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Tribute To the Day Before You Came By Bjorn Ulvaeus In the First 1982 Abba Version

Tribute to “The Day Before You Came” * by Bjorn in the first 1982 ABBA version The day before yesterday You came together to play To lift our hearts in joy Belting out in convoy The day after he came We celebrate whose fame You wailed through self-pity But ne’er called it Beauty ‘Infinite suffering thing’ Would that Eliot could sing Pre-dramatic event Your breaking-up you meant “Pretty sure it must have rained” ”…rattling on the roof” hearts stained The day after he came Most songs seem sound the same “Knowing you Knowing me” Never meant to be free “…my life…its usual frame” “…sense of living without aim” Yes “Some one is crying” No some one’s conniving At noon must have left for lunch “…usual place…usual bunch” The sad journey on rails Must break hearts crammed in jails Due at eight in the morn Back at eight all forlorn “And turning out the light” Curled safe in bed at night For the day after he came My life burned on a flame The paradox of joy Is that it makes one cry ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’ Better still safe routine in tow “…I hid a part of me…” “…in heaps of papers” for fee And let the world pass by Not knowing what is joy Is joy carpe diem Was day before he came Now my life’s over due I’ve met my Waterloo The train’s an ugly monster Dragging its hind legs after Frida’s howl pack of hounds Benny's sound track train pounds Anna’s swan tones lament Bjorn’s lines uptight breasts rent Beauty’s not only content It’s also the way you vent Conceit’s the ermine cloak Rattling skeletons croak Bjorn’s true lines exquisite poem Sung in sweet pain What’s its name Notes Words within inverted commas are from the song. Single quotes indicate other well-known words. *Rhyme scheme: 4 stanzas (3 of ten lines with concluding quatrain) in rhymed couplets of varying syllabic count. 1st stanza: aabbccde ff 2nd stanza: aagghhii ff 3rd stanza: ddggiijj ff 4th stanza: kk ff Not all in perfect rhyme: rain/came (for instance) The syllabic count (more or less): 14 (with the exception of the 4th line at 18 and eighth (exception: 1st stanza at 10) and tenth at 6. © T. Wignesan – Paris, 2016

Copyright © | Year Posted 2016




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