Dancing Queen - History

History

The recording sessions for "Dancing Queen" began on 4 August 1975. The demo was called "Boogaloo" and as the sessions progressed, Andersson and Ulvaeus found inspiration to the dance rhythm in George McCrae's disco classic "Rock Your Baby", as well as the drumming on Dr. John's 1972 album Dr. John's Gumbo. Fältskog and Lyngstad recorded the vocals on sessions in September, and the track was completed three months later.

During the sessions, Benny Andersson brought a tape home with the backing track on it and played it to his then-fiancée and band member, singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad, who apparently started crying when listening. "I found the song so beautiful. It's one of those songs that goes straight to your heart."

While working on the lyrics, half of the second verse was scrapped: "Baby, baby, you're out of sight/hey, you're looking alright tonight/when you come to the party/listen to the guys/they've got the look in their eyes...". It survives in footage from a recording session.

After having been premiered on German and Japanese TV during the spring of 1976, the track saw its first domestic performance on Swedish TV on 18 June 1976, during an all-star live gala in honour of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and his bride to be, Silvia Sommerlath, who were to be wedded the next day. Benny Andersson has cited it as "one of those songs where you know during the sessions that it's going to be a smash hit". Also Agnetha Fältskog has stated in a TV-programme: "It's often difficult to know what will be a hit. The exception was Dancing Queen. We all knew it was going to be massive".

For their 1980 Spanish language album/compilation "Gracias Por La Música", ABBA recorded a Spanish version of "Dancing Queen", renamed "Reina Danzante", with Spanish lyrics provided by Buddy and Mary McCluskey. The track was later retitled "La Reina Del Baile" when included on the later compilation albums ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos in the 1990s.

In 1993, in honor of Swedish Queen Silvia´s 50th birthday, Anni-Frid Lyngstad was asked to perform "Dancing Queen" on stage, repeating ABBA's 1976 performance of the song at the wedding reception of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Frida contacted The Real Group and together they did an a cappella version of the song on stage at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, in front of the king and queen. The Swedish Prime Minister at that time, Ingvar Carlsson, was also in the audience that night and he said it was an ingenious step to do "Dancing Queen" a cappella. This performance with Lyngstad and The Real Group, was filmed by Swedish Television SVT and is included in Frida - The DVD.

The first International Standard Musical Work Code was assigned in 1995 to "Dancing Queen"; the code is T-000.000.001-0.