The winner takes it all - Abba

Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson started writing 'The winner takes it all' in the summer of 1979 in a cottage on the island of Viggsö. The demo had an original title of 'The story of my life' and the first arrangement for the song was uptempo with a constant beat. However, they felt their first effort "much too stiff and metrical", so they left the song for a few days while they worked on other songs. 

Four days later they returned to the song, and Andersson came up with the idea of using a French chanson-style arrangement with a descending piano line and a looser structure. Ulvaeus then recorded a demo using nonsense French words for lyrics, and took the recording home to write the lyrics. According to Ulvaeus, he drank whiskey while he was writing, and it was the quickest lyric he ever wrote. He said, "I was drunk, and the whole lyric came to me in a rush of emotion in one hour." Ulvaeus said that when he gave the lyrics to Fältskog to read, "a tear or two welled up in her eyes. Because the words really affected her." Ulvaeus denies the song is about his and Fältskog's divorce, saying the basis of the song "is the experience of a divorce, but it's fiction. 'Cause one thing I can say is that there wasn't a winner or a loser in our case. A lot of people think it's straight out of reality, but it's not". However, Ulvaeus admitted that the heartache of their breakup inspired the song, but noted that the words in the song should not be taken literally. These days, 'The winner takes it all' is recognized as one of Abba's strongest tracks. 

This edition is a picture disc released as part of a series accompanying the re-release of the album Super Trouper in 2020. 

My collection: 7" single no. 7312
Found: Abba Fanclub, received 3 September 2024
Tracks: 'The winner takes it all' / 'Elaine'