’s home instead: “I played it for her repeatedly,” he recalls.

“We couldn’t believe how good it sounded.”

“Dancing Queen” was released in 1976 as the lead single from Arrival and soon became a global hit, topping the charts in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, and Norway.

In 2015, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is consistently ranked as one of the greatest pop songs of all time.

Gradvall, one of Sweden’s most respected music journalists who helped establish the Swedish Music Hall of Fame, has a uniquely close relationship with Abba. He has previously appeared in two BBC documentaries about the group.

Melancholy Undercover: The Book of Abba will be released by Faber on October 10, 2024, in hardback and ebook formats.

Source: various sources