Cassandra prophesied the fall of Troy. No one believed her prophecies, and the Greeks went on to ransack the city in the Trojan War as recounted by Homer in The Iliad. "Cassandra" is in keeping with ABBA's theme of war with such songs as "Waterloo" and "Fernando."

 

ABBA's Cassandra leaves on a ship at sunrise. It is raining, and her eyes are filled with pain. Trojan Cassandra was taken by the Greek hero Agamemnon as his mistress and murdered by Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, afer arriving in Greece.

 

There is a hint of predestination as we are told Cassandra was lost from the start. There are lots of shadows in ABBA's music, and here the future casts a shadow.

 

Which one of the ABBA girls is Cassandra? It is probably both of them because both Benny and Bjorn went on to stable marriages with other women. There is a reference to Cassandra's father. Frida'a estranged father, Alfred Hasse, came into her life after ABBA got famous. She and her father stopped seeing each other when ABBA broke up. "Staying Alive" may be a nod to The Bee Gees' monster hit. "Dreams you would weave" conjures up Gary Wright's "Dream Weaver."

 

"Sell our secrets" is interesting. The women in ABBA songs cherish their private lives. They guard secrets, and it is by these secrets, probably sexual, that they identify their innermost selves.

1 "They wouldn't know her little secrets" - Nina, Pretty Ballerina

2 "Secrets that my paradise can bring" - Tropical Loveland

3 "My secrets he learned" - Just Like That

 

ABBA was the city (Stockholm) incarnate. If the city is dead, so is ABBA. Their last day has dawned. The final hour! Troy and ABBA fall together!

 

"Cassandra" makes use of alliteration: Street, singing, shouting, staying, shame, start, suffer, sell, secrets, sorry, sleep, ship, sailing, sister, sunrise, sails, slack, stood. This is poetry!

 

 

 

CASSANDRA

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2SQhnOxqiU]ABBA : Cassandra (TV- Germany '82) HQ-Widescreen - YouTube[/ame]

 

Down in the street they're all singing and shouting

Staying alive though the city is dead

Hiding their shame behind hollow laughter

While you are crying alone on your bed

 

Pity Cassandra that no one believed you

But then again you were lost from the start

Now we must suffer and sell our secrets

Bargain, playing smart, aching in our hearts

 

Sorry Cassandra I misunderstood

Now the last day is dawning

Some of us wanted but none of us would

Listen to words of warning

But on the darkest of nights

Nobody knew how to fight

And we were caught in our sleep

Sorry Cassandra I didn't believe

You really had the power

I only saw it as dreams you would weave

Until the final hour

 

So in the morning your ship will be sailing

Now that your father and sister are gone

There is no reason for you to linger

You're grieving deeply but still moving on

You know the future is casting a shadow

No one else sees it but you know your fate

Packing your bags, being slow and thorough

Knowing, though you're late, that ship is sure to wait

 

Sorry Cassandra I misunderstood

Now the last day is dawning

Some of us wanted but none of us would

Listen to words of warning

But on the darkest of nights

Nobody knew how to fight

And we were caught in our sleep

Sorry Cassandra I didn't believe

You really had the power

I only saw it as dreams you would weave

Until the final hour

 

I watched the ship leaving the harbor at sunrise

Sails almost slack in the cool morning rain

She stood on deck, just a tiny figure

Rigid and restrained, blue eyes filled with pain

Sorry Cassandra I misunderstood

Now the last day is dawning

Some of us wanted but none of us could

Listen to words of warning

But on the darkest of nights

Nobody knew how to fight

And we were caught in our sleep

Sorry Cassandra I didn't believe

You really had the power

I only saw it as dreams you would weave

Until the final hour

 

I'm sorry Cassandra

I'm sorry Cassandra

Should I Laugh Or Cry - ABBA

 

