‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ – Abba (Oct 1979) – Epic Records
For anyone who thinks that this is an odd place to start this record reminds me of a party my parents held in 1979. I was eleven. It was a Saturday and I had been out into the town on my own on the bus and bought this record by Abba in Lewis’ Department store. I rushed home to play it, but our record player wouldn’t work! It was broken and had decided to give up the ghost the very day we needed it as we were having a house warming party that very night and what is a party without music?
We had moved into our new house in September, just before I started secondary school and here one month later we were having the family round! My mother had a large family who accounted for 99.6% of the guests and my dad invited his mother. Such a gathering was a rare occasion - the last one having been in 1973 (but that’s another story) and it fell to me as the oldest son to be in charge of the music. Armed with my copy of K- Tel’s ‘Disco Fever’ (another record you will hear more about later unless you’re bored to tears already) a handful of other singles and the Elvis’ Christmas Album I had no means of playing these records and so……we went down town and bought a new one!!!!
Back home we unpacked the new record player, sat it on the dining room table (which would not be its usual home - but this was a party and we needed easy access to the music) connected a plug to the power cable, plugged in the speakers and prepared for the first play.
I took my lovely new record with its distinctive orange label from its equally orange sleeve and gently positioned it at the top of the metal central column just above the catch before selecting the 45rpm speed and forcibly moving the player control from the ‘stop’ to the ‘play’ setting. The disc dropped onto the turntable with the familiar sound of plastic falling onto plastic, the arm swung over from the side, hovered gently above the disc and then the needle touched the record and then one of the most familiar refrains from pop history rang out of the speakers! What a great song!
Needless to say (a bit like John Peel with The Undertones) we played it again immediately when it had finished and then again and again and again. Even now whenever I hear that song it reminds me of the new record player and that party.
The party itself was very eventful….but that’s another story….
Now listen to the song….
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