and Words
No more carefree laughter
Silence ever after
Walking through an empty house
Tears in my eyes
Here is where the story ends
This is goodbye
Knowing me, knowing you (ah-ha)
There is nothing we can do
Knowing me, knowing you (ah-ha)
We just have to face it this time (this time, this time)
We′re through (this time, this time we’re really through)
Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.
My family left Puerto Rico in 1978; we moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We spent the two summers after that move in Toronto, Canada, and Hong Kong, respectively. As my sisters and I learned a new language, we did much of this through music. As my mom shopped in Chinese mini-grocery stores, my older sister got the occasional record of popular music. Each vinyl disc contained a collection of songs from a particular year, like 1977.
Though in some ways, the joke was on us. These were definitely popular songs from that year. However, the songs were not performed by the original artists; instead, they were covered by Chinese artists and repackaged. A typical record like this would contain covers by artists such as the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt. In fact, for many years I didn’t know that the first version of Hotel California wasn’t the original.
Life continued like this for a while. I eventually discovered that these records contained covers of songs released by other artists. However, I grew fond of the Chinese versions as my sister played them endlessly on our turntable. However, we were captive to all songs on each side of the record and needed to listen to them in the order in which they were cut. We grew so used to them, we could even anticipate the duration of the silence between tracks.
To my memory, Polydor, the record label that released these albums, consistently spared ABBA from such indignities. I don’t recall ever hearing an ABBA cover from these Chinese artists. I don’t know why ABBA’s music was magically immune, but somehow it was. However, while Polydor did not include ABBA’s music in their compilation albums, I still heard plenty of ABBA on the radio.
This band gained popularity right in the teeth of the disco era. I think most people would tell you that ABBA’s music is indeed disco. However, when the backlash towards disco came, they were mostly spared. For example, the Bee Gees’ popularity plummeted with the backlash towards disco. Honestly, I can’t tell you why, though I lived through it. I had my hands full navigating my own struggles with awkwardness that stemmed from cultural differences.
The years that led up to teenhood felt like quicksand. The transition from child to teen is tumultuous for everyone. However, in addition to the conventional chaos, I also navigated the death of my father, the struggle to learn a new language, and a little thing called racism. This music straddled both communities, and it persevered through the animosity towards disco.
ABBA firmly anchored themselves in that era of my life. They still had that European feel that gave them that sense of sleekness. Their music felt persistent and familiar, much like that old sweatshirt. Their voices wove a soundtrack that transcended my speaking Cantonese and Spanish and eventually learning English. Those voices sweetly carried me through a summer in Toronto after my father’s death, where I met my mom’s dear friend. Furthermore, they sustained me as we traveled to Hong Kong and China, where I finally met my extended family.
They were a bridge, nay… a magical tunnel that transported me from one place to another. That tunnel transcended location, language, and culture. Even today, when I hear their voices in harmony, I flash back to those moments in childhood before I had any genuine burdens. For the span of those few minutes, modern worries dissipate, and I regress to that era.
Their music itself was endlessly dayglow; it was set to the beat of a drum. ABBA developed a formula for producing song after song of upbeat European dance music with universal appeal, and there was little reason to deviate from that formula.
This particular song, ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, was an exception to that rule. Even from the onset, their words set the tone:
No more carefree laughter
Silence ever afterWalking through an empty house
Tears in my eyes
Here is where the story ends
This is goodbye
As such, it remains my favorite ABBA song. The break-up is unambiguous, and you can feel how it shatters them. Strangely, there is no explanation, nor is anyone blamed. The romance is just gone. Dead.
Naturally, I did not comprehend any of this when they released the song in 1977, nor did I yet understand English well enough to decipher it. I just knew the song was a moderate-tempo track by familiar voices. This song remained that way for the many years that followed; a bit like a time capsule waiting to release its final message.
Years later, I learned that the members of ABBA were married; a pair of couples. Anni-Frid Lyngstad married Benny Andersson, and Agnetha Fältskog married Björn Ulvaeus. This naturally fascinated me, as I wondered if working together brought them closer. Subsequently, I learned that they also divorced about a year apart. Three to four years passed from the release of this song until their divorces. I can’t help but wonder if this song mirrored an internal struggle within one (or both) couples.
I searched for the video for the song. Though it certainly had a 1970s vibe, I still enjoyed watching it. Though honestly, it didn’t feel as if anyone held any rancor or anger towards each other. If anything, the couples expressed genuine affection for their spouse, and the break-up held a pervasive sadness.
As a footnote to my finding the video for ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’, I also came upon the video for the Spanish version of that song, called ‘Conociéndome, Conociéndote’. Their singing in Spanish certainly has an accent, as though they’re not native Spanish speakers.
However, it later occurs to me that they’re not native English speakers either; this amused me.