Lay All Your Love on Me
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| "Lay All Your Love on Me" | ||
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| Single by ABBA | ||
| from the album Super Trouper | ||
| Released | 1981 | |
| Format | 12-inch Single | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 4:32 | |
| Label | Polar Music | |
| Writer(s) | Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus | |
| Producer(s) | Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus | |
| Certification | — | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| ABBA singles chronology | ||
| "Happy New Year"/"Felicidad" (1980) |
"Lay All Your Love on Me" (1981) |
"One of Us" (1981) |
"Lay All Your Love on Me" is an ABBA song recorded by the Swedish quartet in 1980 for the Super Trouper album. It was later released in 1981 as a 12-inch single only in limited territories, rather than the standard 7-inch record. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record, though this has since been beaten by numerous other records. "Lay All Your Love on Me" appears on ABBA's ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits collection.
[edit] The song
"Lay All Your Love on Me" was an electro-disco song penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and recorded in 1980. Agnetha Fältskog took the lead vocal, a performance of devastating heartbreak. The song was not originally intended to be released as a single, but was released in 12-inch form in the United Kingdom and in a few other countries. "Lay All Your Love on Me" has since been much-covered and now features in the Mamma Mia! musical that showcases many of ABBA's hits. The song's lyrics contain the word "incomprehensible," which, with sixteen letters, is one of the joint largest words sung in a pop record [1].
[edit] Chart success
"Lay All Your Love on Me" was not released until 1981, the year after it had been recorded, as it was simply not intended to be a single. It was only after a remixed version had soared in popularity, that it topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (along with "Super Trouper" and "On and On and On"). Therefore, the decision was made to release "Lay All Your Love on Me" in limited territories in a 12-inch form, as opposed to the standard 7-inch form. It reached a respectable number seven in the UK charts - a lower position than most ABBA songs had attained previously. It was, in fact, their lowest charting single since "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" reached number thirty-eight in 1975. However, reaching number seven in the charts was, at the time, the highest charting position achieved for a 12-inch only release.
"Lay All Your Love on Me" was covered by Minnesota-native techno-pop band Information Society on their 1988, self-titled debut. It was also one of four ABBA songs covered by Erasure's Abba-esque EP which did top the UK charts, eleven years later in 1992.
[edit] Covers
Sylver made a cover version of "Lay All Your Love On Me" on their album Crossroads, released in 2006. It was actually recognized as the best song on the cd, and was the first single released from the album. The cover became a huge hit in Poland where it peaked at #1 on Polish National Top 50[1]
Erasure included a cover version in their EP Abba-esque.
The song has been also covered by Helloween.
| Preceded by "Just Be Good To Me" by Karmah |
Poland Singles Chart number-one single August 7, 2006 |
Succeeded by "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado |
