Hasta Mañana

"Hasta Mañana" (Spanish for "Until tomorrow") is the fourth track on Swedish pop group ABBA's second studio album, Waterloo.

Not to be confused with Hasta Mañana (Luv' song).
"Hasta Mañana"
Italian pressing
Single by ABBA
from the album Waterloo
A-side"Honey, Honey" (Netherlands, Spain)
B-side"Watch Out" (Italy, South Africa)
Released1974
RecordedDecember 18, 1973 (1973-12-18) at Metronome Studio, Stockholm
GenrePop, Europop
Length3:09
Songwriter(s)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson
Producer(s)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA singles chronology
"Honey, Honey"
(1974)		 "Hasta Mañana"
(1974)		 "So Long"
(1974)
Music video
"Hasta Mañana " on YouTube
Audio sample
"Hasta Mañana"
  • file
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Initially fearing that "Waterloo" might be too risky to enter for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, the group considered performing the ballad "Hasta Mañana" instead, as they thought that it was more in style with previous Eurovision winners. Eventually, they decided on "Waterloo", primarily because it featured Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad sharing lead vocals, whereas "Hasta Mañana" had Fältskog as the sole lead vocalist. ABBA believed that this would give the wrong impression of them to the world.

The song was still known under its original working title "Who's Gonna Love You?" when the backing track was recorded.[1] The lyrics were later written by Stig Anderson while on a Christmas holiday to the Canary Islands and dictated over the telephone.[1]

While the song was being recorded, they decided to give up on it at one point because none of them could sing it properly. Agnetha alone was in the studio and decided to play around with it. She felt if she could sing it in a Connie Francis style it would work — and it did.[2][1]

In Australia, "Hasta Mañana" was later used as a B-side on the "So Long" single (which never charted). After being featured in the immensely popular The Best of ABBA TV Special, broadcast in March 1976, the song became a Top 20 hit in Australia and Top 10 hit in New Zealand.

It reached number 2 on the charts in South Africa in November 1974, where it remains immensely popular to this day.

Chart performance
ABBA

In some countries this song was released as a single from their Waterloo album.

Chart (1974) Peak
position
Italian Singles Chart 30
South African Singles Chart 2
Chart (1976) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart 16
New Zealand Singles Chart[3] 9
The Boones cover
Chart (1977) Peak
position
Canada RPM Adult Contemporary[4] 37
U.S. Billboard Easy Listening 32

Cover versions
  • A recording by ABBA featuring Polar Music artist Lena Andersson on lead vocals was a 1974 Svensktoppen hit, as well as a cover version by dance band Schytts the same year. Lena Andersson also recorded German and Swedish language versions of the song, all using the original ABBA backing track. This recording was a Swedish #1 single in 1975.[5]
  • In 1975, Polish singer Anna Jantar recorded a Polish version titled "Hasta Maniana".
  • In 1975, Australian singer Judy Stone released her own recording as an A-Side single.
  • in 1975, Hong Kong singer Amina 阿美娜 recorded a Cantonese version titled "Hasta Manana 情莫變".[6]
  • In 1977, the song was covered by American singer Debby Boone. It was the B-side to her single "You Light Up My Life", which hit #1 on the US charts for an unprecedented (at the time) 10 consecutive weeks. Benny and Bjorn indicated that they made more money off her cover than even "Dancing Queen" because Boone's song was a major international hit, and both A and B sides were paid royalties. Her cover, a duet with her father Pat Boone, was an Adult Contemporary hit in the United States (#32) and Canada (#37).
  • In 1978, a Swedish country band called Nashville Train (which included some of ABBA's own backing band members) covered the song on their album ABBA Our Way.
  • In 1984, Hong Kong singer Sally Yeh covered this song in Cantonese.
  • In 1989, Swedish dansband Vikingarna released a version that became a Svensktoppen hit.
  • In 1992, Swedish dance group Army of Lovers released a version on the Swedish compilation ABBA - The Tribute, the song was covered by.[7] This cover was also included on the 1999 album ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration.
  • In 1996, Belgian girl group Sha-Na recorded a dance version with Dutch lyrics that was released as a single.
  • In 1998, Spanish band Los Grey's recorded a Spanish version for their album Cosa De Locos.

References
  1. "In focus: Hasta Mañana – The song that didn't enter Eurovision". ABBA - The Official Site. Archived from the original on 2020-05-11. Retrieved 2020-06-09. The new ballad was still entitled ‘Who’s Gonna Love You’ when its backing track was recorded. [..Stig Anderson..] was just about to leave for a Christmas holiday trip to the Canary Islands [with a cassette and] the instructions: “Please write some lyrics for this!” [..] Stig [dictated] the lyrics very loudly down a crackly telephone line between Spain and Sweden. [..However..] they just couldn’t find the right way to interpret the song. [..Agnetha..] "fooled around a bit, thinking that I might do it like Connie Francis would [and] we found that we were on the right way.”
  2. ABBA - In Their Own Words, compiled by Rosemary York, 1981, page 65. Omnibus Press ISBN 0 86001 950 0
  3. http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/singles?chart=2699
  4. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1977-06-25. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
  5. Scott, Robert (2002) 'ABBA: Thank You for the Music - The Stories Behind Every Song', Carlton Books Limited: Great Britain, p.49
  6. "YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2016-05-29. Retrieved 2016-10-09.
  7. Oldham, A, Calder, T & Irvin, C: "ABBA: The Name of the Game", page 209. Sidgwick & Jackson, 1995
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