Fernando (song)

"Fernando" is a song written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, from the Swedish musical group ABBA. The song was written for their fellow group member Anni-Frid Lyngstad and was included on her debut 1975 album Frida ensam.

"Fernando"
Single by Anni-Frid Lyngstad
from the album Frida ensam
LanguageSwedish
Released10 November 1975 (1975-11-10)
Length4:14
LabelPolar Music
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Benny Andersson
  • Björn Ulvaeus
Music video
"Fernando (Swedish version)" on YouTube
"Fernando"
Artwork for most releases (Scandinavian release pictured)
Single by ABBA
from the album Greatest Hits
B-side
  • "Tropical Loveland"

"Hey, Hey Helen" (UK)

  • "Rock Me" (US)
Released
  • 27 March 1976 (UK)
  • 12 April 1976 (Sweden)
  • August 1976 (US)[1]
Recorded3 September 1975
StudioMetronome
GenreEuropop
Length4:15
Label
Songwriter(s)
  • Benny Andersson]]
  • Björn Ulvaeus
Producer(s)
  • Benny Andersson
  • Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA singles chronology
"Mamma Mia"
(1975)		 "Fernando"
(1976)		 "Dancing Queen"
(1976)
Music video
"Fernando " on YouTube

The following year, "Fernando" was re-recorded by ABBA. It was released in March 1976 as the brand new track for the 1976 compilation album Greatest Hits, and was also included on the group's fourth studio album Arrival in Australia and New Zealand. "Fernando" is also featured on the multi-million-selling Gold: Greatest Hits compilation. The song is one of ABBA's best-selling singles of all time, with six million copies sold in 1976 alone.[2] It is one of fewer than forty all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) physical copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

History

"Fernando" was not originally released as an ABBA song but as a solo single by band member Anni-Frid Lyngstad. It was featured on her No. 1 Swedish solo album Frida ensam (1975). The song was composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus and carried the working title of "Tango". Preparations for recording began in August 1975. The writers made last-minute changes to the title before recording.[3] The name "Fernando" was inspired by a bartender of that name who worked at a club the band frequented in Stockholm, Sweden.

Swedish-language version

The original Swedish-language version's lyrics were written by ABBA's manager Stig Anderson, and differ substantially from the English-language version. In the original, the narrator tries to console the heartbroken Fernando, who has lost his great love. "The sorrow can be hard to bear, but the fact that friends let us down is something we all have to cope with". The chorus' lyrics are: "Long live love, our best friend, Fernando. Raise your glass and propose a toast to it; to love, Fernando. Play the melody and sing a song of happiness. Long live love, Fernando".

English-language version

The English version, with completely different lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus, presents a vision of nostalgia for two veterans reminiscing in old age about a long-ago battle in which they participated. "I wrote all the songs as little stories. 'Fernando' was about two old freedom-fighters from the war between Texas and Mexico. I was lying outside one summer night, looking at the stars and it suddenly came to me".[4] "I knew that the title 'Fernando' had to be there, and after pondering a while, I had this vivid image in my mind of two old and scarred revolutionaries in Mexico sitting outside at night talking about old memories".[4]

The B-side to "Fernando" was the song "Hey, Hey, Helen", a track from the group's self-titled third studio album (1975), although in some countries "Tropical Loveland" (also from the album ABBA) was used instead. Some copies of the single use "Rock Me" or "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)" as a B-side.

Spanish-language version

The title and rhythm of the song made it an obvious choice for inclusion on ABBA's Spanish album, Gracias Por La Música. The lyrics were translated into Spanish by Mary McCluskey and recorded at Polar Music Studio on 3 January 1980. The song was released as a promotional single in Spain. The lyrics, while adapted for rhythm and rhyme, carry the same sentiment and roughly the same meaning as the English version: "There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando. They were shining there for you and me, for liberty, Fernando" becomes "Something was around us perhaps of clarity Fernando, that shone for us two in protection, Fernando" ("Algo había alrededor quizá de claridad Fernando, que brillaba por nosotros dos en protección, Fernando".)

Reception

"Fernando" was released in March 1976 and became one of ABBA's best-selling singles, topping the charts in at least 13 countries, and selling over 10 million copies worldwide.[5] It was the longest-running No. 1 in Australian history (spending 14 weeks at the top and 40 weeks on the chart), and remained so for over 40 years, until it was surpassed by Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You", which achieved 15 weeks at No. 1 in May 2017.[6][7] "Fernando" also reached the top of the charts in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and Switzerland. It was also a Top 5 hit in ABBA's native Sweden (although Lyngstad's version was No. 1 on Sweden's radio chart for nine weeks), Finland, Norway, Spain, Canada and Rhodesia.

The track became ABBA's fourth Top 20 hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 13.[8] It also reached No. 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, the first of two chart-toppers for ABBA on this chart (the second being "The Winner Takes It All"). The song remains an airplay staple on American radio stations specializing in the MOR, adult standards and easy listening formats.

"Fernando" was the fourth-biggest single of 1976 in the UK.[9] It spent 10 weeks in the UK Top 10 (more than any other ABBA single),[10] and was also the second of three consecutive UK No. 1 singles for ABBA, after "Mamma Mia" and before "Dancing Queen".[11]

In Portugal the single sold 80,000 copies;[12] in France it went to No. 1 and sold 850,000 copies.[13]

The song was also chosen as the "Best Studio Recording of 1975", ABBA's first international prize.

