Waterloo (song)

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“Waterloo (Swedish version)”
Single by ABBA from the album Waterloo
B-side	"Honey, Honey" (Swedish Version)
Released	March 4, 1974[1]
Format	7" single
Genre	Europop, Pop, Glam rock
Length	2:42
Label	Polar Music
Writer(s)	Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, Björn Ulvaeus
Producer	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Engineer: Michael Tretow
ABBA singles chronology
"Another Town, Another Train" (1973) "Waterloo (Swedish version)" (1974) "Waterloo" (1974)

“Waterloo”
Single by ABBA from the album Waterloo
B-side	"Watch Out"
Released	March 12, 1974
Format	7" single
Length	2:42
Label	Polar Music
ABBA singles chronology
"Waterloo (Swedish version)" (1974) "Waterloo" (1974) "Honey, Honey" (1974)

"Waterloo", first called "Honey-Pie", was the first single from Swedish pop group ABBA's second album Waterloo, their first for Epic and Atlantic.

The Swedish version was the song that won ABBA the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest and began their path to worldwide fame. The Swedish version single was coupled with "Honey, Honey" (Swedish Version), the English with "Watch Out" as the B-side.

Contents 1 History 2 Reception 3 Single track listing 4 Chart positions 5 Cover versions 6 Live cover performances, appearances in other media etc. 7 References

[edit] History

"Waterloo" was originally written as a song for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, after the group finished third with "Ring Ring" in the previous year's national hits. Since it focussed on lead vocalists Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson chose it in place of another of their songs, "Hasta Mañana". "Waterloo" is about a girl who is about to surrender to romance, as Napoleon had to surrender at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The song proved to be a good choice. It sailed through the Swedish hits (in Swedish) in February 1974 and won that year's Eurovision Song contest (ESC) final on April 6 by six points.

"Waterloo" was one of ABBA's few songs to be written with simultaneous rock music and jazz beats, something later discarded in favour of more disco-esque rhythms. The song broke the "dramatic ballad" tradition of the Eurovision Song Contest by its flavour and rhythm, as well by its performance. By the end of the show, ABBA had given something the audience had never seen before in ESC: flashy and flamboyant costumes, silver platform boots, a group singing not in their native language, a catchy "uptempo" song and a simple, still unseen before, choreography.

Though it isn't well-known, Polar accidentally released a different version of "Waterloo" shortly after ABBA's Eurovision win before pulling it off the shelves and replacing it with the more famous version. The alternate version had a rockier sound, omitting the saxophones, plus an addition "oh yeah" in the verses. The alternate version was commercially released in 2005 as part of The Complete Studio Recordings box set. However, it was this version that ABBA performed in the 1979 Europe/North American tour.

[edit] Reception

The "Waterloo" single introduced the world to the phenomenon that was to become ABBA. The song shot to No.1 in the UK and stayed there for two weeks, becoming the first of the band's nine UK chart-toppers. It also hit No.1 in Ireland, Belgium, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, West Germany and South Africa, while reaching the Top 3 in ABBA's native Sweden (in both its English (No.2) and Swedish (No.3) formats), Austria, the Netherlands, France and Spain. Amazingly, for a Eurovision winning song, "Waterloo" also reached the Top 10 in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), New Zealand, and Australia. Unusually, for a Eurovision entry, the song made it up to No. 6 in the United States. Yet, despite all this success, "Waterloo" only reached No.14 in Italy, possibly because they would have won ESC that year if it was not for this song. This could also be because the Italians did not carry the Eurovision transmission live. "Waterloo" is the only song that has competed in Eurovision to reach the Top 10 in 15 countries.

The Waterloo album performed similarly well in Europe, although in the U.S., it failed to match the success of the single. Though it would be another twelve months before the group repeated their success, "Waterloo" introduced the world to a fresh-faced and vibrant group of individuals who were determined not to be Eurovision one-hit wonders.

ABBA had originally cited Wood & the Wizzard song "See My Baby Jive" as influences & in the wake of their Eurovision victory, were quoted as saying that it would not surprise them if artists such as Wizzard would consider entering the Eurovision contest in future.

In 1994, "Waterloo" - together with several other ABBA hits - was included in the soundtrack of the film Muriel's Wedding. It was re-released in 2004 (with the same B-side), to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary, reaching No.20 on the UK charts.

On October 22, 2005, during the fiftieth celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest, "Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history.

Contrary to what the song claims, Napoleon did not surrender at Waterloo; he surrendered at Rochefort on the French Atlantic coast four weeks later.

