Lay All Your Love on Me
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| “Lay All Your Love on Me” | |||||
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| Single by ABBA from the album Super Trouper |
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| Released | 1981 | ||||
| Format | 12" | ||||
| Genre | Disco | ||||
| Length | 4:32 | ||||
| Label | Polar Music | ||||
| Writer(s) | Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus | ||||
| Producer | Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus | ||||
| Certification | — | ||||
| ABBA singles chronology | |||||
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"Lay All Your Love on Me", originally called "Yarrafat", is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA in 1980 for their Super Trouper album. It was released as a 12-inch single in 1981 only in limited territories, rather than the standard 7-inch record. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, though this has since been beaten by numerous other records. "Lay All Your Love on Me" appears on the group's ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits collection.
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[edit] History
"Lay All Your Love on Me" was an electro-disco song penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Agnetha Fältskog singing lead. Recording began at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm on September 9, 1980, with the final mix of the song being completed on October 10, 1980.
"Lay All Your Love on Me" is famous for a unique descending vocal sound at the end of each verse. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slighly lower pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. The song was not originally intended to be released as a single, but was issued in 12-inch form in the UK and a few other countries in 1981. "Lay All Your Love on Me" has since been much covered and now features in the Mamma Mia! musical that showcases many of ABBA's hits. The song's lyrics contain the word "incomprehensible," which, with sixteen letters, is one of the joint largest words sung in a pop record.[1]
Epic Records in the UK is often blamed for the relatively poor chart performance of the single. A regular 7" version may well have charted higher, but Epic are understood to have been prevented by Polar Music from releasing "Lay All Your Love on Me" on 7". This is supported by the fact that other countries, such as the then West Germany, also only issued the single on the 12" format. Quite what Polar's (and therefore ABBA's) reasoning for this is unclear.
In 1981, Epic were in the same position as they were in 1978, ie. having an ABBA album with the first two single releases both reaching No.1. On the previous occasion (with ABBA The Album), they chose not to release a third single. This time around, Epic were going to release one, regardless of the fact they could only do so on the 12" format.
As an unofficial single, ABBA did not film a promotional video for "Lay All Your Love on Me". Epic hastily assembled a video by using excerpts from existing ABBA videos, which was then shown on British television. It was made available on the ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits VHS video in 1992, followed by the DVD version over 10 years later.
[edit] Reception
As "Lay All Your Love on Me" was not intended to be a single, it was not released until 1981, the year after it had been recorded. It was only after a remixed version had soared in popularity, that it topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (along with "Super Trouper" and "On and On and On"). Therefore, the decision was made to release "Lay All Your Love on Me" in limited territories in 12-inch form, as opposed to the standard 7-inch record. It peaked at No.7 in the UK, thus becoming ABBA's lowest charting single since the failure of "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" in 1975. However, reaching No.7 in the charts was, at the time, the highest charting position achieved for a 12-inch only release in the UK. "Lay All Your Love on Me" also charted in Ireland (No.8), Belgium (No.14) and West Germany (No.26).
[edit] Cover versions, appearances in other media etc.
- "Lay All Your Love On Me" was covered by Minnesota-native techno-pop band Information Society on their 1988 self-titled debut album; the track would peak in the summer of 1989 at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also included on the compilation ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration.
- The song was covered on Erasure's Abba-esque EP which topped the UK charts in 1992.
- British pop group Steps recorded the song for the ABBAmania album and TV special in 1999. The subsequent ABBAMania 2 album released in 2004 included a cover by British TV actresses Charlotte Bellamy of Emmerdale fame and Jane Danson from Coronation Street.
- Swedish pop group A*Teens included a cover of the song on their debut album The ABBA Generation. Their version omits the final verse of the song.
- Argentine electropop band Miranda! recorded a cover of the song.
- The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album ExtrABBAganza!.
- British pop star Cliff Richard recorded his own version of this song and has performed it in live concerts.
- The song was recorded in Power Metal style by German band Helloween for their album of covers Metal Jukebox. It was also released as a single.
- An acoustic version was recorded by Swedish singer Michael Michailoff.
- The song is covered by Yolanda on the compilation ABBAlicious, a tribute album performed by U.S. drag queens.
- Dance covers of the song have been recorded over the years by various artists including ABBAcadabra (through Almighty Records), German Eurodance group E-Rotic on their Thank You For The Music tribute album, Ecstatica on the Lay All Your Love On ABBA compilation, Abilar & Sia, Euphorica on their 2003 album ABBA Dance, and DJ Ensamble on their Trancing Queen tribute album.
- A dance cover was recorded by Sylver, on their album Crossroads from 2006. It was actually recognized as the best song on the CD, and was the first single to be released. The cover became a huge hit in Poland where it reached No.1 on the Polish National Top 50. [1]
- The song has been covered by the symphonic metal music project Avantasia on the EP Lost in Space - Part 1.
[edit] Live cover performances, samples, appearances in other media, etc.
- The song is sung in the Mamma Mia! musical by the character of Sky.
- Dutch eurodance-group Vengaboys sampled this song in their hit "Boom Boom Boom Boom" and ABBA was later given co-writing credits, after some threats of suing.
| Preceded by "Your Love" / "You're My Magician" by Lime |
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single (with "Super Trouper" and "On and On and On") May 2, 1981 |
Succeeded by "Paradise" / "Hold Tight" / "Heaven of My Life" by Change |
| Preceded by "Just Be Good to Me" by Karmah |
Polish National Top 50 number-one single August 7, 2006 |
Succeeded by "Maneater" by Nelly Furtado |
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