About the song
“Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” is a standout track by the legendary Swedish pop group ABBA. This song was recorded in August 1979 with the specific purpose of promoting their North American and European tours of that year. It was included as a new track on their “Greatest Hits Vol. 2” album. Written and composed by the iconic duo Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, the song features lead vocals by Agnetha Fältskog, one of the group’s distinctive voices.
In “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),” Fältskog portrays a lonely woman yearning for romance. She describes her loneliness as a forbidding darkness of night, contrasting it with the happy endings often depicted in movies. The song’s melody line, played on an ARP Odyssey synthesizer, contributes to its memorable and somewhat haunting disco sound.
Interestingly, ABBA initially recorded another song, “Rubber Ball Man,” which was intended to be a single. This track featured both Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad on lead vocals and incorporated classical strings typical of ABBA’s arrangements. During rehearsals for their 1979 tour, the group even performed it under the name “Under My Sun.” However, they ultimately decided that the disco-infused “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” would be a better choice for release, relegating “Rubber Ball Man” to the status of an unreleased demo.
The single version of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” was released in its full length of 4:48 minutes worldwide. However, in the United States and Canada, an edited version running 3:36 minutes was released. This edited version removed part of the opening instrumental, shortened the instrumental bridge, and featured an early fade-out. It is believed that this edit was executed by Atlantic Records, ABBA’s North American label, rather than Polar Music. This shorter version has not appeared on any commercial CD issued by Polar/Universal, marking it as a unique release in North America.
Despite its absence as a single in ABBA’s native Sweden, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” found success through imports. Polar Music did not release the single in Sweden, but it was included on the “Greatest Hits Vol. 2” album, which was available in Sweden. The single was released in neighboring Norway, Denmark, and Finland, leading Swedish record stores to import the UK version on Epic Records. These imports sold well enough to reach No. 16 on the Swedish sales chart.
As of September 2021, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)” stands as ABBA’s tenth-biggest song in the UK, factoring in both pure sales and digital streams. Its lasting appeal underscores ABBA’s timeless ability to create music that resonates across generations and geographies, solidifying their place in pop music history.
Video
Lyrics
Half-past twelve
And I’m watching the late show in my flat all alone
How I hate to spend the evening on my own
Autumn winds
Blowing outside the window as I look around the room
And it makes me so depressed to see the gloom
There’s not a soul out there
No one to hear my prayer
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away?
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day
Movie stars
Find the end of the rainbow with a fortune to win
It’s so different from the world I’m living in
Tired of TV
I open the window and I gaze into the night
But there’s nothing there to see, no one in sight
There’s not a soul out there
No one to hear my prayer
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away?
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
There’s not a soul out there
No one to hear my prayer
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away?
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away?
Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight
Take me through the darkness to the break of the day