This is a wife rebelling against her husband, perhaps Frida rebelling against Benny. He drones on while she grows cold. This is one of those songs from the post-Visitors era. Maybe ABBA meant to do another album, maybe not. I am not even sure they knew. But those final songs had no top 40 candidates. They were cynical and pessimistic in a way that was foreign to early ABBA. "SHOULD I LAUGH OR CRY" reeks with sarcasm. a peculiar hardness. It is a legitimate response to a woman's partner becoming tyrannical. He vents. She feels only contempt. She may have liked his small philosophy in "Our Last Summer" but not now. The song's title reminds me of the two masks representing the dramatic arts. One is laughing, one is crying. Frida is laughing but not with Benny. She is laughing at him. She makes much of his stature. Benny is standing on his toes as if to appear taller. He is high and mighty. Frida compares him to an inflated balloon, full of hot air, on its way to the moon. We find the moon in other ABBA songs: People Need Love, What About Livingstone, Tropical Loveland, SummerNight City, The Piper and Soldiers. This is a different moon. The couple are preparing for bed, and Benny is in his pajamas. Frida probably bought them as a birthday present. That the trousers are too short is another indication that Benny is trying to tower over her. His pajamas are his warm and safe cacoon. Love and marriage have become a lie. Frida is tired and indifferent. Her pain is gone. Benny is far away. Of course, both couples in ABBA divorced, and their divorces reflected the general breakdown of marriage in all industrial societies. The 10 years of ABBA invites comparison with that of The Beatles. Both groups began with exuberant love songs while a gradual cooling produced more solemn lyrics.

 

 

 

SHOULD I LAUGH OR CRY

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_uiKm7wsmI]ABBA - Should I Laugh Or Cry - YouTube[/ame]

 

He stands towering over me beside my bed

Losing his head

Tells me I must take him seriously

Droning on the usual way

He's such a clever guy

And I wonder should I laugh or cry

 

He's dressed in the striped pajamas that I bought

Trousers too short

Gives me of his small philosophy

Carries on the way he does

And me I get so tired

And I wonder should I laugh or cry

 

High and mighty his banner flies

A fool's pride in his eyes

Standing there on his toes to grow in size

All I see is a big balloon

Halfway up to the moon

He's wrapped up in the warm and safe cocoon

Of an eternal lie

So should I laugh or cry

 

Strange how dangerously indifferent I have grown

Cold as a stone

No more pain where there was pain before

Far away he rambles on, I feel my throat go dry

And I wonder should I laugh or cry

 

High and mighty his banner flies

A fool's pride in his eyes

Standin' there on his toes to grow in size

All I see is a big balloon

Halfway up to the moon

He's wrapped up in a warm and safe cocoon

Of an eternal lie

So should I laugh or cry

hmmmm

Just Like That - ABBA

 

This is the girl in "The Day Before You Came." It is remarkable how they blend such clever lyrics into a smooth melody. Even with a lot of words and heavy rhyming, the recurring sounds never interfere with the emotion or idea of the song. Agnetha delivers her aching, yearning feeling, sharing her triumph and her disappointment. The women in ABBA's songs cherish their private lives. They guard secrets, and it is by these secrets, probably sexual, that they identify their innermost selves:

1 "They wouldn't know her little secrets" - "Nina, Pretty Ballerina"

2 "Secrets that my paradise can bring" - "Tropical Loveland"

3 "Suffer and sell our secrets" - "Cassandra"

4 "My secrets he learned" - "Just Like That"

There is a desire to open up on one hand and a fear of doing so on the other.

Who throws dust in people's eyes? The sandman! So Agnetha was asleep or hypnotized when this gigolo walked in as smug as a cat. Women love cats. No wonder she led him on! After all, he was handsome, and looks are everything. He had a nice smile. Even though Agnetha gave this womanizer a home, she knew it was an interlude. An affair! Her life was ultimately to assume its predestinated course. There were tears, and she often thinks about her rolling stone and wonders where he is. "Just Like That" is a great song and looms large with fans. Raphael Ravenscroft played the winding, twisting saxophone.

 

JUST LIKE THAT

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEX1n9YWC90]ABBA - Just Like That (The Video) - YouTube[/ame]

Until that day

My life had been a river

Following the same, pre-destinated course,

Suddenly detouring so unexpectedly

With uncompromising force.

My strongholds broke down all too easily;

I remember well,

How it did embarrass me;

I hung on to his every smile

Marveled at his style

 

Just like that...

He walked into my house

As smug as a cat

He was handsome and smart

Walked away with my heart

Just like that...

He found a temporary home in my flat

Telling innocent lies

Throwing dust in my eyes

But I led him on,

Knowing that someday soon he'd be gone

Just like that...

As though he only stopped awhile for a chat;

But my secrets he learned

Leaving no stone unturned

 

And once again, the river's flowing slowly,

Following its safe and uneventful course.

