Overlooked and underrated: 15 of ABBA’s absolute best deep tracks
Ever since ABBA won the Eurovision song contest in 1974, they’ve been one of the most beloved, applauded, and culturally influential bands worldwide. Crowds still run to the dance floor whenever one of their dozens of hit songs start playing. Their albums live on in the collections of generations of fans. And, every year, new people keep discovering and falling in love with them.
We all know their hits. We’ve all danced to “Dancing Queen,” sang along to “Mamma Mia!,” and felt the heartbreak of “Knowing Me, Knowing You.” These lyrics and melodies are imprinted on culture. However, there are many more songs of theirs that didn’t necessarily hit the charts or become worldwide sensations.
Here are 15 of ABBA’s absolute best deep tracks that deserve more recognition, each worthy of placement on ABBA Gold alongside their biggest hits.
*Note: In order to narrow down the list, no song that appeared in their greatest hits album ABBA Gold has been included, nor has any song that was included in either of the Mamma Mia! movies or the stage show. At least one song from each of their albums appears here.
1. “People Need Love”
From Ring Ring, 1973. By the time they won Eurovision in ’74, ABBA had actually already released a full-length album, Ring Ring. Even though only a handful of songs have carried into their more popular catalog, “People Need Love” is a great display of the musical style that would become their signature: a strong synth, layered vocals between the men and women, and lyrics that could be read as corny but are incredibly earnest.
2. “Hasta Mañana”
From Waterloo, 1974. The song that could have been. “Hasta Mañana” was the other song that ABBA considered competing in Eurovision with (and we know how that turned out). Even though it wasn’t nearly as wildly successful as its Napoleonic counterpart, this is a strong ABBA ballad that showcases their characteristic melancholy, and the start of their love affair with the Spanish language.
3. “Bang-A-Boomerang”
From ABBA, 1975. ABBA always had a knack for taking seemingly random ideas or concepts (a historical battle, a type of spotlight, the name of a person) and creating a narrative around it. In “Bang-A-Boomerang,” a boomerang is used in a fun, upbeat song to illustrate how love comes back around to you if you’re unafraid to give yourself. Love is a bang-a-boomerang, after all.
4. “So Long”
From ABBA, 1975. Although ABBA is mostly known for their pop/ disco sounds, they actually ventured into rock music more often than not. “So Long” is a throwback to vintage 1950s swing and rock-n-roll—about a girl turning away a boy who’s trying to buy her gifts—even with some references to the slang of the time.
5. “Tiger”
From Arrival, 1976. This one goes for the people that can hold a grudge (or for serial killers in movies, if you read more literally into the lyrics). “Tiger’ is one of ABBA’s boldest songs lyrically, reading like a pretty clear warning (“People who fear me never come near me, I am the tiger”). Although, as it often is with them, even their saddest or most menacing songs have a signature upbeat melody.
6. “Eagle”
From The Album, 1977. It was always a treat when ABBA stepped away from their usual disco-pop sound and did something bolder. “Eagle” is at points almost like a medieval epic chant, with its strings and percussions and lyrics about flying “over mountains and forests and seas.” It’s a song that proves the versatility that ABBA deniers claim they never had.
7. “Hole In Your Soul”
From The Album, 1977. Speaking of versatility, “Hole in Your Soul” is yet another of the band’s venture into more vintage rock sounds. With an unusual equal division of male and female vocals, the band invites us to fill the literal hole in the title with the only thing that will satiate it. No, no—it’s not what you think; it’s rock and roll, of course. It’s impossible not to dance along to this one.
8. “I’m A Marionette”
From The Album, 1977. As much as ABBA’s lyrics were known for either feel-good energy, or their deep melancholy, they also often used their music for for intricate storytelling. “I’m A Marionette” is one of three songs in ABBA: The Album (along with “I Wonder” and “Thank You For The Music”) that form a mini-musical—one that the band would perform on tour called “The Girl With The Golden Hair.” This is one of their most interesting tracks, musically, and some of their most vivid imagery.
9. “Summer Night City”
A standalone single later added to Voulez-Vouz, 1979. Voulez-Vous is definitely ABBA’s most disco-influenced album, with almost every song inviting you to grab your bell-bottoms and hit the floor under the mirror ball. “Summer Night City” is a criminally underplayed track that, from the first synth notes, takes you back to the mid-1970s to go “walking in the moonlight and love making in the park.”
10. “If It Wasn’t For the Nights”
From Voulez-Vouz, 1979.“If It Wasn’t for the Nights” has a more upbeat melody and relies more on the girl vocals than “Summer Night City” (and had deceivingly darker lyrics about how hard the nights can be after a heartbreak). But these two songs are perfect companions and examples of what this era of ABBA sounded like: perfectly distilled disco pop perfection.
11. “Happy New Year”
From Super Trouper, 1980. Many holidays have their own music catalog: Valentine’s Day, Halloween—Christmas has a full genre all to its own! But few bands can claim to have a New Year’s anthem. But of course, in the best ABBA fashion, it’s not all good wishes and holiday cheer: it’s about grasping onto the hope that things will somehow get better next year despite all signs pointing against it. And that is relatable.
12. “On And On And On”
From Super Trouper, 1980. “On And On And On” is just plain catchy. With a melody and rhythm that immediately gets in your head and stays there, it recounts an encounter that just kept going and going and going through the night. It’s a perfect blend of their more story-driven songs and their classic dance-floor beats.
13. “Head Over Heels”
From The Visitors, 1981. The Visitors was—for quite some time—ABBA’s “final album,” but also its most evolved and musically complex. “Head Over Heels” has the band conjuring images of a whirlwind modern woman that could very well have been the theme song for a film like Working Girl. It feels like a natural growth of their sounds and ideas; the naive girls of their early albums are now taking on the world by themselves.
14. “The Visitors”
From The Visitors, 1981. “The Visitors” is the song that is most unlike classical ABBA, and for that reason stands the test of time as one of their best. From the very start, with the experimental use of sound boards, synth instruments, and vocals, you know this is no “Dancing Queen.” The song then goes through rapid changes in melody, long instrumental portions, and lyrics that evoke the panic and claustrophobia of a home invasion. It’s daring, different, and thrilling.
15. “Keep An Eye On Dan”
From Voyage, 2021. In ’21, ABBA made their triumphant return with their first album in 40 years. Although most of the songs in that album could technically be considered deep cuts (and the singles in particular, “Don’t Shut Me Down” and “I Still Have Faith In You”, are just as good as the songs of their heyday), there’s no way to not highlight “Keep An Eye On Dan.” An often silly but ultimately earnest song about a mother asking her ex to watch their child while she’s away, it also showcases that the band has not lost its whimsy—or the ability to create an earworm—in the four decades they took a break.
