Take a Chance on Me
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Take A Chance On Me" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by ABBA | ||
| from the album The Album | ||
| Released | 1978 | |
| Format | Single | |
| Recorded | 1977 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 4:01 | |
| 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 | ||
| "The Name Of The Game" (1977) |
"Take A Chance On Me" (1978) |
"One Man One Woman " (1978) |
The song "Take a Chance on Me" was recorded in 1977 by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It can be found on their album The Album. It was also a hugely-selling single, and features on many of their Greatest Hits collections.
[edit] The song
"Take a Chance on Me"'s working title was "Billy Boy." Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and recorded in 1977, it was sung by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. Fältskog had the solo passages. It was one of ABBA's first singles in which their manager Stig Anderson did not lend a hand in writing the lyrics, firmly establishing Andersson and Ulvaeus as a songwriting partnership to be reckoned with. The song's origins sprang from Ulvaeus, whose hobby was running. He would run, singing a "tck-a-ch"-style rhythm to himself over and over again, which then evolved into "Take a Chance on Me", around which he wrote the rest of the lyrics. The song's B-side was "I'm a Marionette", which, like "Thank You for the Music" and "I Wonder (Departure)" (the B-side to their previous hit, "The Name of the Game") was intended to be part of a mini-musical that Andersson and Ulvaeus had planned, but ultimately shelved.
[edit] Chart Success
"Take a Chance on Me" was one of ABBA's most successful chart hits. It was released in early 1978. It spent three weeks at number one, and ten weeks on the charts in the United Kingdom. It also topped the charts in Austria, Belgium, Ireland and Mexico, was a top three hit in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Zimbabwe, West Germany, and the United States, where it sold more copies than "Dancing Queen" (though unlike the latter, it did not manage to top the charts). The song also performed well in Canada, Norway, and South Africa, reaching the top ten in each of these countries.
Recently the song has enjoyed a sort of resurgence in the sports world. Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic of ESPN, have used the song as their official song for all sports drafts. Especially for the NFL Draft, which has grown in popularity in recent years. While Mike and Mike in the Morning can be found on many sports talk radio stations, it can also be found on ESPN2 from 6-10 am Eastern.
The song was famously covered by English synthpop duo Erasure in 1992, as part of their Abba-esque EP. Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell recreated ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" music video playing dual roles — as themselves and in drag — Clarke as Fältskog and Bell as Lyngstad.
Recently, the Mexican band Los Horoscopos de Durango released a Spanish cover called "Sólo Piensa en Mí" (Just Think About Me) in a renewed, folk Duranguense rhythm.
| Preceded by "Figaro" by Brotherhood of Man |
UK number one single February 18, 1978 |
Succeeded by "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush |
