Why Did It Have To Be Me? - ABBA

Why Did It Have To Be Me? - ABBA

3:20

Arrival, 1976

Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

A duet between a man and woman, in which the man accuses her of playing with not only his heart, but those of all men: "Men are the toys in the game that you play / When you get tired, you throw 'em away."  He follows this up with a chauvinistic shrug, "That's only natural."  And the woman responds, more or less, yes, that's pretty much it, and "it's better to forget me."  For a band that's half women and relies heavily on their vocals, ABBA sure can be dismissive of women.  Well, it was the '70s.

Thank You For the Music - ABBA

Thank You For the Music - ABBA

3:49

ABBA: The Album, 1977

Written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus

In this song, the narrator starts out, in a half-spoken style, deprecating herself ("I'm nothing special, in fact I'm a bit of a bore / If I tell a joke, you've probably heard it before"), only to then go on and talk about how great she is at singing and how everyone enjoys that.  Who was it who figured out music captures people's hearts?  Whoever it was, she's a fan.  Well, it's nice to know your strengths.

Honey, Honey - ABBA

Honey, Honey - ABBA

2:55

Waterloo, 1975

Written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, & Stig Anderson

A typically catchy bubblegum hit from the Swedish singles machine.  Lyrically, this song is very much of its time: the ladies prostrating themselves before a well-known "love machine" who warns them to stay grounded or he'll hurt them.  Musically, though, it's perfect pop, with the women's vocals managing to sound amped up and sex-kitten at the same time.  On another note, why did ABBA record so many songs with repeated-word titles?