# Dancing Queen (Abba) question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 26, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191 "2013-08-26T08:09:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/1 "2013-08-26T08:09:07Z")
I was clueless about many of the gay references in the 70’s. A friend in college had to explain the Village People to me. I had only heard them on the radio and knew nothing about the characters they portrayed. There were a lot of imagery slipped into 70’s pop music that parents didn’t know about. _Dancing Queen_, is that another gay reference that slipped by me? Just wondering. It’s a great song that I’ve loved for 35 years. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xFrGuyw1V8s/maxresdefault.jpg "Abba - Dancing Queen (Official Music Video Remastered)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s) [http://lyrics.wikia.com/ABBA:Dancing\_Queen](http://lyrics.wikia.com/ABBA:Dancing_Queen) You can dance You can jive Having the time of your life See that girl watch that scene Diggin the dancing queen \* Anybody could be that guy\* Night is young and the music is high ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/2 "2013-08-26T08:30:05Z")
No, I don’t think there was any gay subtext in _Dancing Queen_. If there was subtext it was about the passage of time. The girl in the song was the star - but only for the length of the dance. While the song was playing she felt like she was special and when it ended she went back to being normal. And the subtext was the dance was a metaphor for her life. She’s a teenager now and she goes out dancing every Friday and she’s the star. But in a few years, real life will catch up with her. The song was basically saying this was the best moment of her life and in that sense there was a bittersweet subtext. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/3 "2013-08-26T08:37:32Z")
I’ve been rockin out to the 70’s music channel (804) on DirecTV for the past few hours. They’ve played several Abba songs and I got curious. They’re one of my wife’s favorite groups. Thanks Really need to get to sleep but I’ve got too much on my mind tonight. Music helps me get through it. ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/4 "2013-08-26T10:09:40Z")
Yeah, you’ve missed a line which is important in this context… \*… You’ve come in to look for a king. Anybody could be that guy Night is young and the music’s high … \* **Little Nemo** has it right IMO. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/5 "2013-08-26T10:44:10Z")
Also remember that Benny and Bjorn - who wrote the songs - were not native English speakers. The language was often a bit skewed but they didn’t generally do complex sub-texts. In fact part of their success was probably down to the simplicity of the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/6 "2013-08-26T13:01:44Z")
It recently dawned on my boyfriend that “Fernando” is about a sexual encounter between foxhole buddies during the Mexican-American war. I’m inclined to doubt that a whitebread group like ABBA would sing about such a risque subject in the 1970s, but I have to admit it could be interpreted that way if you choose to. And in the song, they grow old together…hmm… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/7 "2013-08-26T16:21:27Z")
I always assumed the song was about a young woman out on the prowl for a handsome stud to dance with for a little while. But now I see that it is about a cross-dressing young man trying to tease straight guys dancing without them knowing. I.e., it’s Lola. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/8 "2013-08-26T16:33:25Z")
I just searched my local hard Drives for Abba. Found my misplaced hits album. But also got this hit, that is just so, so terribly wrong in every musical way. [SPOILER]Some Black S **abba** th songs. Ozzy would die if he knew the connection. LMAO Search your drive for frothy Swedish pop and you get a heavy metal hit. [/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/9 "2013-08-27T18:16:28Z")
> [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](#): > > It recently dawned on my boyfriend that “Fernando” is about a sexual encounter between foxhole buddies during the Mexican-American war. I’m inclined to doubt that a whitebread group like ABBA would sing about such a risque subject in the 1970s, but I have to admit it could be interpreted that way if you choose to. And in the song, they grow old together…hmm… I think if you really want to see it you _could_ interpret it that way but that most likely the song is about two men who fought in the a war and have no regrets about it. I don’t get that they grow old together either. ISTM more of a “I haven’t seen you in a long time” kind of song. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/10 "2013-08-27T21:27:13Z")
“Fernando” is sung, in the first person, by a woman. It is not uncommon for women to fight in revolutions, and the song appears to be about the Mexican revolution (though some think it may be about the Spanish Civil War, in which women also fought on the Republican side). I always assumed it was a female former freedom fighter addressing her male one-time comrade, who may now be her lover or husband. Anyway, there is nothing sexual in the song, and it is not even disco (and the members of Abba were, very openly, two heterosexual married couples). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/11 "2013-08-27T22:07:16Z")
_Voulez-vous_, on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![Uther\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Uther\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uther_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/12 "2013-08-27T23:35:00Z")
And there is the theory that the singer in _The day before you came_ addresses her murderer. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/13 "2013-08-28T06:24:53Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > “Fernando” is sung, in the first person, by a woman. It is not uncommon for women to fight in revolutions, and the song appears to be about the Mexican revolution (though some think it may be about the Spanish Civil War, in which women also fought on the Republican side). I always assumed it was a female former freedom fighter addressing her male one-time comrade, who may now be her lover or husband. > > Anyway, there is nothing sexual in the song, and it is not even disco (and the members of Abba were, very openly, two heterosexual married couples). I always assumed it was about the Spanish Civil War, which is way better known in Europe than anything Mexican. “Rio Grande” just being “Big River”. Anyway, Abba were a hell of a band with loads of depth and fun and heartbreak in their stuff. (I once saw the Australian Abba tribute band Bjorn Again on the same bill as Nirvana, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, L7, Mudhoney, The Beastie Boys and Pavement. Bjorn Again were enormously well received with the whole crowd seemingly knowing every word. Here’s their cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOh9EkuMNkk](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOh9EkuMNkk)) ---
**Author:** ![Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Licentious_Ectomorph)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/14 "2013-08-28T18:26:27Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > “Fernando” is sung, in the first person, by a woman. It is not uncommon for women to fight in revolutions, and the song appears to be about the Mexican revolution (though some think it may be about the Spanish Civil War, in which women also fought on the Republican side). I always assumed it was a female former freedom fighter addressing her male one-time comrade, who may now be her lover or husband. > > Anyway, there is nothing sexual in the song, and it is not even disco (and the members of Abba were, very openly, two heterosexual married couples). It’s sung by a woman, but I always assumed that she was singing the part of a man; it never occurred to me that a woman would have fought in a revolution, whichever war it was. Ignorance fought. As for the sexual implications, my bf is hanging his hat on the lines “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright…they were shining there for you and me.” Not much to go on, and as I said, I don’t agree with him. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dancing-queen-abba-question/667191/15 "2013-08-28T18:45:31Z")
> [@Licentious\_Ectomorph](#): > > It’s sung by a woman, but I always assumed that she was singing the part of a man; it never occurred to me that a woman would have fought in a revolution, whichever war it was. Ignorance fought. > > As for the sexual implications, my bf is hanging his hat on the lines “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright…they were shining there for you and me.” Not much to go on, and as I said, I don’t agree with him. But the complete line is “…they were shining there for you and me, for liberty Fernando.” Of course, since it’s a song we’re unclear of the punctuation and it could be “…they were shining there for you and me. For liberty, Fernando.” but I don’t think that would really change the meaning to what your bf thinks.