Song of the Day Feb 5

February 5, 2024

Ahhh February. This month I’m focusing on Love Songs from the 70s.

Today our song is:  Chiquitita

Wikipedia tells us this about the song:

"Chiquitita" ("little girl" in Spanish) is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in January 1979 as the first single from Voulez-Vous (1979), the group's sixth album. Agnetha Fältskog performs the lead vocals. Originally, the track "If It Wasn't for the Nights" was going to be the album's lead single, but after "Chiquitita" was completed these plans were abandoned, and it remained an album track. 

Many preliminary versions of "Chiquitita" exist. It had working titles of "Kålsupare", "3 Wise Guys", "Chiquitita Angelina" and "In the Arms of Rosalita". A revised version, which had a sound that was influenced by the Peruvian song "El Condor Pasa (If I Could)" performed by Simon and Garfunkel, was recorded in December 1978 and released as a single in January 1979.

With the success of the English version, ABBA recorded "Chiquitita" in Spanish, and it was one of the featured tracks on the Spanish-language release Gracias Por La Música.

During production of the Thank You for the Music box set in 1994, an early version of "Chiquitita" titled "In the Arms of Rosalita" was proposed for inclusion on the set, but was rejected by Bjorn and Benny. An 8-minute "Chiquitita story" medley combining the song with various early demos (including the "Rosalita" version) was scrapped by mid-1994.

Enjoy!