"Elaine" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA. It was used as the B-side to the 1980 single "The Winner Takes It All". It was not included on any of their original albums but was later included as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Super Trouper.
The song is about a "devil-may-care path in pursuit of love".[1]
ABBA: Let the Music Speak describes "Elaine" as a "bold and brazen up-tempo number", adding that it has a "wealth of treated synth effects". The pace remains the same throughout the song, and the intro has a "melodic riff that is squeezed and contorted over a series of suspended chords". This is followed by a "whistlable refrain".[1] At the end of the second verse, the synths mimic the girls' voices.[2]
The song has a degree of programmatic irony, as the "extrovert nature" of the refrain juxtaposes "Agnetha and Frida's decisive and cutting unison stabs".[1]
Abba - Uncensored on the Record says the song is "OK, in a rather frantic way", and adds that it "paled in comparison," in the author's opinion, to the song it was paired with in the single "The Winner Takes It All".[3]
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