I was born in 1974. During the first decade of my life, we were always camping and touring the country, sometimes driving to Norway as well. We had particular cassettes for these camping trips (cds were not invented yet, haha) and they kept rolling in the player. As the music went on and my mom sang along, the time flew by as fast as the sceneries changed.
One of those cassettes was Abba's "Voulez Vous" album. Abba - if someone does not know - is a Swedish group which has created excellent, timeless music during their reign on the charts. I especially remember their song "Chiquitita". It is not a happy song, it is rather melancholic. But it moved me, I remember there was this "broken wholeness" about it - and it grows dramatically towards the end. The extremes have always intrigued me and in a way, they all connect within my contradictory personality: I am temperamental and hard, yet deep & analytical and soft at the same time - positive and negative - which is what this song is really about. "Chiquitita" is still one of my favorite Abba songs.
This is the first song/band I remember from my childhood and therefore it is only appropriate to begin with it. I saw the video for it only last year and it is silly to say the least, it made me smile. But when "Chiquitita" is playing, I can still feel it in my spine. There is something very touching and sad yet hopeful about it.
Here are the lyrics:
Chiquitita, tell me what’s wrong/ You’re enchained by your own sorrow/ In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow
How I hate to see you like this/ There is no way you can deny it/ I can see that you’re oh so sad, so quiet
Chiquitita, tell me the truth/ I’m a shoulder you can cry on/ Your best friend, I’m the one you must rely on
You were always sure of yourself/ Now I see you’ve broken a feather/ I hope we can patch it up together
Chiquitita, you and I know/ How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they’re leaving
You’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end/ You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry/ But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
So the walls came tumbling down/ And your love’s a blown out candle/ All is gone and it seems too hard to handle
Chiquitita, tell me the truth/ There is no way you can deny it/ I see that you’re oh so sad, so quiet
Chiquitita, you and I know/ How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they’re leaving
You’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end/ You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry/ But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
One of those cassettes was Abba's "Voulez Vous" album. Abba - if someone does not know - is a Swedish group which has created excellent, timeless music during their reign on the charts. I especially remember their song "Chiquitita". It is not a happy song, it is rather melancholic. But it moved me, I remember there was this "broken wholeness" about it - and it grows dramatically towards the end. The extremes have always intrigued me and in a way, they all connect within my contradictory personality: I am temperamental and hard, yet deep & analytical and soft at the same time - positive and negative - which is what this song is really about. "Chiquitita" is still one of my favorite Abba songs.
This is the first song/band I remember from my childhood and therefore it is only appropriate to begin with it. I saw the video for it only last year and it is silly to say the least, it made me smile. But when "Chiquitita" is playing, I can still feel it in my spine. There is something very touching and sad yet hopeful about it.
Here are the lyrics:
Chiquitita, tell me what’s wrong/ You’re enchained by your own sorrow/ In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow
How I hate to see you like this/ There is no way you can deny it/ I can see that you’re oh so sad, so quiet
Chiquitita, tell me the truth/ I’m a shoulder you can cry on/ Your best friend, I’m the one you must rely on
You were always sure of yourself/ Now I see you’ve broken a feather/ I hope we can patch it up together
Chiquitita, you and I know/ How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they’re leaving
You’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end/ You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry/ But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
So the walls came tumbling down/ And your love’s a blown out candle/ All is gone and it seems too hard to handle
Chiquitita, tell me the truth/ There is no way you can deny it/ I see that you’re oh so sad, so quiet
Chiquitita, you and I know/ How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they’re leaving
You’ll be dancing once again and the pain will end/ You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry/ But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
Try once more like you did before/ Sing a new song, chiquitita
