These posts will be somewhat of a mini-series tour through my own music appreciation class as I randomly choose, purchase and listen to music across genres.
Maybe it was so long ago that I don’t remember it, but I actually can’t remember if I listened to ABBA’s music back in the 1970’s or not. I probably did, but heard it as background music like what they play in so many stores as you shop.
So, my random selection this time takes me to Take A Chance On Me
- Take a Chance On Me
- Recorded 1977, Released January, 1978
- Released as a single from ABBA’s album, “The Album”.
ABBA seems to me to be the epitome of “Pop”, just sugary-sweet. But a closer listen reveals there is a lot of substance beneath the glazed top coating. Tight vocal harmonies, grooving rhythm, crisp instrumentation, poppy synths, driving bass. “Take a Chance On Me” charted and hit number 1 in a number of countries around the world. You might want to take a chance on it too.
There is an article on ABBA and this song on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_a_Chance_on_Me
The article has an interesting tidbit on the origins of the song:
The song’s origins sprang from Ulvaeus, whose hobby was running. While running, he would sing a “tck-a-ch”-style rhythm to himself over and over again, which then evolved into “take-a-chance” and the eventual lyrics.
The What’ On My iPod Today? ABBA by Chris Hartzog, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 United States License.
