Yes, this is another signature song for them, it's incredible how many major hits they scored. Agnetha's vocals are superb as always, the harmonies are fantastic, and Benny is showing off on the piano, with a cheerful coda to top it off. And note how clever they are: Chiquitita and Fernando are Spanish, Mamma Mia is Italian, and Voulez-Vous is French. They know how to appeal to an international audience.
Benny's complex musical arrangements, Agnetha's crystal clear emotional vocal, Frida's rich and full vocal, the ridiculously phenomenal harmonies, and Björn's sad but optimistic lyrics - it's another example of how ABBA can create these little mini masterpieces.
In fact, at that time, the music was created by both men, not only Benny. It is only for Voyage that Bjorn did not take part in the music and the studio production.
@@MarioDruetAnd it was all started by Stikkan 'Stig' Anderson. The boss! 1960: Swedish Music (publishing) 1963: Polar Music (record label) Stig wrote most all the early lyrics and also showed Benny and Bjorn how to mesh a lyric and create a hook and the correct placement/arrangement in a song. Stig was known as a master at taking foreign melodies (American, British, Italian, Greek, Russian, etc...) and writing Swedish lyrics and turning them into Swedish hits that were better than in the original language. In the 60's Stig's songs and artists dominated the Swedish charts. Everyone wanted to be associated with Stig. In 2010, at Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Frida, in her own way put Stig into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. Paraphrasing Frida: - Stig was a great guy - Stig was the 5th member of ABBA - Without Stig we're not standing here tonight. Re: strings and horns You can not forget about Rutger. He was much much much much more that ABBA's mail bass guitar player, Rutger wrote and arranged for horns and strings. And can't leave out Michael B. Tretow. Recording engineer and production assist. The ABBA/Polar Music Team: Stikkan 'Stig'Anderson Gorel Hanser ** Anni-Frid Lyngstad Benny Andersson Bjorn Ulvarus Agnetha Falkskog Rutger Gunnarsson Michael B Tretow & Polar Music/ABBA's top tier studio and touring musicians. ** Polar Music/ABBA's unsung hero.
@@MarioDruet You left out lots of key players in the songwriting and production team. I am simply giving credit to the entire team. And the man most responsible is Stig Anderson. Benny and Bjorn -- particularly Benny -- likes to "forget" about Stig. Love Benny, but his bitterness with the late Stig has always been tiresome. The core four member who never forgets about who is responsible for ABBA's huge success is Frida, along with Gorel. Always had a ton of respect for what Frida said at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, regarding Stig.
Lemmy Kilmister, frontman of Motörhead, listed this in his top 10 citing Benny's outro as the best piano he'd heard in a pop song. All royalties from Chiquita have been donated to Music for UNICEF.
What can you say when you hear a perfect song? Out of nowhere comes a song like this, so exquisite and so powerful it humbles you. A masterful song, the emotions evoked, the lyrics, composition, harmonies and vocal performances come together to take ABBA to another level in my humble opinion. Like others have already commented, this song has raised millions for UNICEF. I have many favorites from ABBA and this is certainly one of those. A superb song from an incredible band. Thanks Matt 👍
All time largest selling record in Mexico and most of Latinamerica , talking to Benny it was inspired by the Mexican romantic trios groups that were popular in the 50’s added with latinamerican instruments and flavors like they did in Move On but in general it’s a symphony. Its version in Spanish made in Argentina spread to older generations which made them immensely famous and led to a complete album in Spanish ( Gracias por la Música ) and to add 2 Spanish versions in each subsequent albums of the latinamerican market , imagine at least in Mexico , chiquitita on every station English and Spanish for both modern and elderly listeners radio stations , it was so massive that , I even got bored of it and skipped the song while playing the album for some years .
some more data, because there are some songs that deserve it, and "Chiquitita" is When "Chiquitita" premiered at the UNICEF Concert, the separation of Agnetha and Björn as a couple had already materialized (but it had not been officially communicated yet) then, on the ABBA TV special in Switzerland, to benefit UNICEF too, and with guest artists (Kate Bush and Roxy Music) It is the second performance of "Chiquitita", which will also be performed in Germany. But the colossal success of "Chiquitita" in Argentina led the managers of the record company in my country to travel to Sweden with lyrics adapted to Spanish to convince ABBA to record it. The manager agreed and ABBA recorded it, just for phonetics, since they don't know Spanish (except Björn) One caveat: the lyrics in Spanish did not include the adaptation of the second part, ABBA repeats the first stanza the success of "Chiquitita" in Spanish was even greater in Latin American countries I interpret ABBA especially in Spain Here I leave you a link, including a gold record that they get for their sales czcams.com/video/Gs_sp4m9GR8/video.html "Chiquitita" is also part of the set list of the 1979 Tour of North America and Europe, and has been on the setlist of the current Voyage Concerts in London for a year "Chiquitita" was finally the lead single from the album "Voulez Vous" in its reissues in Latin America it was released with its version in Spanish "Chiquitita" is the song that debuted highest on the UK Charts (#8) and reached #2 at the time of the disco fever But it was a world #1, and in Mexico it led the charts for 32 weeks! ABBA's manager did not miss the increase in ABBA's sales in Latin America, which is why ABBA also recorded "I have a dream" in Spanish: "I am dreaming" and also ABBA makes its first official video in Spanish The following year ABBA will record several of their previous hits in Spanish and release a complete album in Spanish: "Gracias por la musica" (spanish translate of "Thank you for the music") and for the successive albums, ABBA will record two of his songs in Spanish, which will be included in the editions for the Hispanic-American markets. (in all the versions of ABBA in Spanish the argentines Buddy and Mary McClusky share the authorship credits) and two more data, from the last years In the recent covid pandemic, during the confinement in the houses, in a town in Spain they went out to the balconies to sing "Chiquitita" as a sign of hope (there was a video that went viral) and for this recent comeback of ABBA with the release of their new album "Voyage" in 2021, in the previous week ABBA opened an account on TikTok and one of the first videos was Benny doing the outro of "Chiquitita", which was also a trend worldwide in the networks That is why this song "Chiquitita" is so important in the history of ABBA and in its validity in Latin America. Final note: in 1973 ABBA had recorded "Ring Ring" in Spanish, but did not release it at the time and it just appears on the 1995 compilation album "Oro" (seems "Gold")
I cant imagine what joy you must feel to compose and produce so much completely different pop jewels in such a short time under all that pressure (being world-famous..). It is well known they worked very hard. I think Benny is the real musical genius (motor) when it comes to composing arranging and producing and the other 3 use their great talents to perfect the result that is typical ABBA. They are all essential for that last but crucial part. (But of course also Michel Tretow, the brilliant pioneering sound engineer in the studio (who in my opinion is clearly missing in their last Voyage Album) and the phenomenal bass player Rutger Gunnarsson (recently passed away..) and guitarist Lasse Wellander (also recently passed away) This song is gorgeously delivered by the girls and Benny and I could say another example of their courage to follow their musical feeling instead of just making another 'disco pop' track because it was expected in that period of time. That outro is a great and unexpected surprise!
