ABBA : Dancing Queen

Once in a while a song comes along that not only defines its artiste but also an era. Dancing Queen is one such hit.

 

ABBA had been the darlings of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 when they so triumphantly won it (for the first time) for Sweden. However the group was dismissed by some circles as a one-hit wonder. As ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus said once in an interview people expected ABBA to be a one-hit wonder because they were perceived as a "Eurovision group" and that's what usually happens to "Eurovision groups" ... they have one huge hit and they go away.

 

 

 

As it happened, ABBA was to prove the critics wrong as they went on to have hit after hit and ABBA became Sweden's hottest pop export and, arguably, one of the biggest groups of the 1970s and early 1980s.

 

 

Dancing Queen was released in August

1976 and included on the album Arrival.

 

 

Upon its

release this monster hit went on to top the charts of more than 15 countries. It is easily ABBA's most recognised hit. It is also one of the songs to define the disco era and once topped a most popular disco hits poll on British telly - this despite ABBA not actually being a disco group.

 

 

The song has been covered by many artistes as diverse as U2, Donna Summer, The Sex Pistols and Kylie Minogue who performed it at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. In fact, Dancing Queen was to be the inspiration for what was later to become Kylie's showgirl persona.

 

 

As a special treat I also feature ABBA singing Dancing Queen in Swedish costumes specially for the royal wedding of King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden to Silvia Sommerlath (who would soon be Sweden's own Dancing Queen). Enjoy ...

 

 

 



Celine Dion : Only One Road

Before Celine Dion hit it big with My Heart Will Go On (Theme from Titanic) she had a huge hit with Think Twice. Ironically, the song, while not a major hit in the States, is her second biggest selling hit in the UK.

Think Twice established Celine as a major star in the UK. Despite having minor hits like Beauty & The Beast, The Power Of Love and If You Asked Me To, up till then Celine was best known as the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 representing Switzerland with the song Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi ("Don't Leave Without Me").

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8pEYw8PcBas



The eagerly anticipated follow-up to Think Twice was the low-key but equally brilliant Only One Road taken off the album The Colour Of My Love. Again, the song was not a huge hit in the States, only reaching No. 93 in the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it fared much better, peaking at No. 8 although methinks it should have charted higher.

The song is one of my favourites. Celine's vocals rings clearly throughout the song and quivers with emotion. The arrangement, though much simpler than its predecessor, is amazing in its simplicity and the melody ... j'adore.

Check out the video below :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=przJ8xNAJ1Y

James Bond Special : From Russia With Love (1963)

The second instalment in the Bond franchise had Sean Connery's Bond in danger of assasination by SPECTRE as revenge for his killing of Dr. No. The delicious assasin sent to despatch Bond was Soviet agent Tatiana Romanova played by Italian actress Daniela Bianchi.

Ms. Bianchi had just emerged as 1st runner-up in Miss Universe 1960 and this was her first major English role (though her voice was dubbed in the film). However, she did not find much international  fame after this film apart from her role in 3 episodes of Dr. Kildare.

 The title track for the film was composed by Lionel Bart (who also did Oliver!) and sung by Matt Monro. However, it was felt that the lyrics of the song, while using the title, did not reflect the storyline (this was to be rectified in the next film, Goldfinger) so for the opening sequence an instrumental was used.

Nevertheless the song is a classic and became a huge hit for Monro (even though the song actually only made it No. 20 in the charts).

Incidentally, Monro represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest the year after and came in second behind Italy with "I Love The Little Things".