Perhaps the best ABBA song ever. Haunting vocals by Frida.

There are many things to love about this song, not least the brilliant Frida demonstrating the versatility of her voice, I can’t think of another singer in pop music history that can create so many different moods and occupy different characters in the way she delivers her vocals. Frida doesn’t just sing these songs, she lives, breathes and acts them out with utter perfection. Absolute legend.

ABBA, one of the greatest groups, ever

This song is better than anything around today - simply a masterpiece! Abba really is the perfection of pop.

This song is a masterpiece. After 40 years listening to it, I still do it surprised of how good it is.

The Visitors was one of the world's first digitally recorded albums. I have it on record. As the chorus comes crashing in, the volume builds way more that it does on youtube, and adds a lot more excitement to the song. The instrumental part sounds like it could have been inspired by the "War of the worlds" soundtrack. Everyone seems to forget "Soldiers" on this album. A strange marching beat, melancholy lyrics, electric guitar riffs and huge ABBA harmonies.

People tend to not give a damn to ABBA's Lyrics because the package is so good that you quickly forget to pay attention to the words and many of their lyrics are deep and mysterious : Eagle Soldiers Elaine Move On Cassandra I Let The Music Speak Me And I Tiger Should I Laugh Ir Cry The Piper I'm a Marionette Under Attack ... These songs aren't known by the general public stuck with "Gold" and "Mamma Mia !" but the albums cuts are to my point of view way better than the so called "Greatest Hits".

This is actually my favorite Abba song.

One thing you don't really catch unless you hear it in full stereo is how the volume grows and builds. And then the layers get added. Love it.

from Mamma Mia to the visitors... So different but always so good.! ABBA is really unique in the music history 👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌

Easily one of the most underrated ABBA songs ever!! It has HUGE memories for me, when I was in my 20's this was LITERALLY always playing when I went to the club lol. I remember shaking my butt in the line to get in the door, feeling the music get louder and the energy building as we got closer. AMAZING memories, and an amazing song.

One of my fav ABBA compositions. It was also played heavy in dance clubs at the time.

Loved your reaction to this. The Visitors album as a whole is one of their best.

How nice to find a reaction to this hidden ABBA gem. (Hidden to most of the general public at least). It certainly is a good song to play for anyone who is stuck in a mindset which says that ABBA was just throwaway, bubblegum pop! They explored many different musical avenues, and their later music especially delved into mature, often dark, themes, probably an inevitable consequence of the two divorces. At the time of release, in 1981, Bjorn chose to remain tight-lipped about this song's meaning, telling people that they could put their own interpretations on it. Many at the time, and even still, thought it was about an extraterrestrial visitation. Others thought it was about someone who had 'lost the plot' and was being taken away to the lunatic asylum!! Subsequently, however, Bjorn revealed that it was actually about a Soviet dissident during the Cold War era, and that the dreaded knock on the door was from the KGB. A lot of the songs on 'The Visitors' album have a sense of that Cold War era darkness, paranoia and sadness. Most reissues of the album have contained ABBA's last recording 'The Day Before You Came', regarded by many as their masterpiece. The album is generally held in high regard by fans and critics alike. ABBA certainly went out on a high, albeit melancholic, note.

The song is about political dissidents in the Soviet Union in 81. Sung from the point of view of a woman involved in clandestine political meetings. The lyrics captures the paranoia of dissidents waiting for the KGB, 'the visitors' in the title to just barge in the flat and arrest them.

Love this song and from my perspective its a metaphorical & symbolic start to the Visitors album that starts with the Visitors and ends with Like An Angel Passing Through my Room, both sung by Frida in her own ethereal style of vocal delivery of waiting for communication with the Angel at the end of the album that helps her reminisce on past events surrounding by the things that bring her comfort.

Such contrast between lyrics and music can be found in many ABBA's songs. Upbeat sounding that hides sad or reflective lyrics. There is this typical scandinavian melancholy about them. It also reflects in their usage of minor chords vs major chords in their songs. Dark undertones can be found on many of their albums (starting from ABBA through Arrival and The Album to Super Trouper).

Interesting vocal interpretation by Frida. The vocal mix in the chorus is fascinating.

For me, their darkest song is "I'm a Marionette", from The Album. It is also a very good song, but a little bit twisted.

This song is amazing.

the whole album is underrated and very good, I think it was misunderstood, it should have been huge, for any other band it would be their masterpiece. between "the album" and "the visitors" they were so consistent it's incredible, there are almost no filler songs in FOUR albums. they had FOUR good albums in a row in five years!. not even Queen could do that.

Their lyrics are stunning...especially from writers whose first language is not English...