Luca! They are just amazing songwriters, musicians, composers and those girls can sing. They give me all the feels. I'm really enjoying the diversity on your channel and your insight into the music. Thanks Matt!
Konnichiwa from Sendai! Benny's love for Bach can be heard as small "illustrations" on the main piano theme throughout the song and again one of popular music's most memorable outros. What a keyboardist and music writer (without being able to read or write notes!)! Autodidactic!
"Chiquitita" was one of ABBA's bigger hits (Top 5 in 12 countries - #1 in 7 of those). The song was featured in the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the UN General Assembly in 79. ABBA donated 50% (later 100%) of all royalties from the song to UNICEF (Global Child Protection Fund). in the UK debuted at #8, the highest début for any ABBA song, peaking at #2 (unable to beat Blondie's "Heart of Glass"). "Chiquitita" has a ton of covers, the most notables one being Sinéad O'Connor (1999) and Cher (2018), with versions in Spanish by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo (1979) and Charo (1981), and in Portuguese by Perla (1979) The live version from "ABBA in Concert" is something to behold. 🤘
There is footage on CZcams of ABBA singing "Chiquitita" in the "Music for UNICEF Concert" (it's also an album) and of ALL the artists involved singing another ABBA song "He Is Your Brother". The performers: ABBA, The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson. Elton John was scheduled to perform but did not appear. ✌
LOVE your videos on here. I only previously watched your Soft Cell one's, (my all time favourite group), but ABBA run them a close second so thought I'd check a few of these out and loving you ABBA reactions too. Late here now, will watch and enjoy more tomorrow. Keep 'em coming!
Always a favourite and opened the door to enable more of their songs being recorded in Spanish. Similar to Fernando where the initial verse is sung solo and then subsequent ones jointly.
Over time, this song has really shone brighter and brighter. I first heard this song at 14 but at 57, I think I appreciate it even more now. It really is one of ABBA's greatest masterpieces - and there are many to choose from. The vocals from Agnetha and Frida are stunning, with beautiful harmonies. Benny shines on piano and outdoes himself on the outro. Bjorn's lyrics evoke both sadness and courage. The instrumentation is deceptively complex. I've been following your journey joyfully and it brings back so many memories as I re-live each album - most arriving as my birthday or Christmas gift each year way back then. It was really something to eagerly look forward to. You have some more masterpieces to discover in the albums ahead. What a treat. Many thanks from an Aussie Abba devotee.
Hey there! Cheers for the comment, and I'm very happy you're part of this ABBA journey. Indeed, learning about this group is such an enjoyable experience, as I never know quite what to expect even as I discover their quality and various styles.
When I first heard the song on a dodgy am radio back in 1979, I thought instead of singing Chiq-i-teet-ah, I thought they were singing Kick-your-teeth-out. I thought it a strange song title choice.
@@mattsnider2667 The journey goes to some truly unique places in the next few albums. There's also Chess (the musical) and Benny's own orchestra, movie music (Cirkeln) and piano pieces - plus the solo music from the ladies and side projects like Gemini. I would also share that Abba opened up the world to me as a 9 year old. I discovered there was a place called Sweden, then Scandinavia! A-ha are also a great favourite of mine - your journey with them has been great too. They are also master craftsmen with songs.
Omg these lyrics, although pretty much probably written by the men but delivered by women to another younger woman..... Oh gosh.... And listen.... That's the greatest outro in all of music history ❤❤❤❤ so many young women cried to this song ❤❤❤❤
Great reaction. The best thing about this song........ ABBA sang it at the Concert for Children at the UN. All royalties go to UNICEF. It has made millions for projects to help kids all over the World. But mainly in Central and South America.
