Day Before You Came
ABBA
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Must have left my house at eight, because I always do My train, I'm certain, left the station just when it was due I must have read the morning paper going into town And having gotten through the editorial, no doubt I must have frowned I must have made my desk around a quarter after nine With letters to be read, and heaps of papers waiting to be signed I must have gone to lunch at half past twelve or so The usual place, the usual bunch And still on top of this I'm pretty sure it must have rained The day before you came I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two And at the time I never even noticed I was blue I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day Without really knowing anything, I hid a part of me away At five I must have left, there's no exception to the rule A matter of routine, I've done it ever since I finished school The train back home again Undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within it's usual frame The day before you came Must have opened my front door at eight o'clock or so And stopped along the way to buy some Chinese food to go I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on TV There's not, I think, a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see I must have gone to bed around a quarter after ten I need a lot of sleep, and so I like to be in bed by then I must have read a while The latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style It's funny, but I had no sense of living without aim The day before you came And turning out the light I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain The day before you came
Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer
Written by: Benny Goran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K Ulvaeus
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
13 facts about this song
Band History"The Day Before You Came" was the last song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA before they officially disbanded.
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Song ReleaseThe song was released as a single in 1982 from the album "Voulez-Vous" produced under the label Polar Music.
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Song CompositionABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus wrote the song, while fellow band members Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad provided the vocals.
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Song ThemeThe song's lyrics revolve around the mundane details of a woman's daily life before she met her significant other.
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Song LengthThis is one of ABBA's longest recordings, with a running time of 5 minutes and 50 seconds.
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Global SuccessDespite its departure from ABBA's traditional upbeat melodies, "The Day Before You Came" was a commercial success and charted in the top five in many European countries, including Belgium and Denmark.
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Swedish OriginalABBA recorded a Swedish-language version of the song, titled "Den Lidande Fågeln" (The Suffering Bird).
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Critical AcclaimOver the years, the song has received high praise from critics. It was described as the group's most daring and evolved piece of music.
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Cover VersionsNumerous artists, including Blancmange in 1984, and Meryl Streep in the film "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again" in 2018, have covered the song.
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Video FilmingThe music video for the song was shot at the Råsunda Studios in Solna, Sweden, and ABBA's Benny Andersson has a cameo playing a stationmaster.
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Prominent FeatureThe day-to-day background sounds, such as trains and rain, have a prominent place in the song, an unusual feature for a pop song.
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Limited Live PerformancesABBA only ever performed this song live once.
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Pop CultureThe song went on to be used in a variety of TV shows and films, including an episode of the BBC series "Life on Mars" in 2007.
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Citation
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"Day Before You Came Lyrics." Lyrics.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/15736391/ABBA/Day+Before+You+Came>.
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