Well, is there any song that's more fun than this one....really?  I can't say I grew up an "ABBA Fan"....but in my older years I've become kind of a sucker for them.  They're the kind of act that is easy to dismiss because of the costumes, and disco-esque style....but let me tell you, these are some SERIOUS musicians, and the intricacies of their writing, production, and performances are mindblowing.  

This is, in my humble opinion, the ultimate ABBA song, and it was by far their most commercially successful song.  It was released in 1976 on an album called "Arrival" in their native Sweden, and then it became a GLOBAL phenomenon.  It hit #1 in literally a million countries....okay, there aren't a million countries, so not literally....but well over a dozen.  Just to give you some idea of the scope of the success of this song, I'm going to list all the countries it hit #1 in:

• United States
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Ireland
• Sweden
• Norway
• Denmark
• Belgium
• The Netherlands
• Portugal
• West Germany
• Australia
• New Zealand
• South Africa
• Czechoslovakia
• Even THE SOVIET UNION During the Cold War!

It also landed in the Top 20 in 6 additional major countries....it was a BIG deal.

I started to warm up to ABBA after seeing a production of "Mama Mia" in Las Vegas in 2006.  There was something about the energy of the songs live....particularly the instrumentation and beat....that forced me to give them a second look.  So, I bought "ABBA Gold", their classic greatest hits album....and I was done for.  I was officially an ABBA Fanboy.

I've been to five different productions of "Mama Mia" now, each with a different cast and in different venues (4 in various places in Las Vegas, and one at the gorgeous Tuacahn Amphitheater in Southern Utah), and I loved every one of them.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the movie with Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried.  My favorite thing about both the stage show and the movie is that after the story concludes, the 3 main lady friends come out on stage in ridiculous 1970s ABBA looking costumes and just rock out a few tunes, starting every time with "Dancing Queen".

Now is as good of a time as any to admit that since I started listening to ABBA, I've fallen a teeny bit in love with Agnetha Fältskog.  The blonde hair, blue eyes, and beautiful face certainly help....but her voice sends me over the edge.  I adore her timbre....soaring and thin, but not piercing and sharp.  And her blend with Anni-Frid Lyngstad is one of the great vocal partnerships in the history of all recorded music....it's like they were one voice that automatically harmonized itself.

I usually am inspired to some kind of life lesson or philosophical pondering when I write these posts and think deeply about all these great songs....but all I can think of with this one is to make sure you take time to have fun and DANCE a little in your life....you only live once!

Enjoy my cover of this song from a livestream concert I did on July 15, 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then check out my favorite performance of it by ABBA back in their heyday in 1979, as well as the end credits performance by Meryl Streep, Christine Baranski, and Dame Julie Walters (Yup....that Julie Walters...Mrs. Weasley from Harry Potter) from the film version of "Mama Mia"! 

If you'd like to explore my piano method more deeply, my best students use my video courses and join me for conversation and twice monthly Q&A Livestreams in my private community...you can find it all HERE. Thanks.

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