Mark Pentleton

I suppose this should really be the final song in my collection, but there’s something typically “Hogmanayish” planned for tomorrow, so I wanted to get the Abba classic Thank you for the music in today. The song was recorded in summer 1977 (I had just turned five at the time!) and was included on The Album, [...]

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Today’s song is actually linked to one of my earliest musical memories. I think I would have been about 4 or 5 and I remember listening to this song on my dad’s reel-to-reel tape deck, along with He is your brother on Abba’s Greatest Hits album. It was written in 1973 and was released in [...]

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This song was recorded in 1977 and the various working titles for the song included Yippee Yay, Joanne, Love for me is love forever and the rather cryptic Big John. I’m glad it ended up as Move on, not Big John!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 5:48 — 8.0MB)

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Today’s song – the first song of my penultimate month on 365songs – is Abba’s SOS from the 1975 Abba album. It is one of the group’s best-known songs and reached #6 in the UK charts on its release in September 1975. It was #1 in Australia, Belgium, West Germany, New Zealand and South Africa! [...]

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Having spent much of today in Glasgow at a meeting, returning home to watch The Apprentice and updating the latest episode of News Time Spanish, I had switched off my computer, only to realise that I’d forgotten to upload today’s song. And on this, the 300th day of the year, too! I recorded this song [...]

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This is probably not the best-known song of my 365 collection, but I’ve always liked its simplicity. It was recorded by Abba’s Agnetha Fältskog in 1975 and featured on her album Elva kvinnor i ett hus (Eleven women in one house). The title of the song means “thanks for a wonderful, ordinary day” and in [...]

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This gorgeous, simple song was first recorded by Benny and Björn in 1970, and then released by Anni-Frid on her solo album in 1971. The title of the song, Lycka, means “happiness” in Swedish and the lyrics tell the story of a couple who spend some time with each other after a busy day. There [...]

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After the ‘guest performance’ I posted earlier today, here is today’s 365song. It’s Abba’s Gonna sing you my love song, an album track from the 1974 album Waterloo. Hope you enjoy it!
Podcast: Download (Duration: 3:43 — 5.2MB)

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Today’s song is an album track from Abba’s 1974 Waterloo album. I’ve always really liked this song. Benny and Björn were heavily influenced by Ronnie Spector and this track is an example of this. Without the 12-string guitars my version is a bit different, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. It’s also (I think) [...]

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“One of us is crying…” – it’ll be the one who has been to Ikea three times this week! Need I say more?
One of us was one of the last songs recorded for the Visitors album in 1981 and became the first single from this album. Despite its rather melancholy air (I guess Benny and [...]

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We’re returning to the 1970s today with this Abba classic from 1975. This song became Abba’s biggest selling single of all time, selling 6 million copies in 1976 alone and going on to sell 10 million worldwide. It was originally written in Swedish for Frida and featured on her 1975 solo album Frida Ensam but [...]

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Today’s song is the ballad from the 1980 Abba album Super Trouper. It’s always been one of my favourite Abba songs, and I remember playing this often while my wife was expecting our first son. It was released as a single in South America and South Africa, but elsewhere it featured only as an album [...]

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Today’s song is one of the many underrated Abba songs, Cassandra. It was the b-side to the 1982 single The Day Before You Came, and I think the story related in this song was a precursor of the Björn and Benny’s future musical theatre work (Chess and Kristina från Duvemåla). While the lyrics seem to [...]

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Thirty years ago today the recording of this Abba classic (and one of my favourite Abba songs) began in the Polar Music Studios in Stockholm. At this stage it was called The Story of My Life and no particular musical style had been identified during the recording session. Benny and Björn took the recordings home [...]

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We’re going back to Abba for today’s song. The Name of the game was recorded for the Album – the first studio album to be recorded after the band’s 1977 tour of Europe and Australia. The introductory riff was inspired by Stevie Wonder’s I Wish from his album from the previous year, Songs in the [...]

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Today’s song is one of my favourite Abba songs. It was the b-side on the 1974 single So Long, and was on the Abba album in 1975, but has since appeared in many compilations.
Podcast: Download (Duration: 4:02 — 5.6MB)

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Thanks for the nice comments this week on the songs I’ve been playing – it’s great to know that people are enjoying my music! Back to Abba today with the song I have a dream. It first appeared on the 1979 Voulez-vous album and is one of the Abba songs which everyone knows. I’ve decided [...]

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Today’s song is one of my favourite Abba songs. Written in 1981 for The Visitors album it was inspired by Agnetha and Björn’s daughter Linda who was seven at the time. It was also used in the Mamma Mia musical and film when Donna is helping her daughter prepare for her wedding day. The song [...]

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This is one of those album songs which never quite got the publicity it deserved, at least at the time of its release. Taken from the 1976 album Arrival, it is thought to be the best example of Agnetha’s voice, according to Björn at least! Agnetha released a compilation of her Swedish and English hits [...]

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Back to Abba today and the song One man, one woman from The Album. This song was recorded between July and November 1977 and is said to tell of Björn’s feelings about his marriage at the time. The lyrics appear quite negative in the opening verse: “No smiles, not a single word at the breakfast [...]

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