Lay All Your Love on Me

"Lay All Your Love on Me" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA in 1980 for their seventh studio album, Super Trouper. The song was not intended to be a single but after a remixed version gained popularity in nightclubs, the song was released as the album's sixth and final single in the summer of 1981, eight months after the album's release. At the time, it was the highest selling 12-inch record in UK chart history, where it peaked at No. 7.

"Lay All Your Love on Me"
Single by ABBA
from the album Super Trouper
B-side"On and on and On"
ReleasedJuly 1981
RecordedSeptember–October 1980
GenreDance
Length4:32
LabelPolar Music
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Benny Andersson
  • Björn Ulvaeus
ABBA singles chronology
"Andante, Andante"
(1981)		 "Lay All Your Love on Me"
(1981)		 "One of Us"
(1981)
Lyric video
"ABBA - Lay All Your Love On Me (Official Lyric Video)" on YouTube
DiscoNet 12" extended remix 1981

In 2006, Slant Magazine placed it at No. 60 on their list of the greatest dance songs of all time,[1] and at 66 on the updated 2020 list.[2]

History

"Lay All Your Love on Me" is an electro-disco song penned by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Agnetha Fältskog singing lead. Recording began at Polar Music Studios in Stockholm on 9 September 1980, with the final mix of the song being completed on 10 October 1980.

"Lay All Your Love on Me" is known for a descending vocal sound at the end of the verse immediately preceding the refrain. This was achieved by sending the vocal into a harmoniser device, which was set up to produce a slightly lower-pitched version of the vocal. In turn its output was fed back to its input, thereby continually lowering the pitch of the vocal. Andersson and Ulvaeus felt that the chorus of the song sounded like a hymn, so parts of the vocals in the choruses were run through a vocoder, to recreate the sound of a church congregation singing, slightly out of tune.[3] The song was not originally intended to be released as a single, but was issued in 12-inch form in the UK and a few other countries in 1981. "Lay All Your Love on Me" has since been much covered and is also featured in the Mamma Mia! musical (and its film adaptation), that showcases many of ABBA's hits.

Music video

ABBA did not film a promotional video for "Lay All Your Love on Me", and so Epic hastily assembled a video (at a cost of £3,500) by using excerpts from the existing ABBA videos for "Take a Chance on Me", "Summer Night City", "The Name of the Game", "I Have a Dream", "Voulez-Vous" and "The Winner Takes It All". It was never shown on TV because Epic managers thought it "wasn't needed", but was included on the ABBA Gold VHS.[4]

Reception

As "Lay All Your Love on Me" was not intended to be a single, it was not released until 1981, the year after it had been recorded. It was only after a remixed version by Raul A. Rodriguez[5] - (aka C.O.D) of Disconet - had soared in popularity in nightclubs, that it topped the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart (along with "Super Trouper" and "On and on and On").[6] Therefore, the decision was made to release "Lay All Your Love on Me" in limited territories in 12-inch form, as opposed to the standard 7-inch record. It peaked at No. 7 in the UK, becoming ABBA's lowest charting single since "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" in 1975. However, reaching No. 7 in the charts was, at the time, the highest charting position achieved for a 12-inch only release in the UK. "Lay All Your Love on Me" also charted in Ireland (No. 8), Belgium (No. 13) and West Germany (No. 26).

As of September 2021, it is ABBA's 17th-biggest song in the UK, including both pure sales and digital streams.[7]

Personnel

Chart performance
Chart (1981) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] 13
Ireland (IRMA)[9] 8
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[10] 68
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 7
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[12] 1
West Germany (Official German Charts)[13] 26

Certifications

Original version
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[14] Gold 45,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[15] Gold 400,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Mamma Mia! version
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[16] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

Information Society version
"Lay All Your Love on Me"
Single by Information Society
from the album Information Society
Released1989
GenreDance, synthpop, electronica
LabelTommy Boy
Songwriter(s)Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Information Society singles chronology
"Repetition"
(1989)		 "Lay All Your Love on Me"
(1989)		 "Think"
(1990)

"Lay All Your Love on Me" was covered by American techno-pop band Information Society on their 1988 self-titled debut album. The track peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1989. It was later included on the compilation ABBA: A Tribute – The 25th Anniversary Celebration.

Track listing

  1. "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Justin Strauss Remix)
  2. "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Restricted Re-mix)
  3. "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Prohibited Dub)
  4. "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Radio Hot Mix)
  5. "Lay All Your Love on Me" (Phil Harding Metal Mega-Mix)
  6. "Funky at 45"

Helloween version
"Lay All Your Love on Me"
Single by Helloween
from the album Metal Jukebox
Released1999
GenrePower metal
Length11:08
LabelVictor Entertainment
Songwriter(s)Benny Andersson
Björn Ulvaeus
Helloween singles chronology
"Hey Lord!"
(1998)		 "Lay All Your Love on Me"
(1999)		 "If I Could Fly"
(2000)

"Lay All Your Love on Me" was covered by Helloween from their Metal Jukebox album. It was released as a single in Japan.

Single track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Lay All Your Love on Me" (ABBA cover)4:38
2."From Out of Nowhere" (Faith No More cover)3:21
3."All my loving" (The Beatles cover)1:44
Credits

Avantasia version

"Lay All Your Love on Me" was also covered by German supergroup metal opera project Avantasia on their Lost in Space Part I EP and was included on their compilation album Lost in Space Part I & II.

EP track listing

Lost in Space (Part 1)
EP by
Avantasia
Released16 November 2007
RecordedMarch 2007
GenreSymphonic power metal
Length17:53
LabelNuclear Blast Records
ProducerSascha Paeth & Tobias Sammet
Avantasia chronology
The Metal Opera Part II
(2002)		 Lost in Space (Part 1)
(2007)		 Lost in Space (Part II)
(2007)
No.TitleLength
1."Lost in Space"3:52
2."Lay All Your Love on Me" (ABBA cover)4:23
3."Another Angel Down"5:42
4."The Story Ain't Over"4:59
5."Return to Avantasia"0:47
6."Ride the Sky" (Lucifer's Friend cover[17])2:55

Credits

Guest vocalists

Guest musicians

References
  1. Slant Magazine 100 Greatest Dance Songs
  2. Slant Magazine 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time
  3. Palm, Carl Magnus: ABBA – The Complete Recordings Sessions, page 101. Verulam Publishing Ltd (13 October 1994). ISBN 0-907938-10-8. ISBN 978-0-907938-10-1.
  4. "ABBA on TV".
  5. "Discomusic.com Profile of Raul Rodriguez". Archived from the original on 29 July 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  6. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 15.
  7. UK Official Charts ABBA's Official Top 20 biggest songs
  8. "ABBA – Lay All Your Love on Me" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – ABBA". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  10. "ABBA – Lay All Your Love on Me". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  11. "ABBA: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  12. "ABBA Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  13. "Offiziellecharts.de – ABBA – Lay All Your Love on Me" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
  14. "Danish single certifications – ABBA – Lay All Your Love on Me". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  15. "British single certifications – ABBA – Lay All Your Love on Me". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  16. "British single certifications – Original Cast Recording – Lay All Your Love on Me". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  17. allmusic
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