Lay All Your Love on Me

Infobox Single
Name = Lay All Your Love on Me


Artist = ABBA
from Album = Super Trouper
Released = 1981
Format = 12"
Genre = Disco
Length = 4:32
Label = Polar Music
Writer = Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Producer = Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Director = —
Certification = —
Last single = "Andante, Andante" (1981)
This single = "Lay All Your Love on Me" (1981)
Next single = "One of Us" (1981)
Misc =

"Lay All Your Love on Me", originally called "Yarrafat", is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA in 1980 for their "Super Trouper" album. It was released only as a 12-inch single in 1981 in limited territories, rather than as a standard 7-inch record. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at no.7. "Lay All Your Love on Me" appears on the group's "" collection.

History

"Lay All Your Love on Me" was an electro-disco song penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Agnetha Fältskog singing lead. Recording began at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm on September 9, 1980, with the final mix of the song being completed on October 10, 1980.

"Lay All Your Love on Me" is famous for a descending vocal sound at the end of each verse. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slighly lower pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. The song was not originally intended to be released as a single, but was issued in 12-inch form in the UK and a few other countries in 1981. "Lay All Your Love on Me" has since been much covered and now features in the "Mamma Mia!" musical that showcases many of ABBA's hits.

ABBA did not film a promotional video for "Lay All Your Love on Me", and so Epic hastily assembled a video by using excerpts from existing ABBA videos, which was then shown on British television. It was made available on the "" VHS video in 1992, followed by the DVD version over 10 years later.

Reception

As "Lay All Your Love on Me" was not intended to be a single, it was not released until 1981, the year after it had been recorded. It was only after a remixed version had soared in popularity, that it topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (along with "Super Trouper" and "On and On and On"). Therefore, the decision was made to release "Lay All Your Love on Me" in limited territories in 12-inch form, as opposed to the standard 7-inch record. It peaked at No.7 in the UK, becoming ABBA's lowest charting single since "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" in 1975. However, reaching No.7 in the charts was, at the time, the highest charting position achieved for a 12-inch only release in the UK. "Lay All Your Love on Me" also charted in Ireland (No.8), Belgium (No.14) and West Germany (No.26).

Cover versions

* Honest Touch recorded a Pop orchestral version for their 2005 album "Memories From A Dream".
* UK rival ABBA group, Brotherhood of Man recorded a cover version on their 20 Disco Greats album.
* A hi-NRG cover by Poison # 9 was released as a dance single in the UK in 1986.
* "Lay All Your Love On Me" was covered by Minnesota-native techno-pop band Information Society on their 1988 self-titled debut album; the track would peak in the summer of 1989 at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also included on the compilation "ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration".
* The song was covered on Erasure's "Abba-esque" EP which topped the UK charts in 1992.
* Argentine electropop band Miranda! recorded a cover of the song.
* The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album "ExtrABBAganza!".
* British pop star Cliff Richard recorded his own version of this song and has performed it in live concerts.
* Swedish pop group A*Teens included a cover of the song on their 1999 debut album "The ABBA Generation". Their version omits the final verse of the song.
* The song was recorded in Power metal style by German band Helloween for their 1999 album of covers "Metal Jukebox". It was also released as a single.
* British pop group Steps recorded the song for the "ABBAmania" album and TV special in 1999. The subsequent "ABBAMania 2" album released in 2004 included a cover by British TV actresses Charlotte Bellamy of "Emmerdale" fame and Jane Danson from "Coronation Street".
* An acoustic version was recorded by Swedish singer Michael Michailoff.
* The song is covered by Yolanda on the compilation "ABBAlicious", a tribute album performed by U.S. drag queens.
* Dance covers of the song have been recorded over the years by various artists including Abbacadabra (through Almighty Records), German Eurodance group E-Rotic on their "Thank You For The Music" tribute album, Housecream, Ecstatica on the "Lay All Your Love On ABBA" compilation, Abilar & Sia, Euphorica on their 2003 album "ABBA Dance", and DJ Ensamble on their "Trancing Queen" tribute album.
* A dance cover was recorded by Sylver, on their album "Crossroads" from 2006. It was actually recognized as the best song on the CD, and was the first single to be released. The cover became a huge hit in Poland where it reached No.1 on the Polish National Top 50. [http://home.planet.nl/~laar2337/apc2/Hitlijsten/Polish-Top50.htm]
* The song has been covered by the symphonic metal music project Avantasia on the 2007 EP "Lost in Space - Part 1".

Live cover performances, samples, appearances/references in other media, etc.

* The song is sung in the "Mamma Mia!" musical by the characters of Sky and Sophie. In the context of the musical, the song is used when Sky and Sophie reminisce about how they felt when they met each other and they express how much they love each other.
* Dutch eurodance-group Vengaboys sampled this song in their hit "Boom Boom Boom Boom" and ABBA was later given co-writing credits, after some threats of suing.
* Author Erin Smith and fiance Jonathon Grosskopf named this song as "Our Song" after Smith continued to quote lyrics from it at Grosskopf.

References