"The Day Before You Came" tiene el honor de ser la última canción que reunió en el estudio de grabación a los cuatro miembros de ABBA. Aunque en un principio iba a formar parte de un nuevo disco, el álbum nunca llegó a completarse y la canción acabó siendo incluida en el doble recopilatorio "The Singles: The First Ten Years".
Aparentemente, la letra de la canción habla de la aburrida existencia que lleva una persona justo hasta el día antes de encontrar al amor de su vida, describiendo todo lo que hace desde que se levanta para ir a trabajar hasta que se acuesta por la noche.
Pero hace poco descubrí que existe una segunda interpretación según la cual la letra en realidad no está refiriéndose a la llegada del amor, sino de la muerte. Parece ser que la protagonista de la historia se suicida al acabar el día porque no soporta más su patética vida.
Teniendo en cuenta que a mí siempre me ha parecido que la canción tiene un toque bastante siniestro y que por aquel entonces Agnetha, Björn, Benny y Anni-Frid estaban como una regadera, no me cabe ninguna duda de cuál de las dos versiones es la verdadera.
ABBA – The Day Before You Came
(Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson)
I must have left my house at eight, because I always do
My train, I'm certain, left the station just when it was due
I must have read the morning paper going into town
And having gotten through the editorial, no doubt I must have frowned
I must have made my desk around a quarter after nine
With letters to be read, and heaps of papers waiting to be signed
I must have gone to lunch
At half past twelve or so, the usual place, the usual bunch
And still on top of this I'm pretty sure it must have rained
The day before you came
I must have lit my seventh cigarette at half past two
And at the time I never even noticed I was blue
I must have kept on dragging through the business of the day
Without really knowing anything, I hid a part of me away
At five I must have left, there's no exception to the rule
A matter of routine, I've done it ever since I finished school
The train back home again
Undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then
Oh yes, I'm sure my life was well within it's usual frame
The day before you came
I must have opened my front door at eight o'clock or so
And stopped along the way to buy some Chinese food to go
I'm sure I had my dinner watching something on TV
There's not, I think, a single episode of Dallas that I didn't see
I must have gone to bed around a quarter after ten
I need a lot of sleep, and so I like to be in bed by then
I must have read a while
The latest one by Marilyn French or something in that style
It's funny, but I had no sense of living without aim
The day before you came
And turning out the light
I must have yawned and cuddled up for yet another night
And rattling on the roof I must have heard the sound of rain
The day before you came
equisy para
la canción es preciosa, va aumentando en intensidad, Agnetha canta genial y que viva ABBA
qué gusto da pasar por tu blog tras el retiro vacacional y encontrarme un post dedicado a mi grupo favorito (con permiso del señor Rafaltskög), ¿y la faringitis qué tal va? Ya sabes, muchos kiwis y miel, y cada mañana un Actimel...