Now the tears have dried,

it's become a pleasant break,

I recall without remorse.

But now and then

I wonder where he is

And I will admit,

he had something that I miss.

I guess he was a rolling stone;

The only one I've known.

 

Just like that...

He walked into my house

As smug as a cat

He was handsome and smart

Walked away with my heart

Just like that...

He found a temporary home in my flat

Telling innocent lies

Throwing dust in my eyes

But I led him on,

Knowing that someday soon he'd be gone

Just like that...

As though he only stopped awhile for a chat;

But my secrets he learned

Leaving no stone unturned

did u get my message?

hmu

Jim, can you do an interpretation of their song 'Lay all your love on me'?

I love that song :}

Put On Your White Sombrero - ABBA

 

Frida gives her macho Spaniard a tongue lashing. We have to wonder about whom she is singing. It must just be a song. Frida dresses her spurned vaquero. Not only does she put a white sombrero on him but dons him all in white and adds a red bandana. She puts him on a horse and sends him riding into the sunset to impress a meek senorita. She sees him as a cowboy, a caballero trying to live life as if it were an old movie. Frida is strong. She is a realist. "Put On Your White Sombrero" is the first ABBA song to embody a mean spirit. It belongs to the Super Trouper era but was deemed unworthy of that album. ABBA was peaking. There were fewer and fewer worlds to conquer. "In rhyme with his time" may be the worst line in the entire catalog. As an astronomer, I naturally think of the Sombrero Galaxy M104.

 

PUT ON YOUR WHITE SOMBRERO

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU6-vblQ_u0]ABBA "Put on Your White Sombrero" (New) - YouTube[/ame]

Put on your white sombrero

Saddle your horse my dear

And ride off into the sunset

You'd better go

For there is no

Place for you here

Like an old fashoned hero

You stand before me

You think our life is a movie

My world is real

I live and feel

And I can do, without you

 

Put on your white sombrero

Your red bandana too

Think of this day as a showdown

Goodbye my friend

This is the end

For me and you

Now be a bold vaquero

Don't show your feelings

I'll cry while you're disappearing

Into the night

All dressed in white

Unchained and free, without me

 

Put on your white sombrero

Like all the comboys do

Go find a sweet senorita

Somebody meek

Who'll never speak

Harshly to you

You're such a caballero

Proud, never bending

I want someone who will take me

Just as I am

I need a man

Who is in rhyme

With his time

 

You'll never take me

Just as I am

I need a man

Who is in rhyme

With his time

DreamWorld - ABBA

 

She is upset because her man is unrealistic. She urges him to face reality. The background vocals drive the verses, contrasting with the rest of the song. There are all kinds of checks and balances in ABBA's music. Certain titles are jammed together to distract from what might appear as cliche: "DreamWorld," "SummerNight City," "AngelEyes." Titles are second to this classical approach to rock n' roll.

 

After the movie in 1977, the group may have felt like stars. If so, their delusions of grandeur were short-lived. They sing, "We're not the stars of a Hollywood movie... I'm not so charming and you're not so groovy." Reality has a way of putting high expectations in perspective. The ladies are human, not angels in white.

 

 

 

DREAMWORLD

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeYs7cWxsHg]ABBA - Dream World - YouTube[/ame]

 

We're not the stars of a hollywood movie

So what's the use to pretend

I'm not so charming and you're not so groovy

You've gotta face it my friend

 

Dream world

You've been living in a dream world

Trust me

You just can't escape from reality

Boy meets girl

Doesn't mean they're in a dream world

Here I am, there you are, we've gotta make it together

And we've made, it so far, so it can only get better

 

When you reach out

And you say to me 'how I love you girl'

When I hold you

Baby can't you see

It's a real dream world

 

You had your hopes and your high expectations

Somehow it doesn't seem right

I'm getting fed up with your accusations

I'm not your angel in white

 

Dream world

You've been living in a dream world

Trust me

You just can't escape from reality

Boy meets girl

Doesn't mean they're in a dream world

Here I am, there you are, we gotta make it together

And we've made, it so far, so it can only get better

 

When you reach out

And you say to me 'how I love you girl'

When I hold you

Baby can't you see

It's a real dream world

Dream world

You've been living in a dream world

Trust me

You just can't escape from reality

Boy meets girl

Doesn't mean they're in a dream world

Here I am, there you are, we gotta make it together

And we've made, it so far, so it can only get better