Charts

Sales and certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia — 720,000[38]
Austria — 2,000[39]
Brazil — 200,000[40]
Canada (Music Canada)[41] Gold 75,000^
France (SNEP)[42] Gold 850,000[43]
Germany (BVMI)[44] Gold 600,000[45]
Ireland (IRMA)[46] Gold 50,000^
Kenya — 10,000[47]
Portugal — 80,000[48]
United Kingdom (BPI)[49] Gold 500,000^
Yugoslavia[50] Gold 100,000 
Summaries
Worldwide — 10,000,000[51]

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Cher version
"Fernando"
Single by Cher
from the album Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again: The Movie Soundtrack and Dancing Queen
Released21 June 2018
Recorded2017
GenrePop
Length3:59
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Benny Andersson
Cher singles chronology
"Ooga Boo"
(2017)		 "Fernando"
(2018)		 "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"
(2018)
Music video
"Fernando" on YouTube

American singer and actress Cher recorded "Fernando," which was released as the third single from the movie soundtrack of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Her version was released on 21 June 2018, by Capitol and Polydor Records.[52] Produced by Benny Andersson, the song debuted on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart in July 2018 at number 22. This cover version features background vocals by actor Andy García and also references the Mexico–Guatemala conflict of 1959, part of which had been seen by Cher's character, Ruby Sheridan, Donna's mother, along with her long lost love, Fernando Cienfuegos.[53] Cher's solo cover version without background vocals by García appears on her 2018 ABBA tribute album Dancing Queen.[54][55][56]

Critical reception

Writing for Idolator, Mike Wass felt that, in contrast to Cher's version of "Mamma Mia", which sounds "playful and well-intentioned that it's impossible to resist," "Fernando" sounds "disarmingly faithful to the original, which is probably due to the fact it was co-produced by ABBA's own Benny Andersson. It has a warm, live feel that was so peculiar to ABBA's ’70s fare and that sound really suits our heroine's soaring vocals."[57]

Live performances

Cher performed "Fernando" at the CinemaCon 2018 to promote Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again film.[58] During her Here We Go Again Tour she also performs the song together with "Waterloo" and "SOS".[59] On 31 October 2018 "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" and "Take Me Home" were cut from her Classic Cher concert residency and "Waterloo", "SOS" and "Fernando" were added.[60]

Digital download
  • "Fernando" (feat. Andy García) – 3:59
  • "Fernando" (solo version) – 3:57

Charts
Chart (2018) Peak
position
CIS (Tophit)[61] 342
Hungary (Single Top 40)[62] 26
Scotland (OCC)[63] 24
UK Singles (OCC)[64] 92
US Adult Contemporary (Billboard)[65] 22

Other cover versions
  • In the 1980s, Dominican Ramón Orlando rewrote the lyrics to "Fernando" as "Si tú crees que no te amo" ("If you think I don't love you").
  • In 1976, Swedish singer Lena Andersson recorded a German-language version of this song. Andersson was also signed to the Polar label and could use the original Anni-Frid Lyngstad/ABBA backing track produced by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The German version contains a two bar long instrumental passage after the first chorus that was edited out from both the Swedish and the English-language versions.
  • In 1976, Paraguayan/Brazilian camp singer Perla covered "Fernando" on her album "Palabras de amor". Perla also covered ABBA's "Chiquitita" on her 1979 album.
  • In 1976, French Canadian singer René Simard recorded a French version of this song.
  • In 1976, Czech singer Věra Špinarová recorded a Czech version.
  • The Swedish singer Lotta Engberg recorded a cover version of the Swedish version in 1997.
  • The Swedish dansband Vikingarna also recorded a Swedish cover.
  • American actress/singer Audrey Landers recorded a cover of the song.
  • U.S. musician/songwriter Pamela McNeill included a rendition of the song on her Tribute To ABBA album. Her husband, Dugan McNeill, helped produce the album.
  • German eurodance group E-Rotic covered the song on their album Thank You for the Music.
  • The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album ExtrABBAganza!.
  • New York jazz band Sex Mob covered the song for their 2000 album Solid Sender.
  • Danish rock/pop duo Olsen Brothers recorded a cover for their 2003 album More Songs.
  • The 2004 album ABBAMania 2 featured a cover by British TV actress Jane Danson.
  • The German ABBA Mania compilation includes a cover of the song by Barbara Schöneberger and German comedian Dirk Bach.
  • A cover by Hong Kong-New Zealand singer Wing appeared on her 2005 album Dancing Queen by Wing, and in the South Park episode "Wing".
  • A cover of the song by Velvet Set can be found on the 2006 chill out music compilation ABBA Chill Out.
  • A cover of the song by Finnish a cappella choral ensemble Rajaton can be found on their 2006 ABBA tribute album Rajaton Sings ABBA With Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
  • Deborah Sasson recorded "Fernando" for her 2012 album Deborah Sasson.
  • Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby included a cover on their 2010 album, Two-Way Family Favourites, with Amy Rigby singing vocals.
  • The von Trapps recorded a Swedish-language version with Pink Martini, which appears on their 2014 album Dream a Little Dream.

Appearances in other media
  • ABBA perform parts of the song live in the film ABBA: The Movie (1977). Donna can also be heard singing parts of the song.
  • The ABBA recording was featured in the films The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1993) and Muriel's Wedding (1994).
  • In 1976, the song was adapted, and performed by ABBA in this version, for use in a series of five television commercials promoting the National brand in Australia, used by the Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
  • The song was featured prominently in Season 1, Episode 7 of "That '70s Show", both in the nightclub scene in which the original version plays and in the closing scene in which the characters Eric and Donna sing a portion of the song.
  • The song was featured in the Season 2, Episode 6 of "Community", Epidemiology, where it can be heard playing in the library's PA System after Troy lowers the temperature on the thermostator, in an attempt to save the infected students.
  • The song was featured in the “Malcolm in the Middle" Season 1 finale “Water Park”, as the background music for a dance scene between Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan) and his babysitter, Mrs. White (Bea Arthur).

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