Different interpretations of SOS by ABBA?

[Cyclonus]

Something that really annoyed me years ago that I completely forgot about has just came back into my mind and is slowly driving me mad. It must have been more than a decade ago, but there was one of those annoying list shows on Channel 4, you know, the ones where random z-list celebs tell jokes and give their opinions on things, and they were doing the greatest ABBA songs of all time. It went as expected until they got to SOS, and while they say it's a great song, the narrator suddenly says "But Anni-Frid, what are you singing about love?" and then, I swear to god, every celebrity gives their own vastly different interpretation of the song. The only one I remember was that someone said it was about a girl so happily in love that she's actually afraid of the intensity of her emotions and is sending out an SOS for help, but the point is they were really trying to hammer home the idea that it's common knowledge this song is nonsense and nobody knows what it means. I always thought the meaning of the song was blindingly obvious (A relationship is crumbling and the singer is sending out an SOS in a desperate attempt to save it) and it never even occurred to me until that point that anyone could see it differently. Am I completely mad or is my interpretation the only possible one? And does anyone else remember seeing that show or was I having a fever dream?

 

[s0mbra]

I was an enormous ABBA fan as a kid and that's one of my fave songs. I think the exact same thing you did. But then again I rarely actually think about the lyrics in songs anyway.

Does your mother know is still my fave tho

 

[Pee Cola]

Wasn't SOS recorded towards the end of ABBA's run? I know their songs got a bit darker and more desperate as their relationships fell apart; not unlike how "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac was recorded when the entire band basically hated each other's guts.

 

[WinchesterPremium]

S.O.S is by the Jonas Brothers Abba was a muppet band for kids you where having a fever dream.

 

[Dysnomia]

The only ABBA song I know is that Dancing Queen one. How many hits did they have? I never hear the others on the radio.

 

[Gloomy guest]

SOS is a distress signal, it's just about a relationship on the rocks, I don't think it's that esoteric. It was released shortly after So Long which was one of their worst performing singles to date. Pete Townshend called SOS the best pop song ever written.

The only ABBA song I know is that Dancing Queen one. How many hits did they have? I never hear the others on the radio.

Abba had tons of hits. ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits has been cited as one of their greatest compilation albums ever released, I really don't think there is a single bad song. Cher also released an album of ABBA cover songs in 2018 which received great critical acclaim and is a testament to their enduring legacy.

 

[Positron]

Aren't the lyrics transparent? The relationship has cooled so much that the singer felt she's talking to a brick wall.

BTW have this cover, which I love to bits:

 

[Cyclonus]

Yeah, it looks like celebrity opinions aren't anymore reliable on list shows than they are in acceptance speeches at the academy awards. But I feel like John Oliver when Donald Trump said on twitter that he refused an invite to his show even though they never invited him. (They even double checked to make sure nobody had even accidentally invited him) As Oliver put it "It's unnerving to be on the receiving end of a lie that confident".

 

[Enoby Way]

The meaning of the song is indeed blindingly obvious, the z-list celebrities were probably just making shit up in a desperate attempt to be interesting.

Also Gimme Gimme Gimme ftw.

 

[Cyclonus]

The only ABBA song I know is that Dancing Queen one. How many hits did they have? I never hear the others on the radio.

Well here's the one we're talking about:

And here's a few more of my personal favourites:

Consider yourself educated.

 

[Pee Cola]

I realise this was released by Anni-Frid during her short-lived solo career and that it was written by Russ Ballard, but this sounds like the last ABBA song ever recorded IMHO. It's a banger.