I'm so glad to see you with reaction to ABBA several things to say about "Chiquitita" (1979) Chiquitita" means 'little girl' (with affection) in spanish And the melody have a spanish tune, specialy by the acustic guitar But the center is the wonderful piano, like almost all ABBA songs "Chiquitita" is a beautiful song, it has hopeful lyrics, a melody that starts very soft with the blonde Agnetha's solo, then grows and explodes in a powerful chorus; Agnetha & Frida's vocal harmonies are of excellence It allows us to check how excellent singers Agnetha & Frida are and what harmonies of excellence they achieve. It stands out especially when they stretch the monosyllables with great quality and beauty "Chiquitita" was premiered especially for the UNICEF Concert (January 9, 1979, just 44 years ago!) and its royalties are eternal for UNICEF These is the link of the perfomance in United Nations (in the previous you could see all artists join to ABBA singing a chorus of "He is your brother") czcams.com/video/oMIw_y9uRT8/video.html "Chiquitita" was ABBA's greatest success in Latin America, that prompted ABBA to record it in Spanish, and its success was so extraordinary, that in the following year ABBA recorded a full album with their best songs entirely in Spanish ("Chiquitita" in Spanish is the biggest ABBA hit in My country Argentina) Chiquitita" is in the Top 3 of all ABBA worldwide biggest hits, with 'Dancing Queen" and "Fernando", and it's a fantastic Masterpiece These official video was filmed in Swizterland 1979 , when ABBA goes for a TV Special It's the only promotional video that ABBA made without Sweden I hope to see you soon with next ABBA songs My best wishes from Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷 South América
At first listen I didn't like this song but after listening to the lyrics, I now like it. It's really a tearjerker of a song. This song is about a little girl named Chiquita who was a happy outgoing child and then is now sad because she lost a loved one, possibly a parent. The clue is in the lines: "so your world came tumbling down, and your love's a blown out candle, all is gone and it seems too hard to handle". The singer, possibly a friend or guardian is trying to cheer up the sad little girl.. The live version, Wembley Arena one, is one you must react to. Agnetha had so much emotion in her voice in the live version. The ending was great too..it ended abruptly.
Yet another great ABBA song - and a huge hit in both Europe and South America, where the spanish version became a big seller! It is not one of my own top favourite songs from ABBA - all though I must admit the melody and vocals are sublime! I just like many other songs better - and so it must be when ABBA have made more than 100 great songs!!! 😍
Another super-Hit👌 The 'third voice' in its fullness. The boys shining in the composition⭐ and the girls in the interpretation⭐ Until next time, Matt & Lucca ❤️🇨🇱👍
Seeing you "get it" at certain points in a song is a joy. I cant wait for you to get ro Supee Trooper just to see your reaction to Lay All Your Love On Me and Winner Takes It All
That outro even caught the attention of Gen Z and was made a tik tok trent around mid 2021.After it, the video to the song got boosted rapidly and views grew even more.
Chiquitita means 'little girl'... It was a HUGE hit for Abba. That outro is everything and a bag of chips. The melody and vocals are just beyond amazing ❤️
The last two songs of the album are dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh. Thank you ABBA (says a boy of 18 at the time.,62 now). It is not intrusive, it is what sex should be about, a pleasure for both parties. Fantastic!
A great album where the non singles generally outrank the singles (apart form the title track) in my humble opinion. Your next will be Lovers Live a little longer - a track that divides opinion. I think it is one of Abba's finest - tongue in cheek, sexy, funky and brilliantly sung. The short version of this song from Abba in Switzerland has Annifrid and Agnetha really enjoying themselves. Agnetha is really misbehaving.
I was waiting for your new video to post this comment Last Tuesday your ABBA reactions accumulated more than 50,000 views (with an average of 781 views per song) Excellent Congratulations The new albums are increasing the visits on average The Album surpassed 1,000 and is followed by "Arrival", but "Voulez Vous" is very high too As for the songs, the order of the most viewed (and that exceeded 1000 views) is: S.O.S. Knowing me knowing you Ring Ring Eagle As good as new When I kissed the teacher Thank you for the music I've been waiting for you That's me Money money money One man one woman The name of the game Move on I'm a marionette My love my life They are also on the rise within your musical reactions: one on the podium #3 S.O.S. three others in the Top10: #6 Knowing me knowing you #7 RingRing #9 Eagle and four more in the Top20 #12 As good as new #15 When I kissed the teacher #18 Thank you for the music #20 I've been waiting for you As a striking fact is that most of the opening songs of the albums are in the Top (only exception of the superhits Waterloo and Mamma Mia) Another surprising fact is that the only great ABBA hits that are in the first places are S.O.S. and Knowing me knowing you The latter may be because, since you are doing the reactions by chronology, we do not ask you for the most usual ones, and each one chooses the one they want to see more and not the most classic ones, In other words, we are seeing here the 'exquisite palate' for some cult tracks or preference, rather than the blockbusters Of all this, the only piece of information that does not seem to fit reality is that of "Ring Ring" I think it should have double the number of visits than expected, but I interpret that since it is the first to appear on your playlist, many who come for the first time go through it and increase their counter Either way, the numbers are fantastic. But the most important thing is the back and forth that is generated in the comments. And the clarity of your reactions and musical concepts Now we continue with "Chiquitita" a long awaited by me I leave you a cordial greeting from Buenos Aires, Argentina South America (the land that made this song bigger and opened the option of singing in Spanish to ABBA)
Thank you so much, Eduardo! I love your comments, both about the individual songs and the way the reactions are experienced by ABBA fans. And wow, I didn't realize the S.O.S. reaction had reached that many views, nor the playlist overall. Amazing, thank you for helping steer the ship. :)
@@mattsnider2667 "S.O.S." it has remained very solid above is #3 with almost 1600 views, but far from A-ha's top two, which have 2000 and almost 1900 views the remarkable thing is that now "Ring Ring" surpassed "Knowing me knowing you" (probably for the additional benefit of being the first song on your ABBA playlist and frequent pass of the new ones) and both are #5 and #7 respectively, but surely both will be Top5, so you will have two A-ha in the 1-2 and three ABBA going up and completing a Top5 and without omitting that "Eagle" and "As good as new" are also rising firm and strong
When you look into the 'drive' of ABBA , I think you need to see the keyboard as the centre of things. Everything derives from the 'Benny piano' and sometimes it is clearly so in the final 'product' also, sometimes not. I am, in retrospect, since having been there already in 1969 and B&B's first joint Swedish hit 'Hej, gamle man', wondering how it is possible that two of the best best singers in the world (the girls) meet up with one of the best keyboardists and composers (Benny, who has even issued albums with Deutsche Grammofon), and one of best lyricists (after much help by Stikkan Andersson, I must admit) to form this group, in a 10-million country like Sweden? I think I have part of the answer, but the full one? Chance? Entropy? Possibility to express yourself musically at a young age without commercial interests being involved much?
