Tag: Waterloo

Sometimes these bans can be head-scratchers, which is true of the 1990s ban on ABBA’s ‘Waterloo’. Due to its connotations with armies and fighting, amidst the ongoing Gulf War, BBC deemed it inappropriate to play, despite few actually connecting this song to literal war.

The song peaked at #6 in 1974 in the Billboard 1oo. All together Abba had 20 top 100 songs, 4 top ten, and one #1 with Dancing Queen. I  thought they had more top 10 hits.

This song also reached #1 in Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, and West Germany.

From Songfacts

Waterloo is the place where Napoleon Bonaparte met his defeat at an epic battle in 1815. This song uses the battle as a metaphor for a woman who gives in and falls in love with a man – he’s her “Waterloo.”

Originally recorded in Swedish, it was ABBA’s Swedish version that won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, giving the band a huge career boost.

This was one of many ABBA hits used in the 1994 movie Muriel’s Wedding.

Even though this song constantly repeats the name of the battle that spelled the end of Napoleon’s empire, the French, like the rest of Europe, was more than happy to buy this song in large quantities. The single spent 12 weeks on the French charts, peaking at #3. In Belgium, where the Battle of Waterloo took place, this song spent five weeks at #1.

ABBA not only recorded this song in their native Swedish and then in English but they also recorded a version in French for the French markets and one in German for the German markets. There is also a version in both French and Swedish that is an overdubbing of both the Swedish and French versions.

Waterloo

My my
At Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
Oh yeah
And I have met my destiny in quite a similar way
The history book on the shelf
Is always repeating itself
Waterloo I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo finally facing my Waterloo

My my
I tried to hold you back, but you were stronger
Oh yeah
And now it seems my only chance is giving up the fight
And how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose
Waterloo I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo finally facing my Waterloo

So how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose
Waterloo I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo promise to love you for ever more
Waterloo couldn’t escape if I wanted to
Waterloo knowing my fate is to be with you
Waterloo finally facing my Waterloo