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abbafreak - 13.12.2006, 07:18
Medley: Pick a Bale of Cotton...
What the heck!!!??????


Midnight Special?????? Pick a Bale of Cotton......On top of Old Smokey"...........WOW!!!

I can honestly say that although I am an American and have heard all of these "classic" songs by the original artists....I wonder what compelled ABBA to sing this medley.....

I have to be honest and say that it is NOT among my favorite of ABBA recordings. My wife laughed out loud when I played it for her (she is not an ABBA fan)...and she sould not believe that they actuall sang those songs.

Does anyhone know why and where they first recored this??????

(if this has already recently been posted, accept my apoogies)

Pabs - 13.12.2006, 10:06
When a cover's not a real cover
Technically speaking, the 3 songs on the medley are not "cover songs" at all, because nobody knows who "wrote" them, it's not even known when they were composed. Most probably in the mid to late 1800s or at the turn of the century or early 1900s. (cf. the great BBC series "Walk on By" on the evolution of popular music from the early 1900s to today - it features ABBA in its final episode, by the way)

It is well known, however, that all three songs from ABBA's medley are classified as "Negro Spirituals" - songs that were made up and then repeatedly sung by African American slaves as they toiled away on plantations ("Pick A Bale of Cotton"), or during some other woefully painful labour.

So we don't know exactly who the individual, original writers or singers of these songs were.

Not surprising that ABBA chose to "cover" songs such as these, since they can now still say that they never recorded a TRUE cover version of any artist's work over their entire career (if you don't count their one-off Olivia Newton-John TV special, where they sang renditions of Cat Stevens and Beegees numbers).

Shame, coz I would have liked to hear ABBA's interpretation of some other singers' big hits.

Pablo

drimnagh - 13.12.2006, 16:07

I personally love them, esp Frida's 'On Top Of Old Smokey'. I don't think they were meant to be taken TOO seriously but I for one found them energetic and fun and I liked them belting it out, " Let the midnight special...!!!!" :band:

Joe

Joe - 13.12.2006, 23:31

Fire&Ice wrote: I love the medley.

There are two versions. Can both of them be found on CDs? If yes, which version is which?

Hi Fire & Ice,

this is the info on Palm's site:
http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com

-----------------------------------------------
"WHICH MEDLEY MIX ON WHICH CD?

ABBA fan Jari Berg listened to all the CDs containing the medley in order to determine which CDs featured which mix. These are his findings:

The 1975 mix:
Thank You For The Music box set (1994)

The 1978 remix:
ABBA - 1997 issue of remastered 1975 album
Singles Collection 72*82 box set (1999)
ABBA - 2001 issue of remastered 1975 album

Jari also says that the 2001 remaster version sounds a little different to the 1997 and 1999 versions, because of additional noise reduction."
-----------------------------------------------

So based on this state of research both can also be found on "Complete Studio Recordings".

:arrow: the complete story: http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com/abba/ovrigt/completestudionotes.htm
("THE MEDLEY MYSTERY RESOLVED?)

Joachim

Lammer - 14.12.2006, 10:17

In addition to the comments already made, I had read that ABBA used these songs, because they were in the "public domain" and therefore "free," so all the money could go to the charity. Had they covered someone else's work, they would have to pay, and less money would go to the charity. I also read that many groups gave UNICEF the rights to original songs; ABBA did so with Chiquitita, and all money made by that song went to UNICEF.

Maxi-saxi - 15.12.2006, 11:02

Lammer wrote: In addition to the comments already made, I had read that ABBA used these songs, because they were in the "public domain" and therefore "free," so all the money could go to the charity. Had they covered someone else's work, they would have to pay, and less money would go to the charity. I also read that many groups gave UNICEF the rights to original songs; ABBA did so with Chiquitita, and all money made by that song went to UNICEF.

Lammer, Well that is something I never new at all.

Thanks for that piece of Intresting News

Maxi-saxi :wink: