Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

People Need Love

"People Need Love"
Two women are sitting at the front of the porch, while two men are standing at the back of the porch, both facing forward. The text with a yellow background reads "BJORN and BENNY, AGNETHA and ANNI-FRID. PEOPLE NEED LOVE, MERRY-GO-ROUND (EN KARUSELL)".
Standard European artwork (Swedish picture sleeve)
Single by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid
from the album Ring Ring
B-side"Merry-Go-Round (En karusell)"
Released1 June 1972
Recorded29 March 1972
StudioMetronome, Stockholm, Sweden
Genre
Length2:45
LabelPolar
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Benny Andersson
  • Björn Ulvaeus
Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid singles chronology
"People Need Love"
(1972) 		"He Is Your Brother"
(1972)
Björn & Benny singles chronology
"En Karusell"
(1972) 		"People Need Love"
(1972) 		"He Is Your Brother"
(1972)
Anni-Frid Lyngstad singles chronology
"Vi är alla bara barn i början / Kom och sjung en sång"
(1972) 		"People Need Love"
(1972) 		"Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan"
(1972)
Agnetha Fältskog singles chronology
"Sången föder dig tillbaka"
(1972) 		"People Need Love"
(1972) 		"He Is Your Brother"
(1972)
Audio video
"People Need Love" on YouTube

"People Need Love" is the debut single recorded in March 1972 by Swedish pop group ABBA, at the time known as Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid.[3] The song was on the group's first album, Ring Ring, released in 1973.

"People Need Love" first charted in Sweden at number 20 in late July 1972,[4] then in August it peaked at number 17 for two weeks on the Kvällstoppen chart, staying on the chart for four weeks in total.[5]

Composition

As with the majority of ABBA songs, "People Need Love" was written and composed by the two male band members, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.[6] It was engineered by Michael Tretow who aimed to create a Phil Spector-like wall of sound on the recording.[7] The song begins in the key of B major and modulates up to C♯ major for the final chorus.

Although their debut album did not bring them to global attention, it follows some standards of ABBA's style.[6] The ballad is about what people can give each other to make their lives easier and create a better world.[6]

Reception

The basic aim of the "People Need Love" single was not to promote the quartet, since all four individuals had other commitments and did not have the time to form a permanent group (an example of this is the crediting; the single in most of the territories is credited to "Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid"), but to promote the "Björn & Benny" duo, which was the singing and songwriting partnership of the two men. The women were simply guesting on the new "Björn & Benny" single. However, the very positive audience reaction was unexpected.

"People Need Love" made the top 20 of the combined Swedish singles and albums chart. It was the foursome's first charting record in the United States, where it peaked at No. 114 on the Cashbox singles chart[8] and No. 117 on the Record World singles chart.[9] The Playboy Records U.S. release was credited to "Bjorn & Benny (with Svenska Flicka)", and according to ABBA's manager Stig Anderson, could have been a much bigger American hit, if not for the limited distribution resources of the label that was unable to meet the demand from retailers and radio programmers.

At the time of the single's release, the Ring Ring album had not been planned, since there was no intention to form a permanent group. However, the song was included on the album the following year. Although recorded earlier than most of the album, it can retroactively be considered the lead single from Ring Ring.

In the Netherlands and Belgium, the single had its release in August 1973 as the follow-up to the highly successful single "Ring Ring". However, it performed rather badly, reaching only No. 47 on the Radio Noordzee Top 50 from the Dutch service of Radio North Sea International.[10]

Record World magazine noted the "pleasant sound" and suggested that this could be the "label's first major hit".[1]

Track listing

  1. A. "People Need Love" - 2:45
  2. B. "Merry-Go-Round (En karusell)" - 3:24

Personnel

Additional musicians

Charts

Chart performance for "People Need Love"
Chart (1972) Peak
position
Swedish combined singles and album chart Kvällstoppen[5] 17
US Top 100 Looking Ahead (Cash Box)[8] 114
US Singles Chart (Record World)[9] 117

References

  1. ^ a b "Single Picks" (PDF). Record World. Vol. 27, no. 1316. 9 September 1972. p. 10. ISSN 0034-1622. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  2. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Ring Ring (ABBA) Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 January 2025. "People Need Love," featured the two men singing just as prominently as the women ... more of a generic European pop release than an ABBA release ...
  3. ^ "In Focus: People Need Love - The First ABBA Song". ABBA. 11 June 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  4. ^ "Kvällstoppen: September 1969 to August 1972" (PDF). Hits Aller Tijden. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Kvällstoppen: August 1972 to August 1975" (PDF). Hits Aller Tijden. Retrieved 4 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Cole, Ian (23 February 2020). ABBA: Song by Song. Fonthill Media. pp. 48–. GGKEY:UUB3KX87Y3H.
  7. ^ Carl Magnus Palm (28 October 2009). Bright Lights, Dark Shadows: The Real Story of ABBA. Omnibus Press. pp. 276–. ISBN 978-0-85712-057-1.
  8. ^ a b "Cash Box Looking Ahead" (PDF). Cash Box. Vol. 34, no. 22. 18 November 1972. p. 18. ISSN 0008-7289. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  9. ^ a b "The Singles Chart 101–150" (PDF). Record World. Vol. 27, no. 1326. 18 November 1972. p. 28. ISSN 0034-1622. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Radio Noordzee Top 50 15 september 1973". home.planet.nl. 15 September 1973. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_Need_Love