Dancing Queen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Dancing Queen" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Single by ABBA | ||
| from the album Arrival | ||
| Released | August 16, 1976 (Sweden) August 21, 1976 (UK) November 12, 1976 (US) |
|
| Format | 7" Single | |
| Genre | Pop/Europop/Disco | |
| Length | 3:51 | |
| Label | Polar (Sweden) Epic (UK) Atlantic (US) |
|
| Writer(s) | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson |
|
| Producer(s) | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson |
|
| Chart positions | ||
|
||
| ABBA singles chronology | ||
| "Fernando" 1976 |
"Dancing Queen" 1976 |
"Money, Money, Money" 1976 |
"Dancing Queen" is the biggest hit single recorded by Swedish group ABBA, and as such is considered to be their signature song. The song was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, recorded in 1975 for the group's album Arrival, and released as a single in 1976. The song is popular at sporting events, and has been adopted as a gay anthem.
Although it does not contain many of the most common key characteristics of disco music, it has come to be considered as one of the best examples of this genre.
"Dancing Queen" features a shared lead vocal performance by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Its opening keyboard glissando and hummed vocals are one of the most identifiable sections of 1970s pop music.
Like a majority of ABBA songs, "Dancing Queen" is relatively straight-forward; it is about a seventeen year old girl having a good time on a Friday night. She is not fazed by the social and political pressures in her daily life as a teenager on the dancefloor, and all she wants to do is dance, no matter the identity of her dancing partner.
Contents |
[edit] Chart Success
"Dancing Queen" spent six weeks at number one in the United Kingdom from August 1976 and became ABBA's only American number-one in April 1977, as well as reaching number one in numerous countries including Sweden, Norway, West Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), South Africa, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. It also made the national top twenty in Austria, Canada, France, Finland, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Switzerland. The song was re-released in 1992 in the UK, as Erasure sparked an Abba revival after the success of their "Abba-esque" EP topped the UK charts. The re-issued "Dancing Queen" reached #16 in the UK in September of that year.
In 2001, the song was chosen as number 148 as part of the 365 Songs of the Century list. In 2004 it became ABBA's only song on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, ranked number 171.
[edit] Miscellaneous
- In recent years it has been covered by such diverse artists as U2 and Kylie Minogue who performed it at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. Featured in the 1994 film Muriel's Wedding, the song was used as the theme for idealised dreaming with the character Muriel saying early in the film that she wished her life was perfect. She always wished her life was "Dancing Queen".
- It is featured in the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!.
- ABBA donned traditional 18th Century costumes when they first performed this song for King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden the night before he was married to Silvia Sommerlath.
- Anni-Frid Lyngstad (former ABBA member) performed this song to commemorate the fiftieth birthday of Queen Silvia. The performance used an a cappella arrangement by The Real Group, which sang back-up for the performance. The arrangement was later released on the group's album "Varför får man inte bara vara som man är".
- "Dancing Queen" was also featured in a couple of episodes of Winter Sonata, an immensely popular Korean drama series.
- The song was featured prominently in Spike Lee's 1999 film Summer Of Sam. According to Lee, he had to personally contact ABBA and get permission to use the song, as the band was afraid that Lee was going to mock them in the movie. The song was used to ironically underscore an argument between John Leguizamo and Mira Sorvino.
- Late night talk show host Art Bell occasionally uses "Dancing Queen" as bumper music on his show. Because of this, Phil Hendrie (on his own show) always uses "Dancing Queen" as his bumper music for bits in which he plays Bell.
[edit] Music sample
- "Dancing Queen" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.
[edit] Artists who have covered the song
- A*Teens
- Jimmy Barnes
- Luka Bloom
- Diablo
- Robbie Fulks
- Girl Authority
- Jennifer Love Hewitt
- Paul Gilbert
- CoCo Lee
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Kylie Minogue
- Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
- Franck Pourcel
- Raining Pleasure
- The Real Group
- S Club 7
- Steps
- Sixpence None The Richer
- TSZX
- U2
- Van Halen
- Wing
- The Yayhoos
- Refer also to List of artists who have covered ABBA songs
[edit] See also
| Preceded by "Rich Girl" by Daryl Hall and John Oates |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single April 9, 1977 |
Succeeded by "Don't Give Up on Us" by David Soul |
| Preceded by "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee |
UK number one single October 11, 1976 |
Succeeded by "Mississipi" by Pussycat |