Benny loved to deal with keys and spread his finger's stardust on every keyboard he could lay his hands on.There's some kinda anecdote i once read in the net that said Benny once attacked a huge 'tiramisu tart cake' missunderstanding it for Yamaha's new synth model!
Among the covers of this song is that of Sinead O'Connor. Extraordinary voice, complex character with a painful past, Sinead passed away yesterday. R.I.P. Sinead 🌈 czcams.com/video/iE3meFEZEyI/video.html
Always look forward to these video's popping up, glad you are still enjoying them. I have to say, I was worried you would spill your drink until I realised it is probably a prop!😀
Beautiful song but it did not belong on the Voulez vous album. This was a massive hit in South America ( number one for 32 weeks in either Brazil or Mexico).
One of the original try outs of this song was called ‘In the arms of Rosalita’. I was lucky enough a few years ago to hear a full rendition of the unreleased version. With lyrics about being a ‘fake and a cheater’. That line actually caused the small audience to laugh out loud!
Hello again Matt 🙂, having read all of the comments below there is nothing more that I can add only this ....alot of people think that Chiquitita is Spanish for , Little Girl", but I remember seeing an interview with Bjorn and in the interview he says that Chiquitita is Spanish for "Little One" 🤔 maybe one of your Spanish /Latin American followers who regularly post comments to your reaction videos can let us know if it's the former or latter. I hope you get to see the live version of Chiquitita from their London Concert. Look forward to your continuing ABBA reactions 🇬🇧🤪
I'm not a Spanish nor a Latin American follower but I believe that in the Spanish language the addition of 'ti' turns the word into something little. That's why Chiquita became Chiquitita. Also, and I see Bjorn and Agnetha's divorce has been touched upon in other comments, I believe having read somewhere that Bjorn wrote the lyrics for his little daughter at the time of the divorce, trying to tell her that times may be sad now but that she's loved forever and things will look brighter again some day. Whatever the backdrop, it's a beautiful song and by far the best on this album, I think. Looking forward to your next one, Matt!
Aside from the title, the Spanish flavour to the song came from a second attempt to perfect a backing track to the piece. It's not known what the first attempt/style was. In the end it became the biggest hit from the album. It also became their big entry to Spanish territories with a Spanish version recorded some 3 months after recording the original. This and the next couple of albums have discarded songs that never made it onto the original releases with vinyl only allowing you 30 and a bit minutes of time. More so than previous albums. You may wish to do a Voulez Vous revisited after completion of the original release to play the tracks that would make it onto subsequent CD releases. It would give you an idea of the songs they were producing at the time. They would be Lovelight, Dream World & Gimme Gimme Gimme. Summer Night City we have already heard. You could throw in Just A Notion. Although redone 40 years later, the eventual release still contains the original vocal recorded around the Voulez Vous sessions.
I first heard Chiquitita on Sunday night January 9, 1979 in my private dorm room on my 12 inch black and white television when ABBA, among other music stars of the day, participated in the UNICEF Children's benefit concert. It was there that Chiquitita made its debut.
So Matt, having listened to "Chiquitita" and "If It Wasn't For The Nights" back-to-back, did they pick the right song as the first single from this album? Two very different songs..
I would have easily released it as a double A sided just for variety.Neverthless 'Chiquitita' was a huge commercial bomb in Latin America and Spanish market.
Chiquitita probably gets one of the best and most spontaneous reactions from the audiences at the ABBA Voyage live show in London. I’m always quite bewildered by it, I’ve never rated it highly. But it’s a lovely sight to see.
Haha, not at all! I love it when people are engaged with the channel and comment on a number of videos (or multiple comments in the same video). So by all means, please continue! Cheers, Petter. :)
![Shnootz - Reaction Video (ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! [A Man After Midnight])](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dfW1e6jgnJ4/mqdefault.jpg)
![Shnootz - Reaction Video (ABBA - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! [A Man After Midnight])](/img/tr.png)
Song was no1 in Mexico for 32 weeks.
Yes, the vocals during the chorus are like the sun shining in the sky, exactly.
Yes, this is another signature song for them, it's incredible how many major hits they scored. Agnetha's vocals are superb as always, the harmonies are fantastic, and Benny is showing off on the piano, with a cheerful coda to top it off. And note how clever they are: Chiquitita and Fernando are Spanish, Mamma Mia is Italian, and Voulez-Vous is French. They know how to appeal to an international audience.
Yes, Agnetha's vocal is great but given that Frida shares vocals on two of the three verses and the choruses, so was her's.
And Waterloo, of course, is in Belgium ;-)
It’s arguably their best song out of dozens of masterpieces.
Benny's complex musical arrangements, Agnetha's crystal clear emotional vocal, Frida's rich and full vocal, the ridiculously phenomenal harmonies, and Björn's sad but optimistic lyrics - it's another example of how ABBA can create these little mini masterpieces.
Great summary :) Abba magic
Could not have put it better myself, simply perfection.
In fact, at that time, the music was created by both men, not only Benny. It is only for Voyage that Bjorn did not take part in the music and the studio production.
@@MarioDruetAnd it was all started by Stikkan 'Stig' Anderson. The boss!
1960: Swedish Music (publishing)
1963: Polar Music (record label)
Stig wrote most all the early lyrics and also showed Benny and Bjorn how to mesh a lyric and create a hook and the correct placement/arrangement in a song.
