'The right singer for the song' argument

Benny’s diplomatic response is contradicted by Frida’s admission after ABBA that she was sometimes envious when Agnetha was chosen to sing a song. I think she might have been referring to The Winner Takes It All.

This is an interesting topic. The demo of "Chiquitita" was originally called "The Arms Of Rosalita" and it did feature a lead vocal from Frida. I guess it would have been interesting to hear the full demo. It is true that Agnetha and Frida would have loved to have sung lead on quite a few songs from reading excerpts of Carl Magnus Palm's " The Studio Recording Sessions " ( original book ). However, I think Benny and Bjorn knew instinctively which song would suit Agnetha and Frida's voices. I am glad that they "stuck to their guns". I agree with Richard they are both very versatile singers and have the ability to make the song their own. For example, "Knowing Me Knowing You" features a magnificent melancholic lead from Frida and equally Agnetha's heartbreakingly desolate vocals within "The Winner Takes It All" convey such pain and sadness. Should they swap lead vocals on either I don't think the songs would be as powerful. As I have already said they make the song their own. There are so many other songs that should Agnetha and Frida alter on lead the impetus would be lost. "Fernando" and "Chiquitita" come to my mind as the second verses and choruses are intertwined with the angelic vocals from both girls which is pure ABBA. The same can be said about the up tempo songs if the lead vocals were swapped "you would lose the magic" with the exception of hits and album tracks which showcase joint vocals from Frida and Agnetha such as "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia". Another fine example of the band's incredible talent. Whether the song features lead or joint vocals they are all in a league of their own and so diverse. Bjorn and Benny had an uncanny instinct to determine which song belonged to Agnetha and which song belonged to Frida. Also they knew intuitively which song would showcase joint vocals or separate joint lead as Stepalm has mentioned. There are so many topics to discuss relating to this subject. Thank you, Richard.

Thanks, Edmund. I hoped the topic might get a response or two. And nice to see you back after a little while away from ABBAChat.
I shied away from mentioning The Winner Takes It All because I think Frida's admission that she felt jealous that Agnetha was chosen to sing it came at a tragically vulnerable time in Frida's life when, probably, her 'defences' were down. Otherwise I doubt she would have mentioned it. Maybe it's only a question of degree, but as an admirer of both singers, even I find it irksome that some regard Frida as not quite being up to the emotional import of the song - or to put it more politely, it didn't quite suit her.
I have no doubts at all that she would done the song proud, as, undoubtedly, Agnetha did! But, of course, it's all down to personal opinion in the end when it comes to music.

A good example of a song that was attempted by both is what became Chiquitita. We only have a 19-second clip of In The Arms of Rosalita, but that’s still enough to determine how the verses would have sounded. Frida does a very good job of it and it’s on a par with Agnetha’s.

I wonder how many songs did have attempts by each of them? Studio time would have limited it a bit, but clearly some songs did. Agnetha is present on earlier attempts of Like an Angel Passing Through My Room (From a Twinkling Star...) and there is “Baby” (ABBA Undeleted) where she sings lower than normal. Björn, of course, eventually took that one as Rock Me.

I don't doubt Frida's abilities of emotional delivery at all. She proved many times that she's more than capable of conveying emotions. However, in this case I'm not completely sure. I would love to hear her try (it would be very interesting indeed to hear alternate versions of many ABBA songs with the other lady taking a lead) but somehow I feel that Agnetha with her "crying" voice was a better choice and maybe that extra bit of bitterness was added by the fact, that singing such emotional lyrics, written by her ex-husband, who was in the same room at the same time must have influenced her delivery whether she admits it or not.

I have never understood why Hasta Manana was such a difficult song to sing.

Chrongington, I think your comments are harsh and hurtful to someone who has been off the forum with severe depression for quite a while. I thought us ABBA fans stuck together. How wrong was I. My comments were not biased I was trying to be polite and not offend anyone. Personally I don't think Agnetha and Frida swapping leads would work. I'm glad they didn't.