ABBA is and will forever remain loved

Ah....my favourite song from my early childhood. I would constantly put this on my dad's record player. It was so haunting and different from normal pop music. I'm pretty certain this was the song that spawned my later love for the more melencholy world of symphonic metal!

ABBA do have a couple of dark songs. Their most 'aggressive' song is I'm A Marionette. Check it out, it's a brilliant and very underrated song.

ABBA were masters at having dark or sad lyrics married to an upbeat melody. They were/still are THE ultimate pop group. Loved your critique of a song that isn't an obvious choice

Benny and Bjorn wrote the song and lyrics, which seems to be rare these days for a band to write their own songs. Never understood why it didn't hit number 1 on the charts because it's easily one of the best ABBA songs and best composed musical master pieces of all time. Maybe the "Disco" undertone at the end of the era made it stop. ABBA is as unique as Led Zeppelin in their own right. And their ability to make every synth note have meaning while showing the best vocal harmony of any band. Freddy Mercury smiles when Frida sings, thrust me on this.

Notice how ABBA was going for the Indian ragga vocals on the verses similar to The Beatles 'Within You Without You'. The whole album is a masterpiece. Their best.

This is actually one of my favorite ABBA songs.

The best ABBA songs have catchy upbeat melodies with serious sometimes depressing lyrics. Think of: Knowing Me Knowing You, SOS and The Day Before You Came as an example.

The title track is excellent, but the whole of the album, "The Visitors" is a masterpiece. At the release of this LP, I remember reading reviews, referring to 🅰🅱🅱🅰 as a "phenomenon" of the industry. It would be safe to say that it was an understatement.

Ah, you did it! Awesome. Thank you for indulging me in my self-indulgent moment! I will always love this song. As you quickly figured out, it’s the darkest, most haunting pumping club track ever!

This song was HUGE in the gay dance clubs back in the early 80's (at least in the U.S.) and was always one of my favorites cause it doesn't sound like ABBA...lol Thank you very much for posting!!

I think this is one of the characteristics of many ABBA songs. Quite dark lyrics but with an upbeat melody. 'If It Wasn't For The Nights' is sung quite joyously but has actually got a depressing storyline.. Bjorn himself has said "The music of ABBA is not that happy. It might sound happy, in some strange way, but deep within it's not happy music. It has that Nordic melancholic feeling to it. What fools you is the girls voices". I think this contrast sublimely unsettles the listener emotionally.

Wow!! Great reaction video, I loved it! . So, first off, you are totally correct that ABBA are very underrated. Aside from The Beatles they are my favorite band ever. And “The Visitors” is by far my favorite ABBA song - EVER!! I gotta say I was blown away when at the beginning of the song you stopped to go over what the lyric “Help Me!” was alluding to, whether she is asking aloud for help, or, is she saying that the books , the paintings and the furniture help her? As you’ve surely read in other comments is the song is about life as a dissident in the USSR at the height of the Cold War with the KGB as an ever present yet covert threat. Constant fear and anxiety. I know you appreciated the lyrics and the picture being painted with the story of the song, but, I feel like you didn’t go further with your feelings and questioning of the way the song builds up and evolves into a synthpop banger of a record. The energy and build up into that propulsive wall of synths, deep pounding beat mixed with a busy mix of bells, cymbals, and all other manner of percussive sounds - the song is expressing the same energy that is going on in the head of the person who is being sung about as they start to breakdown and become unhinged, or as the lyrics read “Crackin” Up!”. So, I think you would hear this “masterpiece”, a synth banger that sounded way ahead of its time when it was released and still does even now. Man, you really should consider doing a reaction video for “Knowing Me, Knowing You” and “The Name of The Game” . Both of these tracks have official music videos. Are you a performer? I know you know chord structures from anothe video you did for ABBA “Hole In Your Soul, but, curious if you are a musician, singer, etc.

the song is about political dissidents - you should listen to their masterpiece The Day Before You Came

I appreciate an honest listening to this one. It took me about 3 listens to grip it. I turned to loving it.

Thank you for this. One of my favorite Abba-songs. Well, as a fan, most of their songs are.. :)

Maybe even more darker: Like an angel passing through my room, also from "The Visitors", also lead vocals by Frida (and the only ABBA song with just one singer at all). I loved this album from the very first moment, and i still do.

This is not a guilty pleasure, they are the Gods of pop. Everybody copied them then nd still do today.

