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Arrival (composition)

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"Arrival (song)" redirects here. For other uses, see Arrival (disambiguation).
"Arrival"
Instrumental by ABBA
from the album Arrival
Released11 October 1976 (1976-10-11)
GenrePop
Length3:00
LabelPolar
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Björn Ulvaeus
  • Benny Andersson
Audio
"Arrival" on YouTube

"Arrival" is a 1976 composition by Swedish pop group ABBA featured on their album Arrival. It is an instrumental piece, mainly the brainchild of member Benny Andersson. The most widely heard cover versions are ones by French singer Michèle Torr released under the title "J'aime", British musician Mike Oldfield on his album QE2, the singing duo Daniel Balavoine and Anni-Frid "Frida" Lyngstad creating a French-language song titled "Belle", and the duo Frida and BA Robertson, as part of the UK musical Abbacadabra, performing an English-language version titled "Time".

Background

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"Arrival" was the second and last composition from the group not to contain lyrics, following "Intermezzo No.1" the previous year. As with "Intermezzo No.1", the choral tune, heavily influenced by traditional Swedish folk music, was written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It was recorded on 30 August 1976 at Stockholm's Metronome Studio. The title of the album, Arrival, gave the instrumental its name, rather than vice versa. It was also one of the last tracks to be recorded for the album before its release on 11 October 1976.

Cover versions

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Mike Oldfield version

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"Arrival"
Single by Mike Oldfield
from the album QE2
Released12 September 1980
Recorded1980
Length2:46
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)
  • Benny Anderson
  • Björn Ulvaeus
Producer(s)
Mike Oldfield singles chronology
"Blue Peter"
(1979) 		"Arrival"
(1980) 		"Sheba"
(1980)

In 1980, Mike Oldfield recorded a cover version of the song for his album QE2. The artwork for Oldfield's single is a recreation of ABBA's Arrival album artwork, depicting the artist flying in a Bell 47G helicopter (Oldfield is a helicopter pilot); the "K" in "MIKE" is likewise mirrored as a nod to ABBA's ambigram logo.

Track listing

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  1. "Arrival" – 2:46
  2. "Polka" (live on European tour 1980) – 3:34

Personnel (Oldfield version)

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  • Mike Oldfield – electric guitars, African drums, Celtic harp, bass guitar, mandolin, Spanish guitar, synthesizers, vocoder, Aboriginal rhythm sticks, vocals[1]
  • David Hentschel – synthesizers, drums, vocals
  • Maggie Reilly – vocals
  • David Bedford – arranger (strings and choir)
  • Dick Studt – leader (strings)
  • English Chorale – choir

Abbacadabra versions by Frida

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Duet with Daniel Balavoine

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As part of the French musical Abbacadabra, Daniel Balavoine and ABBA member Frida recorded a French-language cover of Arrival, titled "Belle" (lit. ''Beautiful'') in August 1983, with lyrics written by Alain and Daniel Boublil. Released by Barclay Records, the single, backed with B-side "C'est fini", sold 80,000 copies in France,[2] and peaked at No. 28 in the French Top 50 charts.[3]

English-language duet with BA Robertson

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Shortly after "Belle", Frida and BA Robertson recorded an English-language version called “Time” for the British production of Abbacadabra, with lyrics by Don Black and Mike Batt. Batt also produced the song. Released on 9 December 1983 by Polar and Epic Records,[4] A music video was created to promote the single. The single, backed with "I Am The Seeker" as B-side, entered the UK singles chart and peaked at No. 45.[5]

Other cover versions, sampling, etc.

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  • French singer Michèle Torr covered the song and added lyrics, under the title "J'aime". Released as a 1977 single in France, it reached No.2 in the charts, selling over 500,000 copies and receiving a gold disc. It also made it to No.4 in Portugal.
  • "Arrival" was used as the theme tune for the BBC TV series Robbie, presented by Fyfe Robertson.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "QE2 notes". Tubular.net. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
  2. ^ "1983 sales".
  3. ^ "French singles chart: D-G".
  4. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 26.
  5. ^ "FRIDA AND BA ROBERTSON". Official Charts. 1983-12-17. Retrieved 2023-10-07.
  6. ^ "Fyfe Robertson, the great TV reporter". YouTube. 2008-11-04. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved 2016-10-16.
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