Me neither. But we're not world famous singers, are we? :-)

^^^ But the whole point of The Winner Takes It All is that it’s about Björn and Agnetha’s marriage break-up! No one else but Agnetha could have sang it, the lyrics would have meant nothing otherwise. The song would probably have lost half its fans (including me). It would be a fake sentiment if someone who hadn’t been through that experience sang it.

There isn’t enough ABBA with Agnetha and Frida on, so the idea of replacing them with guest vocalists is certainly an interesting one, but not a concept I would like to have seen (or indeed, heard).

I’m very much into the Carpenters so there is no disrespect there, but Karen singing The Winner Takes It All? Absolutely not. And similarly, nothing against Randy Crawford but not for this (or any other ABBA song). I just can’t abide fake emotion in music, I want it real (or as real as it can get anyway).

Michal, thanks for your kind support although I strongly disagree with Chronington's comments.and I was a little shocked as I was only trying to be a little diplomatic with my previous comments. I agree with Alan's comments and would add that Agnetha delivers a very beautiful and emotional lead performance within TWTIA, just as KMKY features an equally beautiful and moving lead from Frida. Incidentally WAISAD is all about Frida and Benny's split but nobody seems to dispute who should feature on lead vocals there. As I have said before Benny and Bjorn knew instinctively which lady should sing lead to which song. Personally, I lean towards the melancholy side of ABBA and am more than content to listen to the songs as they are. Chronington, is a little unfair to Agnetha regarding his comments. Both Frida and Agnetha were great storytellers as well as talented singers as Richard has pointed out.

No I am not buying your comments which are abhorrent and you are not an ABBA fan in my opinion.

True. However, I think that the fact it was perceived as reality by many people, added that extra something that made the song outstanding. I like some some of the covers (you can kill me now, but one example is Meryl Streep's performance in Mamma Mia) but I consider Agnetha's version to be the ultimate one. So I'm with Alan. If you listen carefully, you can almost hear her voice break on certain lines ("and I understand you've come to shake my hand") and it makes one believe her what she's singing - but I understand these over-emotional moments actually irritate you :-) - each to their own.

Back to the idea of Frida and Agnetha swapping leads... it has already been written that while both were very capable of emotional delivery of song's lyrics, Frida was  mostly given songs, were she acted a part of a woman, who went through a break but accepted the fact, is reconciled with it and ready to move on. On the other hand Agnetha is almost always in a role of abandoned, lonely figure, seeing her break up as the end of the world. And I guess it's because she has that "despairing" quality to her voice. So while I would like to hear them try to swap some of the lead vocals, I'm quite sure many of them would lose a part of their appeal (The Winner Takes It All included). But if we didn't know the other version, we would probably accept them and love them anyway  

Trying not to smash shells with my clodhoppers here, but that bit you've highlighted is, for me, a pure instance of emoting (viz. acting), and you don't have to listen that carefully in order to hear it.  Likely B&B had homed in on that passage you highlight as the cathartic, nadir-as-apex from which the song's wind-up/wind-down would be launched, and I can imagine one or other of them (from behind the glass of the control desk, in my mind's picture, just as they're seen at the end of The Movie!) encouraging Agnetha to get a little wobble into her voice at that point, an effect prepped for by opting to have the passage almost semi-spoken against a hushed backing (with the resigned riposte "But you see.." being completely spoken - speaking in songs seeming more artless and thus more 'authentic' being the thinking, perhaps?).  For me, it's precisely an example of the sort of faked emotion (in the neutral, art-is-artifice sense) that Alan believes is being avoided because, you know, she lived it.  Which leads to another thought: could she not have, if the subject in this case were so raw and personal to her, pushed herself to pen or co-pen the song's lines, in order to avoid having words, weighed down with hard to credit craps/card-game/sports arena metaphors (as well as that fearful sense/fence rhyme), put into her mouth by the very person who had broken up with her in real life?  Talk about loaded dice!  

^^ What was your username before? I assumed you were new on here until you mentioned having updated your username, and then I noticed you’d done over 500 posts!