I think they all love the song itself, but were unhappy during the time because they were on the verge of breaking up and the song broke their string of Top 30 hits.
Can't remember who but either Benny or Bjorn definitely said that they would change Agnetha's vocal delivery on The Day Before You Came if they had the chance. I can't remember the whole story but I think the gist was that they thought it was too reserved.
I think their issue was that Agnetha's vocals were "in character", which is why they were less impassioned than a straight Agnetha take.
Having an ABBA sing-along by myself tonight, I still love some of these misheard lyrics that have nested in my brain.... "Won't somebody have a heart - come and rescue me now from some boy in the paaarrrkkk"
For a little while after I'd first heard 'One Of Us,' I thought in the first verse Agnetha was singing... 'And so I dealt you the blow, On a bus had to go.'
Oh I had loads of these as a kid: "It's a dream, it's outta reach, scattered grapefruit on the beach." "Take your teeth out, tell me what's wrong." And @Andy French 's favourite: "Children dance, children die Having the time of your life See that girl Watch her scream Kickin' the dancing queeeeen."
I'm pretty sure Benny has named The Day Before You Came as his favorite ABBA song. Yeah, I'm remembering this too. Which is nuts, because if ever there was a song that you couldn't change a thing about to improve it... A standard Agnetha vocal wouldn't be nearly as compelling.
Wait. I remember that at first Agnetha sang the hell out of that song but Benny & Bjorn didn’t like it and asked her to tone it down, be in character and sang more vulnerably?
Just noticed our boys and girls are currently on the cover of Spotify's All Out 80s playlist. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX4UtSsGT1Sbe?si=da4230a020c74f07 Pity it's that horrid photo though, of all ABBA photos...
Re 'The Day Before You Came' - I have read that part of the idea for the delivery on the finished version came from Agnetha herself, while the operatic line was Frida's invention. Both good examples of the important contributions they could make in the studio; they weren't just there to do what they were told.
Would Frida even feature anywhere on the recording without that operatic thread? I still love that it was their final* recording as an active group. It just... makes sense. That the lyric is about something happening tomorrow that we never find out about, so we never heard anything else from the group at all. Wouldn't surprise me if that was the plan all along, literally leaving the world on a four-decade cliffhanger.
