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Songs of the month
Should I Laugh Or Cry
This month I have picked another
favourite of mine. A song that long lived the forgotten life of a single B-side,
but these days enjoys the status of a bonus track on The Visitors.
It's a song I refer to as "ABBA
goes Yazoo", due to its intelligent and minimalistic use of synthesizers as a
background to powerful and energetic singing - most of the time standing out
with high resolution against the "less-is-more" arrangement.
It's none other than Should I
Laugh Or Cry. If last month's song "As Good As New" - brought forward Agnetha in
all her glory this one does the same for Frida. Here she sings like she means
it! Using power and passion - going from raw to mellow and then back again.
I love how it starts - the
dripping synth and a silent, almost humble guitar in the background. Then Frida
opens up with a *He*. Nothing more. Like this *He* is half the song. He -- the
sucker, the idiot, the jerk! Just watch it you miserable excuse for a man!
*Stands* is the second word standing (haha) for itself. You can see this dude
standing by the window, looking out in the glow of a dull dawn, not really
paying attention to his woman.
Next comes the rest of the
singing, painting up the scenario. A man and a woman on the brink of breaking
up. Perhaps she thinks he's cheating on him - "Tells me I'm mistaken seriously".
Well really?? "Such a clever guy". He denies it - I have never had sex with that
woman miss!
Agnetha appears and brings in
the mellowness, like the woman in the bed turns around, sighs and decides to not
really care after all. The song sort of changes mood here. The anger is gone,
it's more resigned, like she's given up. Though not really giving up - rather
letting go -not giving a shit. "All I see is a big balloon / Halfway up to the
moon" (he is talking baloney, because he's full of lies -- he's such a loon!)
"Should I Laugh Or Cry". I can feel that she's leaning towards laughing. Good
for her! He's not worth the tears, this guy in the ugly worn out pyjamas that
once were hers.
There's more instrumentation in
the chorus too - something that helps soften up the ambience. Even the third
verse seems more mellow. And is the guy gone? "Far away he rambles on" - and she
seems indifferent.
I have a video in my head to
this. Starting with Frida in the bed, and an 40+ "once-a-hunk" playing the man.
Frida sits there and sings in the light of a flickering fire, candles by the
bedside, and an aquarium. In the chorus the scenery changes to a closed art-deco
outdoor restaurant. Agnetha and Frida sing while walking by white iron tables
with upturned chairs and swinging lamps and coloured bulbs. It's night and snow
is falling. Perhaps some mist and a waning moon.
In the end you see Frida in a
window. Smoking (yes, this was 1982 -and it was okay to smoke in video clips
back then) and watching the man leaving her. She doesn't care. She's a strong
woman. Then she laughs rather than cries.
Once I compiled "the imaginary
10th album" and I included this song. I know that purists would have a fit,
because this one is earlier material, but I don't give a damn. I want it there
so it's there in my world. It goes well with "I Am The City", "You Owe Me One"
and the rest. Imagine if that album had come to be in 1983. It would have been a
great synth album that would have showed the world that ABBA was not the
slightest bit out of the touch with the musical trends but surfing along with
Depeche Mode and the likes.
Me and Bobby and Bobby's
Brother
This song sounds dated, I admit
that, but it does in a cute way with its simplistic instrumentation, the boys in
the chorus and the "oompah, oompah" feeling. The dated sound fits very well with
the line "Please take me back to that place" - as though it was recorded today,
but in an old-fashioned way to fit the lyrics. Agnetha's voice is so sweet and
thoughtful, and that little flute (or whatever it is) in the background is the
icing on the cake.
When I'm in a good mood I find
this song a cutie, but when I'm in a bad mood it sounds like a commercial for
something un-trendy, like a bank or a pension saving fund or something, with
annoying little kids and the mandatory dog in a rural landscape - or a black and
white movie with painted pastel colours on. You know what I mean!
I have memories connected to
this song too. Me and my sister jumping on my parents bed (they had the
turntable in the bedroom back them), something that we were not allowed to do,
but when Mum and Dad were away we always did that. We jumped and pretended we
were the artists or perhaps actors in a movie. I remember getting the line "Me
and Bobby and Bobby's Brother" but not that much else. I used to picture this
girl and her boyfriend and his brother driving around in a white convertible
with red seats. Where I got that picture from I don't know.
My second memory is a much later
date - the- early 90s, and a guy I met at a party. We ended up talking ABBA
because we were peeking through the hostess' record shelf. (I love to do that
kind of thing, to see what music and books people have). This guy was referring
to Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother as "The song about the guy who hung himself
in the apple tree". I was like "Say what????????!!!!!!!!!!" He started to sing
some lines like "la la la la hanged in the apple tree", so I felt that I had to
check the lyrics. Luckily the host had a Ring Ring album with lyrics available
so we could slake our curiosity. The lyric was "Climbing the apple tree". Hey,
but if some people have a morbid mind, what is one to do?
I also remember that I used to
mistake this song for He Is Your Brother.
If you have "that kind of
fantasy" -try to set the stage for this song in Dallas the Musical. :-)
Linda, Stockholm, Sweden |
