Christer Malmbergs värld - Musik - Pop och rock

ABBA

The Visitors (1981)

1. The Visitors (Crackin' Up)
2. Head over Heels
3. When All Is Said and Done
4. Soldiers
5. I Let the Music Speak
6. One of Us
7. Two for the Price of One
8. Slipping Through My Fingers
9. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room

Utgiven: 30 november 1981
Skivbolag: Polar Music
Producerad av Benny Andersson och Björn Ulvaeus
Inspelad i Polar Music Studios, Stockholm
Ljudtekniker: Michael B. Tretow

Trummor: Ola Brunkert (Per Lindvall på "Soldiers" och "The Visitors")
Percussion: Åke Sundqvist
Bas: Rutger Gunnarsson
Elgitarr och akustisk gitarr: Lasse Wellander
Akustisk gitarr: Björn Ulvaeus
Keyboard och synthesizer: Benny Andersson
Flöjt och klarinett: Jan Kling ("I Let the Music Speak")
Mandoliner: The Three Boys ("One of Us")

The Visitors är den svenska popgruppen ABBA:s åttonde och sista studioalbum.

The Visitors (Crackin' Up)

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

I hear the doorbell ring,
and suddenly the panic takes me
The sound so ominously tearing through the silence
I cannot move, I'm standing
Numb and frozen
Among the things I love so dearly
The books, the paintings and the furniture
Help me

The signal's sounding once again,
and someone tries the doorknob
None of my friends would be so stupidly impatient
And they don't dare to come here
Anymore now
But how I loved our secret meetings
We talked and talked in quiet voices
Smiling

Now I hear them moving
Muffled noises coming through the door
I feel I'm crackin' up
Voices growing louder, irritation building
And I'm close to fainting
Crackin' up
They must know by now I'm in here trembling
In a terror evergrowing
Crackin' up
My whole world is falling, going crazy
There is no escaping now
I'm crackin' up

These walls have witnessed,
all the anguish of humiliation
And seen the hope of freedom glow in shining faces
And now they've come to take me
Come to break me
And yet it isn't unexpected
I have been waiting for these visitors
Help me

Now I hear them moving
Muffled noises coming through the door
I feel I'm crackin' up
Voices growing louder, irritation building
And I'm close to fainting
Crackin' up
(I have been waiting for these visitors)
They must know by now I'm in here trembling
In a terror evergrowing
Crackin' up
(I have been waiting for these visitors)
My whole world is falling, going crazy
There is no escaping now
I'm crackin' up
(I have been waiting for these visitors)

Head over Heels

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

I have a very good friend
The kind of girl who likes to follow a trend
She has a personal style
Some people like it, others tend to go wild
You hear her voice everywhere
Taking the chair
She's a leading lady
And with no trace of hesitation she keeps going

Head over heels
Breaking her way
Pushing through unknown jungles every day
She's a girl with a taste for the world
(The world is like a playing-ground,
where she goes rushing)
Head over heels
Setting the pace
Running the gauntlet in a whirl of lace
She's extreme, if you know what I mean

Her man is one I admire
He's so courageous but he's constantly tired
Each time when he speaks his mind
She pats his head and says, "That's all very fine"
Exert that will of your own
When you're alone
Now we'd better hurry
And with no trace of hesitation she keeps going

You hear her voice everywhere
Taking the chair
She's a leading lady
And with no trace of hesitation she keeps going

When All Is Said and Done

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

Here's to us
One more toast and then we'll pay the bill
Deep inside both of us can feel the autumn chill
Birds of passage, you and me
We fly instinctively
When the summer's over,
and the dark clouds hide the sun
Neither you nor I'm to blame
When all is said and done

In our lives we have walked,
some strange and lonely treks
Slightly worn but dignified and not too old for sex
We're still striving for the sky
No taste for humble pie
Thanks for all your generous love,
and thanks for all the fun
Neither you nor I'm to blame
When all is said and done

It's so strange when you're down,
and lying on the floor
How you rise, shake your head,
get up and ask for more
Clear-headed and open-eyed
With nothing left untried
Standing calmly at the crossroads, no desire to run
There's no hurry any more
When all is said and done
Standing calmly at the crossroads, no desire to run
There's no hurry any more
When all is said and done

Soldiers

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

Do I hear what I think I'm hearing
Do I see the signs I think I see
or is this just fantasy
Is it true that the beast is waking
Stirring in his restless sleep tonight
In the pale moonlight
In the grip of this cold December,
you and I have reason to remember

Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing the songs
That you and I don't sing
They blow their horns and march along
They drum their drums and look so strong
You'd think that nothing in the world was wrong
Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing the songs
That you and I won't sing
Let's not look the other way
Taking a chance,
'cause if the bugler starts to play
We too must dance