[edit] Single track listing

Australia (7")

1. "Waterloo"
2. "Watch Out"
3. "Ring Ring"
4. "Rock'n Roll Band"

[edit] Chart positions

Chart (1974)	Position
Belgian Singles Chart	15
Finland Singles Chart	1
German Singles Chart	14
Irish Singles Chart	12
Norwegian Singles Chart	18
South African Singles Chart	12
Swiss Singles Chart	19
U.K. Singles Chart	12
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Dutch Singles Chart	2
Rhodesian Singles Chart	2
French Singles Chart	3
New Zealand Singles Chart	3
Spanish Singles Chart	3
Swedish Singles Chart	2 (Swedish version)
Swedish Singles Chart	3
Australian Singles Chart	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	6
Italian Singles Chart	14

[edit] Cover versions

• A Swedish country band called Nashville Train (which included some of ABBA's own backing band members) covered the song in the 1970s on their album ABBA Our Way.
• 1970s Hong Kong pop band The Wynners recorded a cover of the song.
• In 1986, a cover version of the song was recorded and released by Doctor and the Medics, with special guest Roy Wood on saxophone and backing vocals, reached No. 45 on the UK chart.
• The Swedish heavy metal band Black Ingvars covered "Waterloo" in Swedish on their 1998 album Schlager Metal.
• A heavy metal cover of the song by Nation can be found on the compilation ABBAMetal (also released as A Tribute to ABBA).
• In 1998, UK girl group Bananarama reunited to record "Waterloo" for the Eurovision parody A Song For Eurotrash on Channel 4. Their music video featured the girls waking up from a hang-over, dancing around in wedding dresses at an altar (with male back-up dancers in military uniform), and getting into a food fight at a wedding reception.
• Dance versions of the song have been recorded by Abbacadabra (released through Almighty Records), Tiny T on the Lay All Your Love On ABBA tribute album, German Eurodance group E-Rotic on their Thank You For The Music album & the Golden Queens.
• Singer/songwriter Pamela McNeill covered the song on her album Tribute To ABBA, which was produced by her husband Dugan McNeill.
• On the British ABBAMania 2 album released in 2004, the song is performed by British TV actors Michelle Hardwick, Vickie Gates, and Will Mellor.
• An electronica version by Motor Industries can be found on the album The Electronic Tribute To ABBA.
• Another electronica version was recorded by an artist called Roymond, which was available for download on the Internet.
• The New Zealand compilation ABBAsalutely includes a version by Cloth.
• German pop group Banaroo covered the song for the German ABBA Mania compilation, which coincided with a TV special.
• 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.
• Tribute band Gabba (band) recorded a cover of the song, in the style of The Ramones.

[edit] Live cover performances, appearances in other media etc.

• The song is featured in the encore of the musical Mamma Mia!.
• The song made an appearance on The Simpsons in the episode "Mother Simpson".
• On December 12, 2006, the song was played by NASA during STS-116 as the wake up song for Christer Fuglesang, also from Sweden, in honor of him becoming the first Nordic astronaut.
• Bernd Stromberg, the main character of the German TV series Stromberg sang this song in the 9th episode of the 2nd season ("Die Kündigung")

Preceded by Sommaren som aldrig säger nej by Malta	Melodifestivalen winners 1974	Succeeded by Jennie, Jennie by Lasse Berghagen
Preceded by Tu Te Reconnaîtras by Anne-Marie David	Irish Singles Chart 1974	Succeeded by Ding Ding-A-Dong by Teach-In
Preceded by Seasons In The Sun by Terry Jacks	UK Singles Chart number one single April 30, 1974	Succeeded by Sugar Baby Love by Rubettes

[edit] References

v • d • e ABBA Agnetha Fältskog • Björn Ulvaeus • Benny Andersson • Anni-Frid Lyngstad Studio albums Ring Ring • Waterloo • ABBA • Arrival • The Album • Voulez-Vous • Super Trouper • The Visitors Compilations Greatest Hits • Greatest Hits Vol. 2 • Gracias Por La Música • The Singles: The First Ten Years • ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits • More ABBA Gold: More ABBA Hits • ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos • Thank You for the Music • The Definitive Collection • The Complete Studio Recordings • Number Ones Hit singles "People Need Love" • "He Is Your Brother" • "Ring Ring" • "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" • "Waterloo" • "Honey, Honey" • "So Long" • "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" • "SOS" • "Mamma Mia" • "Fernando" • "Dancing Queen" • "Money, Money, Money" • "Knowing Me, Knowing You" • "The Name of the Game" • "Take a Chance on Me" • "Eagle" • "Summer Night City" • "Chiquitita" • "Does Your Mother Know" • "Voulez-Vous" • "Angeleyes" • "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" • "I Have a Dream" • "The Winner Takes It All" • "On and On and On" • "Super Trouper" • "Lay All Your Love on Me" • "One of Us" • "When All is Said and Done" • "Head over Heels" • "The Visitors" • "The Day Before You Came" • "Under Attack" • "Thank You for the Music" Related articles Discography • Unreleased songs • Eurovision Song Contest 1974 • Mamma Mia! (musical) • Mamma Mia! (film) • Congratulations • Music of Sweden • Stig Anderson • "Thank ABBA for the Music"