<P> Ulvaeus commented that "you can tell in that song that we were straining towards musical theatre as we (he and Benny) got Agnetha to act the part of the person in that song", as opposed to singing it objectively . She was "happy to do (this interpretation)". Though not seen as much as a negative in modern times, a "downside" of this creative choice meant Agnetha sang like an "ordinary woman" rather than a lead vocalist . The three ABBA members involved in this decision have all retrospectively wondered if "the dramatic scope (would) have been far greater had Agnetha's natural instincts been allowed to take hold". This is often cited as the reason Agnetha's vocals reveal much more of her Swedish accent than usual, as she is essentially talk - singing the lyrics . In his work ABBA & Me, Robert Verbeek makes special mention of "the way (Agnetha) pronounces the L in the word' school' in the line' A matter of routine, I've done it ever since I finished school"' in the song, despite later on saying the band "sang without any accent", implying that this was a unique case . Swedish novelist Jerker Virdborg noted in a newspaper piece twenty years later that the vocal is "sung by a dimmed and turned off...Agnetha Fältskog". </P> <P> "The Day Before You Came" was released in October 1982, as both the first new song from ABBA's double compilation album The Singles: The First Ten Years, and also as a single . The single was officially released on 18 October 1982 with another new song, "Cassandra", as the B - side . By this time, ABBA were experiencing a slow decline in UK single sales . Accordingly, the single peaked at no . 32 . In 1984 a cover by British synthpop duo Blancmange charted higher than the ABBA recording reaching no . 22 on the UK charts . ABBA's recording, however, hit the top 5 in Belgium, Finland, West Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Switzerland . It also reached no . 5 on the Adult Contemporary chart in Canada . Along with "Under Attack", before being featured on the album, the song had appeared in the United States only as a non-LP B - side . The song did not chart in that country . </P> <P> Take40 comments that "although the single...was one of the group's most accomplished recordings it failed to become a worldwide hit on the scale that they had been used to". The song was only a minor hit (for example only charting #32 in the UK, breaking "a string of 19 consecutive top 30 hits" which started in 1975 with "S.O.S."), something that Ulvaeus retrospectively puts down to the song being "too different and ahead of its time for the ABBA fans (or) too much of a change for a lot of ABBA fans ." He also commented that "the energy (in their music) had gone". Bjorn said that with the song, they were "heading into something more mature, more mysterious and more exciting", but that at that time it was "one step too far for (their) audience". He said that although Tim Rice really liked the song, he had warned them that it was "beyond what (the ABBA) fans expected". However, the Sydney Morning Herald article "Happily ABBA after" suggests this may be because ABBA only "promoted it in Britain with a couple of glum TV appearances". Christopher Patrick, in his work ABBA: Let The Music Speak, argues that although ABBA's final moments had come by the time this song was released, "no - one was empowered to concede it", but also said that the "lukewarm" response toward the song by the public "had already made the decision for (the band over whether to stay together or split up)". </P> <P> Benny said that in his opinion, "' The Day Before You Came' is the best lyric that Bjorn has written: it's a really good song, but not a good recording". He compared this to "Under Attack", recorded around the same time, which he described as "a wonderful recording, but not such a good song". While reminiscing on the track at an interview for Mamma Mia! the musical, Björn said, "we thought it was a great song", but added that they also thought it would not work as it was so far removed from their previous material . Frida said that there were "problems over how Agnetha would interpret it". ABBA attempted many different ways of singing the song, eventually settling on a "haunted" style . In the version that got released, Agnetha sang as if she was hurt and vulnerable, rather than belting it out (which Bjorn implies she did in other takes). Frida said the song was "a very different sound to what we had done before", and Björn added that they were "taking a chance". Frida said it was a "beautiful song". In response to the interviewer commenting on their looking unhappy in the video clip, Frida said, "it was an unhappy time of our lives (as we were) on the verge of splitting up" and had started talking about the individual projects of each member . She adds that it was not an easy situation, arguably justifying the gloomy atmosphere as a parallel of their real lives as a part of ABBA . </P>

Abba the day before you came video clip