What's that sound, what's that dreadful rumble
Won't somebody tell me what I hear
In the distance but drawing near
Is it only a storm approaching
All that thunder and the blinding light
In the winter night
In the grip of this cold December
You and I have reason to remember

Soldiers write the songs that soldiers sing the songs
That you and I won't sing
Let's not look the other way
Taking a chance,
'cause if the bugler starts to play
We too must dance

I Let the Music Speak

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

I'm hearing images, I'm seeing songs
No poet has ever painted
Voices call out to me, straight to my heart
So strange yet we're so well acquainted
I let the music speak, with no restraints
I let my feelings take over
Carry my soul away into the world
Where beauty meets the darkness of the day
Where my mind is like an open window
Where the high and healing winds blow
From my shallow sleep the sounds awake me
I let them take me
(Let them wake me, let them now, let them take me)

Let it be a joke
Let it be a smile
Let it be a farce if it makes me laugh for a little while
Let it be a tear
Let it be a sigh
Coming from a heart, speaking to a heart
Let it be a cry

Some streets are emptiness, dry leaves of Autumn
Rustling down an old alley
And in the dead of night I find myself
A blind man in some ancient valley
I let the music speak, leading me gently
Urging me like a lover
Leading me all the way
Into a place
Where beauty will defeat the darkest day
Where I'm one with every grand illusion
No disturbance, no intrusion
Where I let the wistful sounds seduce me
I let them use me
(All illusion, no disturbance, no intrusion)

Let it be a joke
Let it be a smile
Let it be a farce if it makes me laugh for a little while
Let it be a tear
Let it be a sigh
Coming from a heart, speaking to a heart
Let it be a cry

Let it be a tear
Let it be a sigh
Coming from a heart, speaking to a heart
Let it be a cry
Let it be the joy of each new sunrise
Or the moment when the day dies
I surrender without reservation
No explanations
No questions why
I take it to me and let it flow through me
Yes, I let the music speak
I let the music speak

One of Us

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

They passed me by, all of those great romances
You were, I felt, robbing me of my rightful chances
My picture clear, everything seemed so easy
And so I dealt you the blow
One of us had to go
Now it's different, I want you to know

One of us is crying
One of us is lying
In her lonely bed
Staring at the ceiling
Wishing she was somewhere else instead
(One of us is changing with a heart that's aching)
One of us is lonely
One of us is only
Waiting for a call
Sorry for herself, feeling stupid feeling small
Wishing she had never left at all

I saw myself as a concealed attraction
I felt you kept me away from the heat and the action
Just like a child, stubborn and misconceiving
That's how I started the show
One of us had to go
Now I've changed and I want you to know

Staring at the ceiling
Wishing she was somewhere else instead
(One of us is changing with a heart that's aching)
One of us is lonely
One of us is only
Waiting for a call
Sorry for herself, feeling stupid feeling small

Two for the Price of One

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

He had what you might call a trivial occupation
He cleaned the platforms of the local railway station
With no romance in his life,
sometimes he wished he had a wife
He read the matrimonial advertizing pages
The cries for help from different people, different ages
But they had nothing to say, at least not until the day
When something special he read
This is what it said

If you dream of the girl for you,
then call us and get two for the price of one
We're the answer if you feel blue,
so call us and get two for the price of one
If you dream of the girl for you,
then call us and get two for the price of one
We're the answer if you feel blue,
so call us and get two for the price of one

He called a number and voice said, "Alice Whiting"
The voice was husky and it sounded quite exciting
He was amazed at his luck,
the purest streak of gold he'd struck
He said, I read your ad, it sounded rather thrilling
I think a meeting could be mutually fulfilling
Why don't we meet for a chat, the three of us in my flat
I can't forget what I read
This is what it said,

Slipping Through My Fingers

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

Schoolbag in hand
She leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers
All the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers
All the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers
All the time

Sleep in our eyes
Her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake I let precious time go by
Then when she's gone
There's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I can't deny
What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(Slipping through my fingers
All the time)
Well some of that we did
But most we didn't
And why I just don't know

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers

Schoolbag in hand
She leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

Like An Angel Passing Through My Room

(Benny Andersson/Björn Ulvaeus)

Long awaited darkness falls
Casting shadows on the walls
In the twilight hour I am alone
Sitting near the fireplace, dying embers warm my face
In this peaceful solitude
All the outside world subdued
Everything comes back to me again
In the gloom
Like an angel passing through my room

Half awake and half in dreams
Seeing long forgotten scenes
So the present runs into the past
Now and then become entwined,
playing games within my mind
Like the embers as they die
Love was one prolonged goodbye
And it all comes back to me tonight
In the gloom
Like an angel passing through my room

I close my eyes
And my twilight images go by
All too soon
Like an angel passing through my room