Which ABBA songs are " the weakest "

Yeah, I Am Just A Girl barely feels like an ABBA song; the slippers-and-Horlicks style of it reminds me of the The Cliff Adams Singers (old farts from the UK will remember their parents or grandparents listening to this lot's Sing Something Simple radio show). You Owe Me One is, as Edmund suggests, the biggest abomination of their later years; ABBA at their most bombastic and snarky-sounding.

I Am Just A Girl and Two For The Price Of One are the only ABBA songs I actually dislike. I Am Just A Girl has atrocious lyrics and sounds like elevator music. But Two For The Price Of One is even more unforgivable because of when it occurs in ABBA’s career.

some on your list are actually in my top 50% favorites, haha!

namely,

Super Trouper
Should I Laugh Or Cry
Me And Bobby And Bobby's Brother
Tropical Loveland
Lovers ( Live A Little Longer )
Get On The Carousel
Sitting In The Palmtree

I wonder, Edmund, if your likes and dislikes regarding ABBA songs have changed over time, or remained pretty consistent? Have you always had a low opinion of Super Trouper, to take just one example? I ask because, for me, there is sometimes chopping and changing as to which songs I like, or not, at different times, and not only ABBA's.

I'll mention another ABBA song which has never interested me: Santa Rosa. I think I read somewhere that it got placed 6th in a song contest. I'm surprised it got that high - unless there were only six songs in the contest! 

Thanks for the reply, Edmund. Very interesting. It's what I miss about the old forum: a real toing and froing of comments and ideas; a picking up on what has been said before. Conversation! Of course, one can't spend one's whole time discussing ABBA - or any other group's music for that matter - but it can be a bit perfunctory at times - a basic lack of engagement, imo
Just thought I'd mention that. Hope I haven't spoken out of turn. I'll go quiet now. :-)

I don’t mind Santa Rosa in that it was a b-side. It’s an “extra” track as the alternative would have been an album track. Plus, in the UK it wasn’t released until the 1994 4-CD set. Prior to that it was one of those “mythical” songs I had heard the title of but never the actual song (the same applies to Merry-Go-Round and Åh, Vilka Tider, though the latter is even more rare). It’s not very good but I can just about forgive that!

Suzy-Hang-Around I dislike because of the subject matter. They clearly want to ostracise poor Suzy and make her feel unwanted. It almost amounts to bullying. If there was a happy ending to it and the protagonists realised the error of their ways then it would be palatable, but they ignore her mum’s pleas and laugh it all off as though that’s OK. Horrible lyrics. However, it’s Benny’s only solo and musically I quite like it.

Crazy World has the distinction of being ABBA’s first non-album b-side released internationally (and by internationally, I mean in most countries). Again it has value in that it’s an extra track that might not have escaped otherwise, but not one of their best! When you know the punchline after umpteen hearings, it becomes quite dull.

I seem to remember I was one of the first to “come out” as not being a fan of Super Trouper (the song). In my case it spread to much of the rest of its album but I’ve since reconciled with most of it. It seems many more have since stated their lack of love for the title track and I’m not surprised!

@edmfio76, the question is what exactly "the weakest" means. I can see that the titles you mention are actually songs you dislike but it doesn't automatically mean they're weak songs. There's no arguing that many of the early tracks are more or less weak, at least when you compare them to ABBA's later output, but I often realize I'm more forgiving towards them. So I don't mind the likes of King Kong Song or Sitting In The Palmtree and in fact I find them quite charming in a way. So the one track of ABBA's whole career that irritates me most of all is You Owe Me One, as I really don't understand 1) how they were able to produce this kind of song so late during their career and 2) how they could release this one and withhold I Am The City and Just Like That...

Michal, you have a point there. I consider the songs to be the weakest so maybe I am a little biased towards these tracks. However other fans like yourself may regard some of them as not necessarily weak. I'm glad that you agree with me about You Owe Me One as this song is very poor compared to ABBA's output so late in their career. Both Alan and yourself have surmised that I Am The City and Just Like That were shelved in favour of a very sub standard offering such as You Owe Me One. It was long after ABBA went their separate ways and stopped recording together as a group that I Am The City was released and included on More ABBA Gold in 1993. Unfortunately the same can't be said about Just Like That which didn't see the light of day. A shameful travesty ! I don't particularly like Gemini's version. I always thought of Cassandra as a potential A-side contender as Alan has already mentioned. Probably there so many gems hidden in the vaults that we will never hear.

Good point. I'd never considered the song from this angle, being a fan of Benny's singing and so being taken by the track purely on the basis that it's his only lead vocal of the 'proper' years, but you're right, at root it's mean-spirited. I suppose in its defence you could say they were being true to the sort of emotional callousness that kids can be possessed of before they've properly developed an ability to be empathetic or diplomatic, but the fact that the shunning of Suzy gets reiterated without relief makes it a bit ill-conceived.

I hope it's not because we're sticking up for songs he'd listed as being among his 'weak' nominations? Edmund, if you're reading this, reconsider! As you've said yourself in the wake of past misinterpretations or instances of 'wires crossed', differences of opinion are a positive thing and are the life-blood of a place like this (see how activity has picked up here, now that we've been given - via your thread - the chance to engage in a bit of subjective back-and-forth?!)

I don’t think you can un-delete an account. Onlyabba4me started a new one, adding “again” at the end. A spur-of-the-moment decision unfortunately can’t be undone.

Yes, I understood what you meant. I was pointing it out in case Edmund would read it.

Difficult to know what to say, really, other than I hope Edmund will want to join the forum again when ready. He has said he suffers from depression, so perhaps it has been related to that in some way: comments or views, perhaps, triggering something? Or maybe not. Who knows?
At a very slow time for this forum, Edmund, you started a thread and in no time it got hundreds of views! Hope you find that, at least, encouraging. If the issue does happen to be others' views and opinions, I truly wish you the ability to just shrug them off if they don't gel with your own. In the grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter.
Hope I'm not being presumptuous and that you find these comments helpful. Wishing you all the best.

I Am Just A Girl and She's My Kind Of Girl are both fearful, though, and no one here can begin to fathom why you champion these two inexcusable blots on the ABBA song book!