Summer Night City
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Summer Night City" | ||
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| Single by ABBA | ||
| Released | September 6, 1978 (Sweden) September 16, 1978 (UK) |
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| Format | 7" Single | |
| Genre | Pop/Europop/Disco | |
| Length | 3:34 | |
| Writer(s) | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson |
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| Producer(s) | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson |
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| Certification | N/A | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| ABBA singles chronology | ||
| "Eagle" (1978) |
"Summer Night City" (1978) |
"Chiquitita" (1979) |
"Summer Night City" is ABBA's second non-album single, released on September 6, 1978. It was originally intended as the lead single from the group's upcoming Voulez-Vous album, but eventually was not included. The single's B-side was a medley of songs: "Pick a Bale of Cotton," "On Top of Old Smokey," and "Midnight Special," which they had recorded in 1975. These were the only songs that ABBA released that were not written by them.
[edit] The song
The recording sessions for "Summer Night City" began in the spring of 1978. ABBA's new recording studio, Polar Music Studio, had been opened in May, but had not been ready to use initially, so the primary backing track had been recorded at Metronome Studio. A 43-second ballad-style introduction to the song had been edited out to improve the overall quality, but nothing seemed to work. Allegedly, mixing the single took at least a week, far more than it took to mix any other track in ABBA's recording history. A reluctant ABBA decided to release the song as a single in September despite their disappointment with the track as it was. The group still performed the song live on tour, though with the original introduction that had been removed in the studio recording.
[edit] Chart success
"Summer Night City" was a sizable hit mainly in the Scandinavian countries. It reached number two in Norway, and the top spot in Sweden and Finland; the group's last chart-topper in their home country. The single was less successful in other countries, however. Other countries in which it scored a top ten hit included Ireland at number one, Belgium at number two, Zimbabwe at number four, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK at number five, West Germany at number six, France at number eight and Mexico at number ten. Considering the group's almost effortless ability to reach number one in most countries in which they released singles, "Summer Night City's" chart performance was something of a disappointment.
[edit] Cover versions
The digipack edition of Swedish Symphonic Metal band Therion's Secret of the Runes album contains their cover of this song. There is also a live version on their Live in Midgård album. They also produced a music video for the studio version of the cover.
In 2005, Israeli DJ Offer Nissim also did a cover of Summer Night City on his album First Time.
