Format 7" single | Length 3:55 | |
B-side "Should I Laugh or Cry" Released 7 December 1981 (Sweden)
4 December 1981 (UK)
12 February 1983 (US) Recorded 21 October 1981
at Polar Music Studios Genre Pop, Europop, Eurodisco | ||
"One of Us" ("En av oss" in Swedish) was the first single from Swedish pop group ABBA's final studio album The Visitors, their eighth for Polar, and their seventh for Epic and Atlantic. It was released in December 1981. The song is also included on the Gold: Greatest Hits compilation album.
Contents
History
"One of Us"—which had the working titles "Number 1" and "Mio Amore"—was one of the last songs recorded for ABBA's 1981 album The Visitors, and features a lead vocal by Agnetha Fältskog. It was one of a number of tracks that explored the darker territory of Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson's songwriting, as the two men's divorces were beginning to influence their musical output. Indeed, the message of the song was about a woman trying to revive a relationship she had ended. Despite misgivings on the part of manager Stig Anderson, and its somewhat depressing lyric, "One of Us" was released as the first single from The Visitors, coupled with the non-album track "Should I Laugh or Cry". Ulvaeus had favored releasing it as the first single from the new album and the majority of the record companies agreed with him; it proved a wise move as it reached No. 1—ABBA's last single to do so. The decision to release it as a single was made so late that it did not become available in Swedish shops until after The Visitors had been released.
In the United Kingdom this single was issued in a different sleeve. The sleeve used in most countries repeated the album cover photo. However Epic Records wanted a different image for the British release, and used separate photos of the group members together with a large ABBA logo. Agnetha and Frida appeared on the front cover, with Björn and Benny on the back. The photos were actually out-of-date, as Frida was depicted still with her frizzy perm, while Björn was beardless. A limited-edition picture disc using very similar artwork was also issued.
The B-side, "Should I Laugh or Cry", included a spoken count-in (in Swedish) from Benny. This count-in appeared on the United Kingdom and South Africa releases, but not internationally. The master tapes supplied to Epic contained the error, but were not picked up in time, and so appeared on the single release. In the early 2000s, Epic's rights to ABBA's music in the UK had long since expired. However they still owned all the UK master tapes for the singles. These were then returned to Polar Music (itself owned by Universal Music) in Stockholm, who later issued the error count-in version as a "rarity" in The Complete Studio Recordings boxed set, thereby making it available to a worldwide audience (and on CD for the first time). The count-in version has now also been released on The Visitors (Deluxe Edition) CD, released on April 23, 2012.
Reception
"One of Us" was ABBA's last major hit, and their last No. 1 single in many countries. It became ABBA's 13th and final Eurochart and Irish No. 1 single, and also topped the charts in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, while reaching the Top 3 in Austria, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. It also reached the top 10 in France, Norway, South Africa and Spain.
The track debuted at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart on 12 December 1981 and peaked at No. 3 the following week, where it stayed for three weeks; it remained in the charts for 10 weeks. When "One of Us" was released as a single in the United States in February 1983, it proved to be ABBA's worst-ever performing charting song in that territory, reaching a high of No. 107, though it should be pointed out that the song was released over a year after its release elsewhere and ABBA had disbanded by that time.
Music video
In November 1981 a music video was shot for the song, directed by Lasse Hallström. It sees Agnetha Fältskog playing a woman who is moving into a new house, presumably after a divorce or break-up with her partner, in reflection of the lyrics. This is interspersed with individual shots of the ABBA members in a studio standing against a wall of mirrors.
A-Teens version
The A-Teens released a version on their debut album The ABBA Generation in 1999.
As an attempt to promote the A-Teens a bit more, Universal Music Group released a one-track promo single of "One of Us" on radio in late 1999. The song was promoted in Scandinavia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Japan.
A special music video was filmed for a TV special in Sweden. It was not used as an official video. It shows parts of shows in Sweden and behind-the-scenes footage of the band having fun, waiting in a room at Stockholm Records' building.