| Bob Seger – Still The Same Lyrics | 4 years ago |
| Song lyrics are usually filled with metaphors. It's doubtful Bob Seger was writing about a gambler who is "still the same" after he was only living in LA for a few months. Someone is still the same after many years. He was probably writing about his or someone else's heartbreaking ex-girlfriend or ex-wife. | |
| ABBA – The Day Before You Came Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| I apologize about the writing, but my "o" key stopped working unless I slammed it, and it took so long I just entered it (finding out too late I can't edit it). :( Damn Mac! | |
| ABBA – The Day Before You Came Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Like I said, The Day Before You Came sounds to me as the next chapter, if not the final conclusion, to SOS. Bjorn wrote the lyrics to both songs, so it makes sense there has to be a personal influence in it. When SOS was released in 1975, he had already been with Agnetha for 7 years (they met in 1968 and married in July 6, 1971. Remember "6"). The first lines of SOS are "Where are those happy days, they seem so hard to find. I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind. Whatever happened to our love? I wish I understood. It used to be so nice, it used to be so good." Could Bjorn have been writing about the "seven-year itch"? The song also goes onto to say "So when you're near me, darling can't you hear me: S. O. S. The love you gave me, nothing else can save me: S. O. S. When you're gone, How can I even try to go on? When you're gone, though I try, How can I carry on?" This sounds like codependence like a lot of relationships (right or wrong). These convoluted feelings are typical of many relationships where people both love and resent their loved ones over time. We could talk all day about why this happens, but I won’t (but I do tend to believe these feelings might largely be a product of society). Anyway, by the time 1981 comes around (when The Day Before You Came was released), Bjorn and Agnetha had already divorced (allegedly filing in January 1979 which wasn’t finalized until sometime in 1980 [according to Agnetha’s Wikipedia entry]). It is then likely not a coincidence that The Winner Takes it All is also released in 1980. In my opinion, there is a pattern which shows a dark side to Bjorn. It appears he was rubbing his relationship with Lena in Agnetha face both in and out of various lyrics. For example, we know Agnetha commented how difficult it was having to go back to her room at the same hotel on the same floor as Bjorn and Lena. Tell me this would have been lost on anyone close to them! Any sane person would have at least put them on different floors which is why it sounds like me like he was kicking her when she was down. Again, that's just my opinion, but there is more. On January 6, 1981, Bjorn marries music journalist Lena Källersjö. This is exactly two years after ending things with Agnetha in January of 1979. It would have been much too obvious to marry Lena on July 6, 1981 (exactly ten years after marrying Agnetha), but the "6" would not go unknown to Agnetha (who was also the father of his only children at the time). Later in 1981, ABBA releases One of Us (December 7, 1981 [Pearl Harbor Day, and Bjorn is very intelligent and good with history]). In this lyric, Bjorn forces Agnetha to sing "One of us is crying, one of us is lying in her lonely bed staring at the ceiling wishing she was somewhere else instead. One of us is lonely, one of us is only waiting for a call, sorry for herself, feeling stupid feeling small, wishing she had never left at all" (further twisting the knife). It is this last line that appears to be a question mark. I believe Bjorn sometimes had Agnetha sing what he was feeling, but at other times, I think he had her sing what he imagined or hoped she was, or should be, thinking and feeling. HE allegedly left the marriage (it’s been said Agnetha wanted to make it work), so he may have juxtaposed the lyric to throw people off, or, maybe he left the marriage because he felt she drove him to leave her and the children on Christmas day in 1978. No one really knows. Alternatively, he may have resented something else and blamed her for their marriage failing; but whatever happened between them, at the very least, he wasn't being very sensitive about the lyrics he was feeding her (it was like sort of a sick code in my opinion). Worse, what was Agnetha to do? Did she deserve it? Probably, not, but who knows? He denied any of the songs were about them back then (at least in initial interviews), and they had to record new songs, so he’s either a sick fellow or, more likely, whether he was right or not, he was making Agnetha pay for something. Maybe it was something that happened during their divorce. Again, who knows, but the pattern repeats itself. We know now that they essentially deceived us about the alleged amicable break up all those years ago (and who can really blame them, it’s no one’s business and they have others to worry about). For example, Bjorn said things like Swedes aren’t like Americans who (and I'm paraphrasing), had bitter divorces. We also heard him deny that his lyrics were in any way autobiographical until many years later (when he started admitting some of them were). Agnetha even made the comment that they never knew who he was writing about at any given time (it could be about any of them, or none of them). When you look at the lyrics this way, it’s a devious mind at work in my opinion. Remember, often times it isn’t the bad news that kills you, it's the not knowing. In the following year, Bjorn and Lena have their first daughter (1982). The same year The Day before You Came was released—and in my opinion—lyrically, it was either him feeling the song’s obviously remorseful tone, or he was once again kicking Agnetha when she was down. Given that they decided that the last song on ABBA's final album was One of Us, I assume he was doing the latter (leaving on that note). That may sound pretty harsh, but look at what happened to Agnetha over the next few decades. Can you blame her? In my opinion, SOS, alone with (among others) The Winner Takes It All, The Day Before You Came, and One of US tells a story about their relationship. In the case of this song, Bjorn was likely telling Agnetha what their marriage was like the day before Lena came, but to throw people off, instead of making it a happy upbeat song like SOS, he and Benny used the most interesting chords to create one of the dreariest backdrops for song I've ever heard (again, juxtaposing the lyrics, this time with the music, to throw us off). It's as creative as it is dubious, but it appears to have been born from animus feelings (deserved or not). I don't think any of us really know what REALLY happened between them, but it obviously changed the trajectory of their lives, their loved ones, and for ABBA and its fans. It appears that Bjorn and Agnetha may have only recently started getting over it with their new album set to be released in December (the same month their marriage essentially ended). |
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| ABBA – The Day Before You Came Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| This is obviously the tragic conclusion to S.O.S. | |
| ABBA – Head Over Heels Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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Personally, I think the second verse reveals what the song is really about, but we need to fix the lyrics which are wrong above: "Her man is one I admire He's so courageous but he's constantly tired Each time that he speaks his mind She pats his head and says that's all very fine Exert that will of your own When [you're] alone Now we better hurry" She clearly said "when YOU'RE alone" and not "when we're alone" which changes the whole meaning (watch Agnetha's lips in the video). This shows that the woman is so overbearing that she doesn't even want to hear what her "courageous" husband has to say if it pertains to anything challenging her authority. In other words, she's a bitch ("she's extreme if you know what I mean" is just a nice way of putting it). Whether it's about Frida or Agnetha I don't know. Which girl dominated her "courageous" husband (if either)? |
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