Stig was known as a master at taking foreign melodies (American, British, Italian, Greek, Russian, etc...) and writing Swedish lyrics and turning them into Swedish hits that were better than in the original language.
In the 60's Stig's songs and artists dominated the Swedish charts. Everyone wanted to be associated with Stig.
In 2010, at Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, Frida, in her own way put Stig into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame.
Paraphrasing Frida:
- Stig was a great guy
- Stig was the 5th member of ABBA
- Without Stig we're not standing here tonight.
Re: strings and horns
You can not forget about Rutger. He was much much much much more that ABBA's mail bass guitar player, Rutger wrote and arranged for horns and strings.
And can't leave out Michael B. Tretow. Recording engineer and production assist.
The ABBA/Polar Music Team:
Stikkan 'Stig'Anderson
Gorel Hanser **
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Benny Andersson
Bjorn Ulvarus
Agnetha Falkskog
Rutger Gunnarsson
Michael B Tretow
&
Polar Music/ABBA's top tier studio and touring musicians.
** Polar Music/ABBA's unsung hero.
@@MarioDruet You left out lots of key players in the songwriting and production team.
I am simply giving credit to the entire team. And the man most responsible is Stig Anderson. Benny and Bjorn -- particularly Benny -- likes to "forget" about Stig. Love Benny, but his bitterness with the late Stig has always been tiresome.
The core four member who never forgets about who is responsible for ABBA's huge success is Frida, along with Gorel.
Always had a ton of respect for what Frida said at the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, regarding Stig.
They have a Spanish version of Chiquitita and its the first ABBA song I remember listening.
Lemmy Kilmister, frontman of Motörhead, listed this in his top 10 citing Benny's outro as the best piano he'd heard in a pop song.
All royalties from Chiquita have been donated to Music for UNICEF.
El mundo nesecita el Rock, pero tambien el corazon de ABBA.
What can you say when you hear a perfect song? Out of nowhere comes a song like this, so exquisite and so powerful it humbles you. A masterful song, the emotions evoked, the lyrics, composition, harmonies and vocal performances come together to take ABBA to another level in my humble opinion. Like others have already commented, this song has raised millions for UNICEF. I have many favorites from ABBA and this is certainly one of those. A superb song from an incredible band. Thanks Matt 👍
Out of nowhere? Yes! But if anyone at the time would be able, out of nowhere, it would be these guys. Without fear, and then, suddenly, comes success.
All time largest selling record in Mexico and most of Latinamerica , talking to Benny it was inspired by the Mexican romantic trios groups that were popular in the 50’s added with latinamerican instruments and flavors like they did in Move On but in general it’s a symphony. Its version in Spanish made in Argentina spread to older generations which made them immensely famous and led to a complete album in Spanish ( Gracias por la Música ) and to add 2 Spanish versions in each subsequent albums of the latinamerican market , imagine at least in Mexico , chiquitita on every station English and Spanish for both modern and elderly listeners radio stations , it was so massive that , I even got bored of it and skipped the song while playing the album for some years .
My grandpa’s favorite song in Spanish in the late 70’s ❤
some more data, because there are some songs that deserve it, and "Chiquitita" is
When "Chiquitita" premiered at the UNICEF Concert,
the separation of Agnetha and Björn as a couple had already materialized
(but it had not been officially communicated yet)
then, on the ABBA TV special in Switzerland, to benefit UNICEF too,
and with guest artists (Kate Bush and Roxy Music)
It is the second performance of "Chiquitita", which will also be performed in Germany.
But the colossal success of "Chiquitita" in Argentina
led the managers of the record company in my country to travel to Sweden
with lyrics adapted to Spanish to convince ABBA to record it.
The manager agreed and ABBA recorded it,
just for phonetics, since they don't know Spanish (except Björn)
One caveat: the lyrics in Spanish did not include the adaptation of the second part,
ABBA repeats the first stanza
the success of "Chiquitita" in Spanish was even greater in Latin American countries
I interpret ABBA especially in Spain
Here I leave you a link, including a gold record that they get for their sales
czcams.com/video/Gs_sp4m9GR8/video.html
"Chiquitita" is also part of the set list of the 1979 Tour of North America and Europe,
and has been on the setlist of the current Voyage Concerts in London for a year
"Chiquitita" was finally the lead single from the album "Voulez Vous"
in its reissues in Latin America it was released with its version in Spanish
"Chiquitita" is the song that debuted highest on the UK Charts (#8)
and reached #2 at the time of the disco fever
But it was a world #1, and in Mexico it led the charts for 32 weeks!
ABBA's manager did not miss the increase in ABBA's sales in Latin America,
which is why ABBA also recorded "I have a dream" in Spanish:
"I am dreaming"
and also ABBA makes its first official video in Spanish
The following year ABBA will record several of their previous hits in Spanish
and release a complete album in Spanish:
"Gracias por la musica" (spanish translate of "Thank you for the music")
and for the successive albums, ABBA will record two of his songs in Spanish,
which will be included in the editions for the Hispanic-American markets.
(in all the versions of ABBA in Spanish
the argentines Buddy and Mary McClusky share the authorship credits)
and two more data, from the last years
In the recent covid pandemic, during the confinement in the houses,
in a town in Spain they went out to the balconies to sing "Chiquitita"
as a sign of hope (there was a video that went viral)
and for this recent comeback of ABBA with the release of their new album "Voyage" in 2021,
in the previous week ABBA opened an account on TikTok
and one of the first videos was Benny doing the outro of "Chiquitita",
which was also a trend worldwide in the networks
That is why this song "Chiquitita" is so important
in the history of ABBA and in its validity in Latin America.
