For a lot of, Agnetha Fältskog’s clear-as-crystal pitch combined with Frida Lyngstad’s fuller, hotter vary is the ABBA trademark. That makes “Does Your Mother Know” one thing of a novelty – a uncommon second when Björn Ulvaeus took the lead vocal. The track, launched on April 27, 1979, because the second single from Voulez-Vous, speaks of a band assured sufficient to experiment with a successful method – and, maybe, reveals the primary indicators of a stressed creativity that may in the end see its members pursue solo initiatives simply a few years sooner or later.
Early recording periods
First generally known as “I Can Do It,” “Does Your Mother Know” was fashioned throughout periods at Polar Music Studio throughout February 1979. The observe was at all times extra rock than pop, and Björn’s information vocal on the demo appeared a robust match, so it was determined to proceed down that route. Drums and the construct of bass, piano, and electrical guitar give the track a crackling power that harks again to the glam-pop sound that had actually kickstarted their profession at Eurovision 5 years earlier. Solely Agnetha and Frida’s backing vocals lock it extra conventionally into the ABBA sound, and, although the saxophone was recorded in subsequent studio periods, Benny and Björn have recalled that many of the track’s components got here collectively comparatively rapidly.
With a lyric that may be interpreted in several methods (its authentic male perspective was properly flipped within the stage and display screen variations of Mamma Mia! years later), Björn was by no means fully snug together with his lead position on the observe. “One of the girls should have sung it,” he would say later. “It would have benefitted from that because it’s a damn good song.”
Chart efficiency
The general public appeared to agree concerning the power of the track, sending the observe up the charts all over the world, together with a No.1 putting in Germany and a No.4 peak within the UK. It even landed inside the High 20 within the US. In contrast to many different ABBA songs, “Does Your Mother Know” has not been broadly coated since, however its look on the Voulez-Vous album and its launch throughout one of many band’s most prolific years make it one in every of their best-loved songs.