The whole album - their last studio LP - was by some way ABBA's darkest: there's very little optimism on it. Both relationships had foundered, they all seemed distracted, and this opening track says it all. I bought this when it came out, and to anyone who was vaguely aware of what went on in the Eastern Bloc in 1981, "The Visitors" needed no explanation. The photo on the album cover almost seems to catch them reacting to the doorbell ringing. In retrospect, though, I wonder whether "The Visitors" that were being waited for was the intrusion of a new reality that was about to pull the whole edifice apart? Even then, there were about 6 or 7 tracks ready for a new album when they finally just stopped in late 1982. You've reviewed one, "The Day Before You Came", which is acclaimed now, but didn't even make the top 30 when it was released; then there's "Under Attack", "Cassandra", "You Owe Me One", "I Am the City", and one that only survives as a demo, which they've refused to release even on a compilation, apart from about 90 seconds'--worth, mashed up in a montage of unreleased material, at the end of the 4th disc of their 20th-anniversary of winning Eurovision release, "Thank You for the Music", in 1994. That track, "Just Like That", might have just got them back into the record-buying eye, but I think that they'd all gone further than they wanted to by then...

I noticed your interest in ABBA which warms a lot of hearts... Their song 'Arrival' will pay tribute to your ancestry, a very, very beautiful rendition of their incredible harmonies and swedish folkmusic. The hidden Gem amongst Abbafans. The british band 'the Darkness' use it as their opening theme for their live shows. Epic is an understatement...and it would be a very 'different' reaction video. Hälsningar från Sverige.

Absolutely loved the reaction and analysis of one of my ABBA favourites! I'm unsure if anyone already commented this, but this album was actually banned in the Soviet Union, as they felt the title track, The Visitors, resonated too closely with the then looming Cold War.

All ABBA songs are my cup of tea... a very big cup.

Wonderful ABBA. Great job.👏👏👏

Darn, you speak swedish! Awesome! 💛 The text is so sad.. It makes me think about dead writer/journalist Anna Politkovskaja, shot ouside her own door. 😢R.I.P.

Try listening to this on a foggy November morning at 7.15 am as you're walking to the bus for college. It's incredibly haunting. I'll never forget that time I listened to the album. It was so surreal. The final album is so dark and it was elevated by the weather that day.

'The Visitors' is ABBAs eighth and last studio album and was actually the world's first commercially produced CD :)

one of the best pop albums ever made.

As a band they really did do it all. Even breakup. To bad they couldn't take it to the next level together.

A defiant courages song 🎵especially in these times...respect little mickee and taffy 🌈💚😇🐾.

This is my favourite Abba non single. My holy trinity of pop is Abba, Madonna and the Pet Shop Boys and they all do this incredible thing of writing dark, sad and melancholic music and matching it with upbeat music. I love that about them. Good examples are Madonna’s ‘Til Death Do Us Part’ and PSB’s ‘Being Boring’ - both excellent tracks.

I loved it. I was looking for simpler stuff like this, actually. The lyrics were very interesting and the music itself was very simple and fun. Maybe I should finally make a pop playlist. And as you can see, I am a man of my word.

This was a big hit in the gay clubs in the USA, it resonated with the gay community because of the fear of being outed, and being outcast or losing their job, there was a 8 minute ‘Hot Tracks’ remix that did the rounds in the clubs. The song recycled the melody in Summer Night City. This song/LP and Abba themselves were banned in the USSR. And Abba-The Movie was shown in Soviet theatres as a warning against Capitalism.

Try Abba's The piper. Kind of same twist of depth in lyrics combined w an up beat.

I love this song. Really good reaction i liked your analysis. Typical of ABBA that, upbeat musically with dark lyrics

Nice Swedish! Greetings from Sweden :) And thank you for another great reaction!

Love your Swedish and the video . Best regards/hälsningar from Sweden!!!

If you're doing ABBA and Nightwish in the same week, you have a new subscriber. Thanks for your work, really love your reactions Tommy.

Very unique sounds .....unusual, even today.....I have all the music from the 80's,..they did.

Yeah very catchy. Musically it remainds me pretty much of the "psychedelic" era 15 years bevore then. Hear the Beatles`"Tomorrow never nows"!! Like you´re reactions. Very "deep" interpretations. But the reaction that got me the most, was: "like an angel passing through my room" as well by ABBA by you. I don´t no why but I really have to cry the most time when I listen to this reaction by you. Thank you for that.

One of my favorite ABBA tracks, I just love their music.

Thank you for explaining this song! It's one of their most unaccessible ones but your reaction, especially about the difference between the lyrics and the music, has been very helpful.

Thanks NorthernEar! Finally someone has analyzed this song that I have listened to and loved for so long. And your comments about the lyrics made me think of it in new ways. Thanks! Will you do more ABBA? "When all is said and done" is a good choice!

1:50 _"Interesting melody line."_ Yes, more ethnic sounding and jazzy than usual for Abba.

Enjoyed your video a lot

That guitar tone though

Jag tycker om din video! Serious, focused...fantastisk! Hälsningar från Lappland, Sverige.

...and now ABBA are back!! Their first new Album "Voyage" will be released in November, almost exactly 40(!) years after 1981's "The Visitors"!

I let the music speak is for me the darkest song of ABBA. Feel free to comment with a new video :)

It was the third "record" recorded digitally, the second was an ensemble of classic pieces, first was a record made just to see what a digital recording was capable of. When I first heard this song I thought it was about alien invasion with the lyrics, music...creepy as F intro resembling something John Williams wrote for Close Encounters.

If you go down memory lane with ABBA you'll find more of these songs with a happy melody but darker lyrics.

Literally they're about Soviet dissidents, but interpreted through a more subjective lens, this song's lyrics express pretty well the descent into bipolar depression: My whole world is falling, going crazy, there's no escaping. The evil visitor... come to break me, yet it isn't unexpected, I have been waiting for this visitor. Help me.

Fantastic song !

Song is diffuse in what it exactly means and can have more than one storyline . Abba didn't want to reveal the purpose but this and Soldier got banned by the USSR. So if you listen to the lyrics and think of the people within the Iron Curtain as the one stuck and isolated in the house it can also make a lot of sense. What do you think? Visitors being KGB, Gestapo..

Omg the music, great

Tommy my friend, you've been listening to Billie Eilish music which is the ideal primer for this song. Jolly, upbeat music with dark lyrics. There are other examples of 70s pop music with dance beats and far deeper meanings. I agree with horsehollerer that this is one of ABBA's best. Interesting choice, good reaction.

This is the ultimate ABBA song. A fitting end to their career. Thanks for the reaction

Hi NorthernEar, I'm enjoying your thoughtful reactions. Most of the songs on The Visitors album, their last, are pretty bleak. In a majestic way. This shouldn't come as that big of a surprise, really. All the best Abba tunes (from SOS and Knowing Me, Knowing You to Eagle and If It Wasn't For The Nights and, well, dozens more) are drenched in what I would call melancholic euphoria*. We Nordic people - they're Swedes, I'm a Finn** - seem to have deep reservoirs of gloominess inside us. It's the DNA, the weather, the winter darkness, I guess. We're just rays of sunshine! * The best modern purveyor of this tradition is a Swedish artist called Robyn. If you're not aware of her yet, you could do worse than react to her anthem: Dancing On My Own. ** Ironically, Finland has been rated the happiest nation in the world for the past few years by some organisation that rates these things. Go figure.

Björn wrote the lyrics. Like for most songs. Really liked your appreciation for the lyrics. B+B are very nice! I’ve corresponded with both and I’ve met Benny through their manager, Görel Hanser. Oh ans Benny is the musical motor, as Björn says, but they composed together.

Awesome song !!! 👍

Just one look and I forget everything

The Visitors album came out end of 1981. Got banned by USSR in 1982.

The fear of ghosts……. Spirit Talks in quiet voices…. even the front cover mirrows this feelin‘/ the fear

Zo sterk, zo goed,, met de sterke stem van frida,,, magic

My all time favourite ABBA song. Followed by THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME and SOS. So rare that anyone reviews this! You made my day! The guardian called it “ABBA doing Joy Division”. Your Swedish was cute! I’m a Swiss person who is learning the language and a Stockholm fan...

Belarus. History repeats itself.

I always interpreted this-from the moment I first heard it in '81-was that it was about perceived alien abductions. Much more interesting than Soviet dissidents! 🙂

Dance club favourite when it came out!

That’s by far their best song

This song mesmerizes me more EVERY time I hear it. Abba had Illuminati insight I believe way before it had surfaced. This song literally gives me chills. Almost makes me feel that ABBA was forced to stop….. or it just got tough for them as it does for so many pop couples. Lol… so much than just a pop song! Strong message

❤

A great political statement from Cold War days from ABBA about state terror and oppression.

You hoped we like the video, in Swed-ish. Good effort :-) They were way ahead of their time back in the day.

I see a lot of comments about the historical inspiration, but there is a deeper double meaning here when you read about Agnetha's struggles with phobias. I often listen to this wondering if Bjorn is exploring a side of Agnetha he came to know in their marriage. The lyrics definitely could be describing a panic attack at the thought of visitors arriving, even friendly ones.

Super 😀

"Soldiers" is another masterpiece from that album.

My fave is The Winner Takes It All followed by Slipping Through my Fingers

Luvly jubbly. 😁👍

It's about Spies/Espionage etc etc.