Many bands and artists start off in a mode that’s comfortable to them in the beginning of their careers. The best of them manage to keep developing in new and exciting ways, due to both a natural progression and a desire to evolve.
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Prior to their 1977 hit single “The Name of the Game,” you could argue the music that ABBA churned out, while catchy and inventive, didn’t dig that deep or push many boundaries. But after hearing this wildly ambitious song, you couldn’t call them anything but pop music maestros.
Pre-“Game” Show
ABBA’s first five years of recording featured an impressive slew of ear-candy singles. Writers Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson quickly showed off a knack for the unexpected chord change and winning turn of phrase. They also benefited from a pair of amazing vocalists in Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Fältskog.
The Swedish quartet also proved deft at being able to tiptoe across genre lines: a little disco suavity here, some glam rock moves there, an occasional ballad to bring home the emotion. On their 1976 worldwide chart-topper “Dancing Queen,” they seemed to combine all of those elements in a single thrilling track.
They easily could have stayed on that path and focused on sugary pop confections from that point forward. But Andersson and Ulvaeus were subtly adding complexity and nuance to their tracks. “The Name of the Game” represented a pivot for them, as the music ratcheted up the ambition while the lyrics started to hint at more adult themes.
Say My “Name”
On top of a busy schedule recording and touring, ABBA decided they were going to be movie stars in 1977 as well. ABBA: The Movie was scheduled for release at the end of 1977. While much of it would focus on the band’s live performances, there was also a plot attached to the feature directed by Lasse Hallstrom.
At one point, Hallstrom conceived of a scene where Agnetha Faltskog would talk to a therapist on whom she had developed a crush. In coming up with the song to accompany the scene, Andersson and Ulvaeus started adding lyrics to a piece of music they had tentatively titled “A Bit of Myself” to create “The Name of the Game.”
And what a piece of music it was. A slinky opening synth riff opens up into some dreamy verses, then to an aching pre-chorus, and finally into a chiming refrain. “The Name of the Game” then goes into an a cappella post-chorus/bridge that somehow modulates back into the refrain. And then the whole thing starts up again, and there are even some countermelodies in the chorus for good measure.
What is the Meaning of “The Name of the Game”?
While you can hear hints of the whole psychiatrist/patient angle in the lyrics (such as the line I was an impossible case), “The Name of the Game” works just as well as a story of someone inexperienced in love, tentatively reaching out to someone who’s a bit more worldly and confident. And you make me show / What I’m trying to conceal, the protagonist admits.
The problem is she can’t be sure he’s feeling the same way, which makes her reluctant to open herself up completely. She asks him point-blank: What’s the name of the game? / Does it mean anything to you? Fältskog and Lyngstad trade off singing lead and then occasionally come together to harmonize, and the tactic manages to convey both vulnerability and strength.
“The Name of the Game” was a hit all over the world, though not as big as some of ABBA’s others. Perhaps the scope and scale kept some people from appreciating its charms. But it will go down as one of the most important songs of the band’s career—the point where they left behind the trivial pleasures in favor of pop music of rare cleverness and feeling.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives
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