Album: The Singles: The First Ten Years (1982)

Charted: 32

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• Abba - The Day Before You Came
  
  I must have left my house at eight, because I always do
  My train, I'm certain, left the station just when it was due
  I must have read the morning paper going into town
  And having gotten through the editorial, no doubt I must have frowned
  I must have made my desk around a quarter after nine
  With letters to be read, and heaps of papers waiting to be signed
  I must have gone to lunch at half past twelve or so
  The usual place, the usual bunch
  And still on top of this I'm pretty sure it must have rained
  The day before you came
  
  I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two
  And at the time I never even noticed I was blue
  I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day
  Without really knowing anything, I hid a part of me away
  At five I must have left, there's no exception to the rule
  A matter of routine, I've done it ever since I finished school
  The train back home again
  Undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then
  Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within its usual frame
  The day before you came
  
  I must have opened my front door at eight o'clock or so
  And stopped along the way to buy some Chinese food to go
  I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on TV
  There's not, I think, a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see
  I must have gone to bed around a quarter after ten
  I need a lot of sleep, and so I like to be in bed by then
  I must have read a while
  The latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style
  It's funny, but I had no sense of living without aim
  The day before you came
  
  And turning out the light I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night
  And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain
  The day before you came Writer/s: Benny Goran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K Ulvaeus
  Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 10

• Mark from United KingdomAlthough the song has a melancholy air to it, I've never seen it as a dark song - The words "I never had a sense of living without aim, the day before you came" seems to me someone looking back on a humdrum life they felt was fine after something or someone lifted it into a better life.
  
  That's always been my take on it, anyway.
  
  Funnily enough, I didn't realise this was an ABBA song for decades as I'd only heard the Blancmange version, which I think is great.
• Tatiana from TexasI have always had a feeling this song has a darker meaning. As a woman, hearing this song, I think of the worst that can possibly happen to this girl the next day. Such as a stalker, a serial killer, the grim reaper even… The instrumentals also give a hint of an uncomfortable feeling. Definitely an amazing song and it’s one of my favorites, it leaves me guessing.
• MarcellusIt's another breakup song. Here's what the liner notes from "The Visitors Deluxe Edition", released in 2012, have to say: "The lyrics, as performed by lead singer Agnetha, chronicle all the dull, ordinary things the protagonist ”guessed she must have done” the day before she had an emotionally charged encounter with a man. “The tune is narrative in itself,” says Björn, “and relentless. That almost monotonous quality made me think of this girl who was living in a sort of gloominess and is now back in that same sense of gloom. He has left her, and her life has returned to how it ‘must have been’ before she met him.”"
• BobI don't think the song is about a lover coming into her life. There's something way darker brooding in this song and I think it's actually about death. The person everyone referring to as "the lover" in the song is the grim reaper.
• Jms from CptI think this is a song about a woman who had an affair the day before her husband returns from a business trip. While her life is mundane, and likely lead to the affair, the lyrics are her guilt-driven composition of her alibi.
• Kirk from SomersetIMO the best Abba song ever, closely followed by Our Last Summer.
• AnonymousOne of my very, very favourites. I love this song.
• Keith Robinson from Workington. , CumbriaBest Abba song Ever
• Jim from London, United KingdomYeah a really cool song, but I've always thought that this song is pretty uplifting, like his/her life was pretty mundane and predictable until the other person entered their life... even though it is sung by both Abba and Blancmange in a kind of sad, melancholy way.
• Guy from Woodinville, WaLove it! Another great song from Abba, in a more ethereal style than usual. I had no idea it was the last one they recorded together. That just adds to the atmospheric feel of the song.

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