Final note:
in 1973 ABBA had recorded "Ring Ring" in Spanish, but did not release it at the time
and it just appears on the 1995 compilation album "Oro" (seems "Gold")
type mistake: "Estoy soñando" is the spanish version of "I have a dream"
Banger. If its on ABBA - Gold, one of the best greatest hits compilations ever, you know its gonna be a great.
The piano runs in this.. they are incredible. This one is often known for its unexpected piano ending, (apart from extremely good vocals, as usual).
I cant imagine what joy you must feel to compose and produce so much completely different pop jewels in such a short time under all that pressure (being world-famous..). It is well known they worked very hard. I think Benny is the real musical genius (motor) when it comes to composing arranging and producing and the other 3 use their great talents to perfect the result that is typical ABBA. They are all essential for that last but crucial part.
(But of course also Michel Tretow, the brilliant pioneering sound engineer in the studio (who in my opinion is clearly missing in their last Voyage Album) and the phenomenal bass player Rutger Gunnarsson (recently passed away..) and guitarist Lasse Wellander (also recently passed away)
This song is gorgeously delivered by the girls and Benny and I could say another example of their courage to follow their musical feeling instead of just making another 'disco pop' track because it was expected in that period of time. That outro is a great and unexpected surprise!
Luca! They are just amazing songwriters, musicians, composers and those girls can sing. They give me all the feels. I'm really enjoying the diversity on your channel and your insight into the music. Thanks Matt!
Incredible vocals, incredibly emotional song ♥️
Hahah I like how you just move Luca's entire body and she just stays laying down hahahaa!!!
Konnichiwa from Sendai!
Benny's love for Bach can be heard as small "illustrations" on the main piano theme throughout the song and again one of popular music's most memorable outros. What a keyboardist and music writer (without being able to read or write notes!)! Autodidactic!
Probably while listening to this song, exactly!
"Chiquitita" was one of ABBA's bigger hits (Top 5 in 12 countries - #1 in 7 of those).
The song was featured in the Music for UNICEF Concert, broadcast worldwide from the UN General Assembly in 79.
ABBA donated 50% (later 100%) of all royalties from the song to UNICEF (Global Child Protection Fund).
in the UK debuted at #8, the highest début for any ABBA song, peaking at #2 (unable to beat Blondie's "Heart of Glass").
"Chiquitita" has a ton of covers, the most notables one being Sinéad O'Connor (1999) and Cher (2018), with versions in Spanish by Puerto Rican boy band Menudo (1979) and Charo (1981), and in Portuguese by Perla (1979)
The live version from "ABBA in Concert" is something to behold. 🤘
There is footage on CZcams of ABBA singing "Chiquitita" in the "Music for UNICEF Concert" (it's also an album) and of ALL the artists involved singing another ABBA song "He Is Your Brother".
The performers: ABBA, The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson. Elton John was scheduled to perform but did not appear. ✌
I put these link of UNICEF in my comment before
LOVE your videos on here. I only previously watched your Soft Cell one's, (my all time favourite group), but ABBA run them a close second so thought I'd check a few of these out and loving you ABBA reactions too. Late here now, will watch and enjoy more tomorrow. Keep 'em coming!
Love the banded polo shirt. Kitty is charming.
Always a favourite and opened the door to enable more of their songs being recorded in Spanish. Similar to Fernando where the initial verse is sung solo and then subsequent ones jointly.
When Matt is swinging his hand in the air during the song you know the song is good😎
Over time, this song has really shone brighter and brighter. I first heard this song at 14 but at 57, I think I appreciate it even more now. It really is one of ABBA's greatest masterpieces - and there are many to choose from. The vocals from Agnetha and Frida are stunning, with beautiful harmonies. Benny shines on piano and outdoes himself on the outro. Bjorn's lyrics evoke both sadness and courage. The instrumentation is deceptively complex. I've been following your journey joyfully and it brings back so many memories as I re-live each album - most arriving as my birthday or Christmas gift each year way back then. It was really something to eagerly look forward to. You have some more masterpieces to discover in the albums ahead. What a treat. Many thanks from an Aussie Abba devotee.
Hey there! Cheers for the comment, and I'm very happy you're part of this ABBA journey. Indeed, learning about this group is such an enjoyable experience, as I never know quite what to expect even as I discover their quality and various styles.
When I first heard the song on a dodgy am radio back in 1979, I thought instead of singing Chiq-i-teet-ah, I thought they were singing Kick-your-teeth-out. I thought it a strange song title choice.
@@mattsnider2667 The journey goes to some truly unique places in the next few albums. There's also Chess (the musical) and Benny's own orchestra, movie music (Cirkeln) and piano pieces - plus the solo music from the ladies and side projects like Gemini. I would also share that Abba opened up the world to me as a 9 year old. I discovered there was a place called Sweden, then Scandinavia! A-ha are also a great favourite of mine - your journey with them has been great too. They are also master craftsmen with songs.
@@The_Jupiter2_Mission Hahaha, wow, that gave me a good laugh. Cheers for that anecdote, love it.
@@jayemaus I also love A-ha too.Both are Scandi legends.Different style but exceptional.Frida is Norwegian born btw.
Fantastic ABBA
For me all Abba songs are sad songs. Probably because they were such an integral part of my childhood in a very troubled Belfast.
Omg these lyrics, although pretty much probably written by the men but delivered by women to another younger woman..... Oh gosh.... And listen.... That's the greatest outro in all of music history ❤❤❤❤ so many young women cried to this song ❤❤❤❤
Great reaction. The best thing about this song........ ABBA sang it at the Concert for Children at the UN. All royalties go to UNICEF. It has made millions for projects to help kids all over the World. But mainly in Central and South America.
