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Post by richard on Apr 11, 2021 9:43:52 GMT
Unless I've missed it, I don't think this song has had a thread to itself on this forum, so here goes. It's inspired by a comment Colin (onlyabba4meagain) made in his Mamma Mia! 3 topic
Agree completely with Colin regarding this. Wonderfully tuneful. Why not, even this late in the day, give it different, less strange, lyrics (for a mid-70s pop song), and thereby, possibly, garner greater appreciation for the song, generally? Because, of course, Benny and Bjorn are simply not going to return to an old song of theirs in such a way. They won't write a different verse-tune for Just Like That to better accompany it's brilliant chorus, so it's extremely unlikely they'd completely recast the lyrics for Dum Dum Diddle - or would they, perhaps, to fit in with a Mamma Mia! 3 story line, if requested? (Assuming someone very much wanted to get the song in the film - should it happen - but with different lyrics.)
Yes, musically, I think the song is so catchy ; and the lead-up to the chorus ('But it's bad, you're so sad...') is one of my favourite ABBA musical moments. It sounds to me that it's Frida, double-tracked, in the first verse, and Agnetha double-tracked in the second verse. Always intriguing to try to discern how their voices were deployed because it's not always obvious to me.
One or two agreed in the 'An ABBA song that could have been great' thread that Dum Dum Diddle was a contender.
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Post by foreverfan on Apr 11, 2021 10:35:33 GMT
In the same vain as Two For The Price Of One.... (depending on your own taste ) why ... I say that sarcastically as in their own way the tracks are good ish...( hardly ever high on lists though ).
DDD was released at the height of their popularity, 76, but has a throwback to the earlier days as does TFTPOO.
Considering the boys high standards so we hear, they are below par in comparison, DDD compared to DQ for instance.. miles apart.
The boys tended to have these fun moments scattered through, You Owe Me One is another example, ( did they give up on these tracks ? just fillers ? ).
Bang A boomerang, another that springs to mind , perhaps more forgiving , as 1975, but again a very catchy song with questionable lyrics but very catchy...
So a question could be asked, were these type of tracks just fillers ?
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Post by HOMETIME on Apr 11, 2021 11:50:13 GMT
For me, Dum Dum Diddle is a perfect example of how easily a solid tune can be derailed by a substandard lyric. I know all too well that the search for a lyric can sometimes seem so overwhelming that it's easy to sigh "it'll do" after a battle with words. Four percussive syllables that make a catchy title and are rooted in some kind of narrative - it's harder than you think. But that tune is far too good for those corny lyrics - especially coming immediately before the gorgeously eloquent KMKY on a sublime album.
Bang A Boomerang is another great tune let down by silly words. The central theme of the song is good and the verses are fine, lyrically. But that title is just like a spoof of Eurovision clichés. Compounded by dummy-dum-dum. Grr. Even Love Is Like A Boomerang would have worked.
I agree with Richard that there's no hope of these songs being revisited/rewritten for ABBA.... But could a case be made for salvaging them for Mamma Mia - Let's Milk This Cash Cow For All It's Worth? If the lyrics for My Love, My Life can be rewritten for the project, I'd be interested in hearing the arguments against the idea.
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Post by Michal on Apr 11, 2021 14:04:55 GMT
So a question could be asked, were these type of tracks just fillers ? I think that Björn and Benny never worked that way. Or at least they have always claimed so. I believe that at the time of writing (or rather release) they always felt that the song is good enough. They might have had their doubts (see Summer Night City) but never released anything they felt was not worth it. Another thing is that they sometimes changed their minds afterwards and now claim to regret that they released certain tracks. For me, Dum Dum Diddle is a perfect example of how easily a solid tune can be derailed by a substandard lyric. Fortunately there were millions of ABBA fans, whose first language was not English and they were surely not much bothered  Personally, I never had problem with either Dum Dum Diddle or Bang-A-Boomerang - apart from the titles the lyrics don't seem too bad to me. It's the same with mispronunciation of certain words or such blunders as "since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand" - I know about them but they irritate me much less (if at all) than they must irritate a native English speaker... |
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Post by richard on Apr 11, 2021 17:47:44 GMT
The relationship between words and music fascinates me. The music always seems to be my primary focus, at least initially, when it comes to songs; and sometimes I can kind of ignore the lyrics that I feel aren't up to scratch, provided I really like the music side of things. But Dum Dum Diddle is one of the exceptions for me: I like the tune so much that I almost resent the title line and lyrics when the chorus comes round.
Perhaps I'm wrong about this, but my guess is that many ABBA fans - and others - would think far more of the song if it had a better title and lyrics because the tune has a great flow to it and is so good.
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Post by Alan on Apr 11, 2021 20:28:33 GMT
Aside from the title, I don’t mind Dum Dum Diddle at all. The Wikipedia article on it interprets it as this:
The song is about a woman who quietly longs for the affections of a sad, lonely man who derives his only pleasure from constantly playing and practicing on his violin. The Guardian described it as "a song about a woman who feels sexually threatened by her partner's violin".
The Guardian suggests it’s her that’s the one with the problem, but I’d read it even darker than that. There is nothing in the lyrics to suggest that she even knows this person. It can be read as though he’s a complete stranger and she’s started stalking him. If he’s noticed her at all, it might simply be that he doesn’t fancy her, and she can’t accept that (as she clearly wants him). He might not be a “sad, lonely man” at all, but she sees it that way simply because he’s not interested in her.
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Post by jj on Apr 13, 2021 15:44:12 GMT
That very loud, metallic, messy-sounding synthesizer (?) that opens the track (it sounds like seven bagpipe players getting sucked through a jet engine) does my head in. It's horrible. And it comes back to close the song too! Yikes! I sometimes see medieval court minstrels doing a little prancing ditty whenever I hear it. It always puts me off and I'm thinking "what the ... ?"
The rest of the melody is quite nice, though. It could have been a very good song.
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Post by HOMETIME on Apr 22, 2021 16:44:22 GMT
For me, Dum Dum Diddle is a perfect example of how easily a solid tune can be derailed by a substandard lyric. Fortunately there were millions of ABBA fans, whose first language was not English and they were surely not much bothered This is a very good point! |
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Personally, I never had problem with either Dum Dum Diddle or Bang-A-Boomerang - apart from the titles the lyrics don't seem too bad to me. It's the same with mispronunciation of certain words or such blunders as "since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand" - I know about them but they irritate me much less (if at all) than they must irritate a native English speaker...
