One of Us (ABBA song)
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| “One Of Us” | |||||
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| Single by ABBA from the album The Visitors |
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| Released | December 7, 1981 (Sweden) December 12, 1981 (UK) February 12, 1983 (US) |
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| Format | 7" Single | ||||
| Genre | Pop/Europop | ||||
| Length | 3:56 | ||||
| Writer(s) | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson |
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| Producer | Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson |
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| Certification | Gold (UK) | ||||
| ABBA singles chronology | |||||
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"One of Us" from 1981 was the first single from Swedish pop group ABBA's final studio album The Visitors, their eighth for Polar, and their seventh for Epic and Atlantic. The song is also included on the ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits compilation.
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[edit] History
"One of Us", which had the working titles "Number 1" and "Mi Amore", was one of the last songs recorded for ABBA's 1981 album The Visitors. It was one of only a handful of tracks that explored the darker territory of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's songwriting as the two men's divorces were beginning to influence their musical output. Indeed, the message of the song was about a woman trying to revive a dead relationship. Despite the somewhat depressing context and reservations by manager Stig Anderson, "One of Us" was released as the first single from The Visitors, coupled with the non-album track "Should I Laugh Or Cry". Björn Ulvaeus had favoured releasing it as the first single from the new album and was vindicated when the majority of the record companies agreed with him. Indeed it proved to be a wise move as it was ABBA's last No. 1 single.
In the UK, this single was issued in a different sleeve. The official sleeve depicted the album cover photo, and was used in most countries. Epic Records wanted it differently for the British release, and used separate photos of the group members together with a large ABBA logo. Agnetha and Frida appeared on the front cover, with Bjorn and Benny on the back. The photos were actually out-of-date, as Frida was depicted still with her frizzy perm, while Bjorn was beardless. A limited edition picture disc using very similar artwork was also issued, Epic again making up for their earlier poor presentation of ABBA singles up until mid-1979.
The b-side, "Should I Laugh Or Cry" included a spoken count-in (in Swedish) from Benny. This count-in appeared on UK and South African releases but not internationally. The master tapes supplied to Epic contained the error, but were not picked up in time, and so appeared on the single release. In the early 2000's, Epic's rights to ABBA's music in the UK had long since expired. However, they still owned all the UK master tapes for the singles. These were then returned to Polar Music (itself owned by Universal Music) in Stockholm, who later issued the error count-in version as a "rarity" in The Complete Studio Recordings boxed set, thereby making it available to a worldwide audience (and on CD for the first time).
[edit] Reception
"One of Us" was ABBA's last major hit, and their last No.1 single in many countries. It topped the charts in Ireland, Belgium, West Germany and the Netherlands, and reached the Top 3 in ABBA's native Sweden, Austria, Switzerland and the UK. It also hit the Top 10 in South Africa, Norway, Spain and France.
When "One of Us" was released as a single in the United States in February 1983, it proved to be ABBA's worst ever performing charting song in that territory, reaching a high of No.107, though it should be pointed out that the song was released over a year after its release elsewhere and ABBA had disbanded by this time. Nevertheless, "One of Us" was ABBA's swansong in terms of their hit-making career.
[edit] Chart positions
| Chart | Position |
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| Belgian Singles Chart | 14 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 12 |
| German Singles Chart | 14 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 11 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 2 |
| Austrian Singles Chart | 3 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 3 |
| UK Singles Chart | 3 |
| South African Singles Chart | 4 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 6 |
| Spanish Singles Chart | 7 |
| French Singles Chart | 8 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 17 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 43 |
| Australian Singles Chart | 48 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 107 |
[edit] Parody
Following its success as a single in the UK, "One of Us" was parodied in a sketch [1] on the BBC comedy programme, Not the Nine O'Clock News in 1982. Renamed "Supa Dupa", the sketch comprised a musical parody. It included the following satirical lyrics about ABBA (intended to apply equally to the Not the Nine O'Clock News team themselves):
- One of us is ugly, one of us is cute
- One of us you'd like to see in her birthday suit
- Two of us write music, two have way a song
- Sorry, in translation, that line come out wrong
Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog were played respectively by Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Rowan Atkinson and Pamela Stephenson.
[edit] A*Teens version
| “One Of Us” | ||
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| Single by A*Teens from the album The ABBA Generation |
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| Released | 1999 | |
| Format | Airplay | |
| Recorded | 1999 | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 3:56 | |
| Label | Universal Music | |
| Writer(s) | B. Andersson B. Ulvaeus |
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| Producer | Thomas Johansson Ronald Malmberg |
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| A*Teens chronology | ||
| "Happy New Year" (1999) |
"One of Us" (1999) |
"Take A Chance On Me" (2000) |
The A*Teens released the song as a promo single from their debut album The ABBA Generation.
As an attempt to promote the A*Teens a bit more, Universal Music released "One Of Us" on radio in late 1999. The song was promoted in Scandinavia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Japan. Promo copies are a rare item.
[edit] Music video
A special music video was filmed for a TV Special in Sweden. It was not used as an official video. It shows parts of shows in Sweden and behind scenes footage of the band having fun, waiting in a room of Stockholm Records' building.
[edit] Formats
Swedish Promotional CD
- One Of Us [Album Version] - 3:56
[edit] Other cover versions
- With lyrics in German, as Ich sah deine Tränen, schlager singer Marianne Rosenberg recorded the song, and this version peaked at#66 at the single chart in the former West Germany in 1982.
- Pandora covered the song 1995.
- Almighty Records released a dance cover version of the song by Abbacadabra in the late 1990s.
- Another dance version was also covered by the group Angeleyes on their 1999 album ABBAdance.
- German rave/techno band Dune (German band) recorded a slow, orchestral version of the song for their 1998 Forever and Ever with The London Session Orchestra. Their version featured singer Tina Lacebal on vocals.
- A version by British pop duo Go West was included on the 1999 album ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration.
- The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album ExtrABBAganza!.
- The compilation ABBAMetal (also released as A Tribute to ABBA) featured a rendition by German gothic metal band Flowing Tears.
- British singer Hazell Dean recorded a cover of this song for her own ABBA tribute album.
- Spanish singer/songwriter Javier Álvarez included a rendition of the song on his 2001 album Grandes éxitos.
- The German "ABBA Mania" album, (which coincided with a TV special) has a cover of the song by pop group US5.
- A cover of the song by Finnish a cappella choral ensemble Rajaton can be found on their 2006 ABBA tribute album Rajaton Sings ABBA With Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
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