I'm so glad to see you with reaction to ABBA
several things to say about "Chiquitita" (1979)
Chiquitita" means 'little girl' (with affection) in spanish
And the melody have a spanish tune, specialy by the acustic guitar
But the center is the wonderful piano, like almost all ABBA songs
"Chiquitita" is a beautiful song, it has hopeful lyrics,
a melody that starts very soft with the blonde Agnetha's solo,
then grows and explodes in a powerful chorus;
Agnetha & Frida's vocal harmonies are of excellence
It allows us to check how excellent singers Agnetha & Frida are
and what harmonies of excellence they achieve.
It stands out especially when they stretch the monosyllables with great quality and beauty
"Chiquitita" was premiered especially for the UNICEF Concert (January 9, 1979, just 44 years ago!)
and its royalties are eternal for UNICEF
These is the link of the perfomance in United Nations
(in the previous you could see all artists join to ABBA singing a chorus of "He is your brother")
czcams.com/video/oMIw_y9uRT8/video.html
"Chiquitita" was ABBA's greatest success in Latin America,
that prompted ABBA to record it in Spanish, and its success was so extraordinary,
that in the following year ABBA recorded a full album with their best songs entirely in Spanish
("Chiquitita" in Spanish is the biggest ABBA hit in My country Argentina)
Chiquitita" is in the Top 3 of all ABBA worldwide biggest hits,
with 'Dancing Queen" and "Fernando", and it's a fantastic Masterpiece
These official video was filmed in Swizterland 1979 ,
when ABBA goes for a TV Special
It's the only promotional video that ABBA made without Sweden
I hope to see you soon with next ABBA songs
My best wishes from
Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷
South América
Björn habla mejor español que nosotros 😂😂😂
At first listen I didn't like this song but after listening to the lyrics, I now like it. It's really a tearjerker of a song. This song is about a little girl named Chiquita who was a happy outgoing child and then is now sad because she lost a loved one, possibly a parent. The clue is in the lines: "so your world came tumbling down, and your love's a blown out candle, all is gone and it seems too hard to handle". The singer, possibly a friend or guardian is trying to cheer up the sad little girl.. The live version, Wembley Arena one, is one you must react to. Agnetha had so much emotion in her voice in the live version. The ending was great too..it ended abruptly.
Chiquitita isn't the actual name of the girl, it means "young lady" or "little girl".
From The Year of the Child .
that outro is crazy
The Album, I feel is there Best Album. ALL great songs.
Yet another great ABBA song - and a huge hit in both Europe and South America, where the spanish version became a big seller! It is not one of my own top favourite songs from ABBA - all though I must admit the melody and vocals are sublime! I just like many other songs better - and so it must be when ABBA have made more than 100 great songs!!! 😍
Another super-Hit👌
The 'third voice' in its fullness.
The boys shining in the composition⭐ and the girls in the interpretation⭐
Until next time, Matt & Lucca
❤️🇨🇱👍
Seeing you "get it" at certain points in a song is a joy. I cant wait for you to get ro Supee Trooper just to see your reaction to Lay All Your Love On Me and Winner Takes It All
That outro even caught the attention of Gen Z and was made a tik tok trent around mid 2021.After it, the video to the song got boosted rapidly and views grew even more.
LOVED that part, what an ending!
Chiquitita means 'little girl'... It was a HUGE hit for Abba. That outro is everything and a bag of chips. The melody and vocals are just beyond amazing ❤️
@@riaanbehr7976 'the outro is everything and a bag of chips" Lol!😊
The last two songs of the album are dedicated to the pleasures of the flesh. Thank you ABBA (says a boy of 18 at the time.,62 now). It is not intrusive, it is what sex should be about, a pleasure for both parties. Fantastic!
A great album where the non singles generally outrank the singles (apart form the title track) in my humble opinion. Your next will be Lovers Live a little longer - a track that divides opinion. I think it is one of Abba's finest - tongue in cheek, sexy, funky and brilliantly sung. The short version of this song from Abba in Switzerland has Annifrid and Agnetha really enjoying themselves. Agnetha is really misbehaving.
Looking forward to the next two reactions. Flirty and naughty. ABBA wanna get their freak on.
I was waiting for your new video to post this comment
Last Tuesday your ABBA reactions accumulated more than 50,000 views
(with an average of 781 views per song)
Excellent
Congratulations
The new albums are increasing the visits on average
The Album surpassed 1,000 and is followed by "Arrival", but "Voulez Vous" is very high too
As for the songs, the order of the most viewed (and that exceeded 1000 views) is:
S.O.S.
Knowing me knowing you
Ring Ring
Eagle
As good as new
When I kissed the teacher
Thank you for the music
I've been waiting for you
That's me
Money money money
One man one woman
The name of the game
Move on
I'm a marionette
My love my life
They are also on the rise within your musical reactions:
one on the podium
#3 S.O.S.
three others in the Top10:
#6 Knowing me knowing you
#7 RingRing
#9 Eagle
and four more in the Top20
#12 As good as new
#15 When I kissed the teacher
#18 Thank you for the music
#20 I've been waiting for you
As a striking fact is that most of the opening songs of the albums are in the Top
(only exception of the superhits Waterloo and Mamma Mia)
Another surprising fact is that the only great ABBA hits that are in the first places are S.O.S. and Knowing me knowing you
The latter may be because, since you are doing the reactions by chronology, we do not ask you for the most usual ones, and each one chooses the one they want to see more and not the most classic ones,
In other words, we are seeing here the 'exquisite palate' for some cult tracks or preference, rather than the blockbusters
Of all this, the only piece of information that does not seem to fit reality is that of "Ring Ring"
I think it should have double the number of visits than expected, but I interpret that since it is the first to appear on your playlist, many who come for the first time go through it and increase their counter
Either way, the numbers are fantastic.
But the most important thing is the back and forth that is generated in the comments.
