Honey, Honey

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“Honey Honey”
Single by ABBA from the album Waterloo
B-side	King Kong Song
Released	April, 1974
Format	7" Single
Genre	Pop/Europop
Length	2:54
Writer(s)	Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson, Benny Andersson
Producer	Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson
Certification	N/A
ABBA singles chronology
"Waterloo" (1974) "Honey, Honey" (1974) "Hasta Mañana" (1974)

"Honey, Honey" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA & included on their Waterloo album. It was the 2nd single to be released from the album after the success of the title track winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.

[edit] History

"Honey, Honey" was written by Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Stig Anderson, with shared vocals by Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. As well as the English version, ABBA also recorded "Honey, Honey" in Swedish, the last official recording by the group in their own language and was released as the B-side of the Swedish "Waterloo" single. In its English format, "Honey, Honey" was released with "King Kong Song" as the B-side.

[edit] Reception

"Honey, Honey" was released in several European countries, the United States, Australia & New Zealand, but not in the UK. ABBA's British record label, Epic Records, decided to release a remixed version of "Ring Ring", but this single only reached No.32, so instead, a cover version of "Honey, Honey" was recorded by the act Sweet Dreams, promptly hitting the UK Top 10.

"Honey, Honey" spent four months in the top five in West Germany, and also reached the top five in Austria & Switzerland. In the United States, "Honey, Honey" was moderately successful compared to the group's later singles. It reached No.27 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts; the first ABBA single to reach the AC chart. Interestingly, ABBA's original "Honey, Honey" had to compete with Sweet Dreams' cover version in the U.S. market; although the Sweet Dreams single only reached No.68, it may have somewhat hindered the performance of ABBA's version on the American charts.

[edit] Chart positions

[edit] Cover versions, appearances in other media etc.

• In 1974 British disco singer Polly Brown, formerly fronting Pickettywitch, recorded a cover of the song together with singer Tony Jackson as a duo called Sweet Dreams.
• A dance cover by ABBAcadabra was released by Almighty Records in the late 1990s.
• The 1999 compilation ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration features a cover by Michael B. Tretow and his daughter Sofia. Michael Tretow was a recording engineer for ABBA during the group's career. This cover of the song is unique in that it features musical references to thirteen other ABBA songs interspersed within the melody.
• The song is sung in the first act of the Mamma Mia! musical by Sophie and her friends.