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"Our Last Summer"
Label to UK release as B-side of "Thank You for the Music"
Song by ABBA
from the album Super Trouper
Released3 November 1980
Recorded1980
GenrePop rock
Length4:19
LabelPolar
Songwriter(s)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Producer(s)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Audio
"Our Last Summer" on YouTube

"Our Last Summer" is a song by ABBA from the group's seventh studio album, Super Trouper. It was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Ulvaeus found lyrical inspiration for this song in a memory of a romance he had when he was a teenager. During a visit to Paris, he met a girl from his home-town who was working as an au pair.[1] "We had not been romantically involved in Sweden," he recalled, "but Paris tends to have that effect on people, and so it was with the two of us. She certainly took me to see the Quartier Latin, the Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower, but to be honest I don't really remember much of Paris. I mostly remember her!"[2]

Recording for this track began on 4 June 1980 in Polar Music Studios.[3] The song features Anni-Frid Lyngstad on lead vocals and her time in the studio during the recording is captured in a series of photographs taken by Anders Hanser.[4]

In the background of the bridge to this song, during Lasse Wellander's guitar solo, part of the Chess song, "Anthem", can be heard. Andersson and Ulvaeus had been working on the melody for "Anthem" for a number of years but had never found a place for it in any ABBA project. When they finally came to use it in the musical Chess, they hoped that no one would notice that part of it had already been used in "Our Last Summer".[5][2]

The song is used in the ABBA songs-based musical Mamma Mia! and the 2008 film of the same name. That version was certified Silver by BPI in 2022.[6]

References

  1. ^ Ulvaeus, B et al.: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, page 104. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006
  2. ^ a b "In Focus: Our Last Summer". ABBA. 29 April 2020. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
  3. ^ Magnus Palm, C: "ABBA The Complete Recording sessions", page 98. Century 22 Ltd, 1994
  4. ^ Magnus Palm, C et al.: "From ABBA to Mamma Mia!", page 84-89. Virgin Publishing Ltd, 1999
  5. ^ Magnus Palm, C: "ABBA The Complete Recording sessions", page 99. Century 22 Ltd, 1994
  6. ^ "British certifications – Original Cast Recording – Our Last Summer". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
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