Abba: The Day Before You Came | Song-Factsheet

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Song «The Day Before You Came» von Abba.

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Veröffentlichungsdaten: 1982 10 19 (Single), 1982 08 20 (Rec.)
Label: Polar POS 1318
Songwriter Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Produktion: Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Genre: Newpop - Synthpop

Annotationen

«The Day Before You Came» war die zweitletzte Single von Abba und der letzte Song, der im Studio aufgenommen wurde. Auf dem Markt war sie zunächst nicht besonders erfolgreich: in Finnland #2, in Belgien und den Niederlanden #3, in der Schweiz #4, in Norwegen #5, in Österreich #16, im UK #32 und in Australien gar nur #48. Der Song wurde aber ein Jahr später vom Synthpop-Duo Blancmange gecovert und ist seitdem als Synthpop-Vorreiter geschätzt. Tatsächlich haben den Titel vor allem Benny Andersson am Synth und Agnetha Fältskog aufgenommen. Anni-Frid Lyngstad und Björn Ulvaeus waren auf Nebenrollen reduziert.
Im Song berichtet eine Erzählerin von den eingefahrenen Gewohnheiten, denen sie, wie es scheint, etwas zwanghaft nachgeht. Der exemplarische Tagesablauf, von dem sie berichtet, ist der Tag, bevor jemand in ihr Leben tritt. Man kann rätseln, ob das Lied ein Kitchen Sink Melodrama ist, wie Abba-Biograf Carl Magnus Palm schreibt oder ob es in Anlehnung an Schauergeschichten aus dem amerikanischen Süden ein Stück «Northern Goth» ist, wie Pitchfork-Autor Tom Ewing nahelegt, wenn er bemerkt: «Agnetha singing a woman's hesitant reconstruction of the day before she met someone we assume is her lover. The details are banal, but Agnetha makes them live anyway, and they're contrasted by keening backing vocals of such dread that it's been speculated the song's ‹You› is killer, not partner.»

Personen und Querverweise

Abba
Benny Andersson
Björn Ulvaeus
Benny Andersson
Björn Ulvaeus

Lyrics

I must have left my house at eight because I always do My train, I'm certain, left the station just when it was two I must have read the morning paper going into town And having gotten through the editorial, no doubt I must have frowned I must have made my desk around a quarter after nine With letters to be read and heaps of papers waiting to be signed I must have gone to lunch at half past twelve or so; the usual place, the usual bunch And still, on top of this, I'm pretty sure it must have rained The day before you came I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two And at the time I never even noticed I was blue I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day Without really knowing anything I hid a part of me away At five, I must have left; there's no exception to the rule A matter of routine but done it ever since I finished school A train back home again; undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within its usual frame The day before you came Must have opened my front door at eight o'clock or so And stopped along the way to buy some Chinese food to go I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on T.V. There's not, I think, a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see I must have gone to bed around a quarter after ten I need a lot of sleep and so I like to be in bed by then I must have read a while; the latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style It's funny but I had no sense of living without aim The day before you came And turning out the light, I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night And rattling on the roof, I must have heard the sound of rain The day before you came