Ring Ring (song)

After the relative, but no less significant, success of “ People Need Love ” in 1972 by the team of Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid (as the band was then called), the team manager, Stig Anderson , realized the possibility of combining the vocal talents of girls with songwriting, with which Ulvaeus and Andersson possessed. Therefore, it was decided that the quartet would record LP; this record will later become the Ring Ring album.

Andersson, Ulvaeus and Anderson received an offer to send one song for the Swedish qualifying round to the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest . After some time, they came up with a draft version, which later became the Swedish version of Ring Ring, and then it had the working title Klocklåt. Stig Anderson, writing a song in an easy, accessible style, wanted to eliminate the pumping and Eurovision bombast that prevailed at the time.

After that, the song was called “Ring Ring”. In order to make it more understandable to a global audience, Anderson asked the American Neil Sedak to adapt the text for the English version.

On January 10, 1973, the song was recorded at Metronome Studio in Stockholm . Michael Tretov , a studio engineer who subsequently worked a lot with Andersson and Ulvaeus , took part in the work. Shortly before recording, Tretov read a book about Fila Spector , famous for its Wall of Sound technique. While Spector was inviting several musicians playing the same instrument to record, it was obvious that in the case of a quartet it would be too expensive. Therefore, Tretov suggested recording the phonogram twice in order to achieve the effect of the orchestra; changing the playback speed, they increased the effect. This was done for the first time in Swedish music.

However, when Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid performed the “Ring Ring” at the Swedish national selection , they took only third place. Nevertheless, the song was successful in the Swedish charts, both in English and in Swedish, where it took the first and second places respectively.

Only now the members of the quartet realized that it was not a bad idea to constantly perform in such a composition. They embarked on a tour of Sweden, and despite the fact that Ring Ring could not present Sweden at Eurovision , they began intensive preparations for the 1974 competition with the song Waterloo .

Although the song “Ring Ring” did not have the opportunity to represent Sweden at Eurovision 1973, it performed very well on the Swedish charts, becoming the first single of the quartet No. 1. The English version was slightly worse, becoming No. 2 in Sweden, Norway and Austria, and also reaching hot dozens in the Netherlands and South Africa. Suddenly, the song became popular in Belgium, where it became the first of 16 ABBA “chart toppers”. Also, the song was the first release of the quartet in the UK , but it did not manage to get into the charts. The German-language version of the song was recorded and then released in Germany, but it also failed to get into the charts. The Spanish version was also recorded (by Doris Band), but it was released only in 1993 on the compilation of Más ABBA Oro and in 1999 on ABBA Oro: Grandes Éxitos .

Swedish version

1. A. “Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)”
2. B. “Åh vilka tider”

English version

1. A. "Ring Ring
2. B. “ Rock'n Roll Band ”

English release of the Swedish single

1. A. “Ring Ring” (English Version)
2. B. “She's Just My Kind Of Girl”

German version

1. A. “Ring Ring” (German Version)
2. B. “ Wer Im Wartesaal Der Liebe Steht ”

• “Ring Ring (Bara Du Slog En Signal)” (Swedish Version)
• Ring Ring (English Version)
• Ring Ring (English Version) - (1974 Remix) / (Single Version) / (US Remix 1974)
• Ring Ring (German Version)
• Ring Ring (Spanish Version) - Previously unreleased
• "Ring Ring" (Medley of Swedish, Spanish and German Versions)

• Magnus Uggla recorded the rock version of the song in 1979.
• The Swedish ensemble Nashville Train (partly composed of members of the variable composition of the ABBA itself) recorded their version of the song for the 1977 album ABBA Our Way .
• Eurodance version is present on the 1999 album ABBAdance of the band Angeleyes.
• The song is present in the movie " ABBA: The Movie " (1977).

• Text "Ring Ring"
• Text "Ring Ring (Bara du Slog en Signal)"