And the clarity of your reactions and musical concepts
Now we continue with "Chiquitita"
a long awaited by me
I leave you a cordial greeting from
Buenos Aires, Argentina
South America
(the land that made this song bigger and opened the option of singing in Spanish to ABBA)
Thank you so much, Eduardo! I love your comments, both about the individual songs and the way the reactions are experienced by ABBA fans. And wow, I didn't realize the S.O.S. reaction had reached that many views, nor the playlist overall. Amazing, thank you for helping steer the ship. :)
@@mattsnider2667
"S.O.S." it has remained very solid above
is #3 with almost 1600 views,
but far from A-ha's top two, which have 2000 and almost 1900 views
the remarkable thing is that now
"Ring Ring" surpassed "Knowing me knowing you"
(probably for the additional benefit of being the first song on your ABBA playlist
and frequent pass of the new ones)
and both are #5 and #7 respectively, but surely both will be Top5,
so you will have two A-ha in the 1-2 and three ABBA going up and completing a Top5
and without omitting that "Eagle" and "As good as new" are also rising firm and strong
Chick-e-ti-ta......another masterpiece from abba....translation is "little girl"....saw voyage in London and this song brought the house down.....
When you look into the 'drive' of ABBA , I think you need to see the keyboard as the centre of things. Everything derives from the 'Benny piano' and sometimes it is clearly so in the final 'product' also, sometimes not.
I am, in retrospect, since having been there already in 1969 and B&B's first joint Swedish hit 'Hej, gamle man', wondering how it is possible that two of the best best singers in the world (the girls) meet up with one of the best keyboardists and composers (Benny, who has even issued albums with Deutsche Grammofon), and one of best lyricists (after much help by Stikkan Andersson, I must admit) to form this group, in a 10-million country like Sweden?
I think I have part of the answer, but the full one? Chance? Entropy? Possibility to express yourself musically at a young age without commercial interests being involved much?
Benny loved to deal with keys and spread his finger's stardust on every keyboard he could lay his hands on.There's some kinda anecdote i once read in the net that said Benny once attacked a huge 'tiramisu tart cake' missunderstanding it for Yamaha's new synth model!
👍
Among the covers of this song is that of Sinead O'Connor. Extraordinary voice, complex character with a painful past, Sinead passed away yesterday. R.I.P. Sinead 🌈
czcams.com/video/iE3meFEZEyI/video.html
Always look forward to these video's popping up, glad you are still enjoying them. I have to say, I was worried you would spill your drink until I realised it is probably a prop!😀
LOL, not a prop. Indeed, I surely drink way too much tea. But I think during this video, the tea-level was low in the mug 😂
Beautiful song but it did not belong on the Voulez vous album.
This was a massive hit in South America ( number one for 32 weeks in either Brazil or Mexico).
One of the original try outs of this song was called ‘In the arms of Rosalita’. I was lucky enough a few years ago to hear a full rendition of the unreleased version. With lyrics about being a ‘fake and a cheater’. That line actually caused the small audience to laugh out loud!
Hello again Matt 🙂, having read all of the comments below there is nothing more that I can add only this ....alot of people think that Chiquitita is Spanish for , Little Girl", but I remember seeing an interview with Bjorn and in the interview he says that Chiquitita is Spanish for "Little One" 🤔 maybe one of your Spanish /Latin American followers who regularly post comments to your reaction videos can let us know if it's the former or latter.
I hope you get to see the live version of Chiquitita from their London Concert.
Look forward to your continuing ABBA reactions
🇬🇧🤪
I'm not a Spanish nor a Latin American follower but I believe that in the Spanish language the addition of 'ti' turns the word into something little. That's why Chiquita became Chiquitita. Also, and I see Bjorn and Agnetha's divorce has been touched upon in other comments, I believe having read somewhere that Bjorn wrote the lyrics for his little daughter at the time of the divorce, trying to tell her that times may be sad now but that she's loved forever and things will look brighter again some day. Whatever the backdrop, it's a beautiful song and by far the best on this album, I think. Looking forward to your next one, Matt!
@marvinquezada7203
Thanks Marvin, much appreciated
🇬🇧😀
Aside from the title, the Spanish flavour to the song came from a second attempt to perfect a backing track to the piece. It's not known what the first attempt/style was. In the end it became the biggest hit from the album. It also became their big entry to Spanish territories with a Spanish version recorded some 3 months after recording the original.
This and the next couple of albums have discarded songs that never made it onto the original releases with vinyl only allowing you 30 and a bit minutes of time. More so than previous albums.
You may wish to do a Voulez Vous revisited after completion of the original release to play the tracks that would make it onto subsequent CD releases. It would give you an idea of the songs they were producing at the time.
They would be Lovelight, Dream World & Gimme Gimme Gimme. Summer Night City we have already heard.
You could throw in Just A Notion. Although redone 40 years later, the eventual release still contains the original vocal recorded around the Voulez Vous sessions.
I first heard Chiquitita on Sunday night January 9, 1979 in my private dorm room on my 12 inch black and white television when ABBA, among other music stars of the day, participated in the UNICEF Children's benefit concert. It was there that Chiquitita made its debut.
So Matt, having listened to "Chiquitita" and "If It Wasn't For The Nights" back-to-back, did they pick the right song as the first single from this album? Two very different songs..
It was the right song to my ears!🔊😃
I would have easily released it as a double A sided just for variety.Neverthless 'Chiquitita' was a huge commercial bomb in Latin America and Spanish market.
Chiquitita probably gets one of the best and most spontaneous reactions from the audiences at the ABBA Voyage live show in London. I’m always quite bewildered by it, I’ve never rated it highly. But it’s a lovely sight to see.
Please, tell me to shut up, if you have had too much of me.
Haha, not at all! I love it when people are engaged with the channel and comment on a number of videos (or multiple comments in the same video). So by all means, please continue! Cheers, Petter. :)