Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Friday Nite Video (ABBA-Dancing Queen)

Hey all. It's Friday Night! Yay!! I thought it would be fun to talk tonight about the "Mega-Hit". You know, one of those songs that EVERYBODY knows and most people like, although not all would admit it. The Mega-Hit spans generations. Most of them have been out awhile and everyone knows them. Tonight I'm thinking about ABBA and their big smash hit Dancing Queen. To me, that's one of those songs that people just love and we don't really know why we love it. Like for example, Y.M.C.A by the Village People. The Village idiots would better describe them but hey, it's a catchy song. Or Celebration by Kool and the Gang. I'll be celebrating when DJ's stop playing that one at every get together that has a disc jockey there for entertainment. ABBA formed in the early 70's and had limited success in the US until they released the album Arrival in 1976. That was the album that had Dancing Queen on it and ABBA rocketed into super stardom after that. But I think a lot of people felt guilty liking them and even worse, ADMITTING that they liked them. Why? For one thing, their not Americans. They hailed from Sweden. They had unusual names. Anni-Frid, Bjorn, Benny (that ones okay) and Agnetha. They wore crazy looking costumes that looked like they were starring in some cheap science fiction movie. They were popular during the big disco crazy era, which was a time when people either loved disco or they hated it. But regardless of peoples opinion of them, everybody LOVED Dancing Queen. Even to this day, whenever there is a social event taking place like a wedding reception or a anniversary party of some sort, when the DJ puts Dancing Queen on look out! Tables and chairs are cleared and the people are on the dance floor! Kids and people of smaller stature better look out cause they might get run over! Even people that don't normally get out on the dance floor until their three sheets to the wind drunk and convinced that everyone that's on the dance floor is now ready to see dance moves that will stun and amaze them run out when Dancing Queen comes on. And there's always that couple that actually TOOK disco dancing lessons back in the 70's and they become the envy of everyone else out there dancing as they spin and twirl in perfect unison. I would even venture to guess that if two elderly people in their nineties were to fall in love and get married over at the Rest Easy nursing home and they had the reception at the banquet hall at 3 because dinner was at 5 and bedtime was 7 that even then if the DJ put on Dancing Queen the residents would jump up and start shaking their booties. Wouldn't matter if they had a bad hip, two knee replacements, severe arthritis, it was ABBA and Dancing Queen! When you really listen to the words of the song you say to yourself, what the heck are they talking about? You are the Dancing Queen, young and sweet and only 17. That must be a Swedish thing. When I was 17 I was in high school and we had a homecoming queen but never a dancing queen. The small town I grew up in was famous for it's delicious watermelons grown there and we had a watermelon queen crowned every year but again, no dancing queen. ABBA released several albums after that one and had quite a few hit songs from those albums. Songs I had long forgotten until they released the movie Mamma Mia in 2008. That movie was a screen adaptation of the Broadway musical that had been done a few years prior and was a huge hit. I actually went to see the movie in 09 with my parents who were down to visit me at the time and my mom had heard good things about it and thought we three might like it. I smiled and said okay, lets go and I really didn't think I would like it but surprise, I loved it! I had forgotten so many of those old ABBA songs that they sang in that movie. Songs like Take a Chance on me, Waterloo, Chiquitita, SOS and one of my favorites The Winner Takes It All. But when that long piano roll started and the Dancing Queen music began, you knew it was ABBA's BIGGEST hit. It was the best choregraphed song in the movie with the whole cast joining in. If you never saw it, rent it sometime and check it out. It's got a great story and takes place at a B&B on a beautiful island. I liked it so much I got a copy of the soundtrack! Which leads up to tonight's video, Dancing Queen. I'm assuming the young girl in front of the stage is the "Queen" they are singing about but I don't think she's quite 17. Also look at the crowd out on the dance floor. This must have been shot live at the (fill in the blank) party cause it was just like I was saying. Dancing Queen!! Come on! We gotta dance! Also too for bonus giggles check out the couple to the left of the "Dancing Queen Girl" at the beginning right at the 14 second mark. It's a typical I'm drunk and I can dance better then anyone else out here move. The guy picks his girl up and throws her straight up into the air twice, then she drops down to her knees and he lifts a leg and swings it over the top of her head. WOW! What a dazzling move! Are they dancing or practicing for a karate competition? Drink another one buddy! Anyway, here it is in all it's mega hit glory. From 1976 it ABBA and the Dancing Queen. Enjoy!

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