B-side "Hey, Hey, Helen" Genre Pop, folk | Format Vinyl Length 4:15 | |
Released 27 March 1976 (UK)
12 April 1976 (Sweden)
4 September 1976 (US) Recorded 3 September 1975 at Metronome Studio | ||
"Fernando" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was the group's first non-album single and was released in March 1976 through Polar Music. Solo parts were sung by Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The track was featured on the 1976 compilation album Greatest Hits in some countries, although in Australia and New Zealand, "Fernando" was included on the 1996 CD reissue of the group's fourth studio album Arrival. "Fernando" is also featured on the multi-million selling Gold: Greatest Hits compilation. The song was to become one of ABBA's best-selling singles of all time, with six million copies sold in 1976 alone. It is one of fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide, making it one of the best selling singles of all time.
Contents
History
"Fernando" was not originally released as an ABBA song but by Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It was featured on her number 1 Swedish solo album Frida ensam (1975). The song was composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and carried the working title of "Tango". Preparations for recording began in August 1975. The writers made last-minute changes to the title before recording. The suggestion of the name "Fernando" was given by their limousine driver Peter Forbes in Shepperton, England.
Swedish-language version
The original Swedish-language version's lyrics were written by ABBA's manager Stig Anderson and differ substantially from the English-language version. In the original, the narrator tries to console the heartbroken Fernando, who has lost his great love. "The sorrow can be hard to bear, but the fact that friends let us down is something we all have to cope with". The chorus' lyrics are: "Long live love, our best friend, Fernando. Raise your glass and propose a toast to it; to love, Fernando. Play the melody and sing a song of happiness. Long live love, Fernando".
English-language version
The English version, with completely different lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus, presents a vision of nostalgia for two veterans reminiscing in old age about a long ago battle in which they participated. "I wrote all the songs as little stories. "Fernando" was about two old freedom-fighters from the war between Texas and Mexico. I was lying outside one summer night, looking at the stars and it suddenly came to me". This quote indicates that an English version was always foreseen as the summer referred to must be the summer of 1975. "I knew that the title 'Fernando' had to be there, and after pondering a while, I had this vivid image in my mind of two old and scarred revolutionaries in Mexico sitting outside at night talking about old memories". The Mexican Revolution of 1910 began on 19 November of that year when a small force of revolutionaries led by Francisco Madero crossed the Rio Grande, from Texas to Mexico.
The B-side to "Fernando" was the song "Hey, Hey, Helen", a track from the group's self-titled third studio album (1975), although in some countries "Tropical Loveland" (also from the album ABBA) was used instead. Some copies of the single use "Rock Me" or "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)" as a B-side.
Spanish-language version
The title and rhythm of the song made it an obvious choice for inclusion in ABBA's Spanish album. Lyrics were translated into Spanish by Mary McCluskey and recorded on 3 January 1980, in the Polar Music studios. The song is part of the Gracias Por La Música album and is listed as track No. 5, in the "ABBA Oro" album as track No. 1 and as a bonus track on the Arrival album. The song was released as a promotional single in Spain. The lyrics, while adapted for rhythm and rhyme, carry the same sentiment and roughly the same meaning as the English version. "There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando. They were shining there for you and me, for liberty, Fernando" becomes "Algo había alrededor quizá de claridad Fernando, que brillaba por nosotros dos en protección, Fernando" (Something was around us perhaps of clarity Fernando, that shone for us two in protection, Fernando.)
Reception
"Fernando" became one of ABBA's best-selling singles, with more than 10 million copies sold worldwide and topping the charts in at least 13 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, and Switzerland. In Australia, "Fernando" stayed at number 1 for 14 weeks and spent 40 weeks in the charts, making "Fernando" alongside "Hey Jude" of the Beatles, which also spent 14 weeks at No.1, one of the two best selling singles of all time in Australia. "Fernando" also reached the Top 3 in ABBA's native Sweden, Canada, Finland, Norway, Spain and Rhodesia.
Lyngstad's version stayed at number 1 on the Swedish radio charts for 9 weeks. It was only released as a single in Norway, but did not chart.
In the United States, "Fernando" peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it, at the time, ABBA's highest-charting American single after "Waterloo". However, "Fernando" did reach number 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the first of two number ones for ABBA on this chart (the second being "The Winner Takes It All"). The song remains an airplay staple on American radio stations specializing in the MOR, adult standards and easy listening formats.
"Fernando" was the fourth biggest single of 1976 in the UK. It was also the second of three consecutive UK number 1 singles for ABBA, after "Mamma Mia" and before "Dancing Queen".
The song was also chosen as the "Best Studio Recording of 1975", ABBA's first international prize.