Two for the Price of One (ABBA song)

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1981 song by ABBA

ReleasedSeptember 1981 (1981-09)

Length3:36

SongwritersBenny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus

"Two for the Price of One"
Song by ABBA
from the album The Visitors
Released	September 1981 (1981-09)
Genre	Soft rock^[1]
Length	3:36
Songwriters	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus
Producers	Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus

Audio video
"Two for the Price of One" on YouTube

"Two for the Price of One" is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA, featured on their 1981 album The Visitors. The song also appears on the 1986 album ABBA Live.

The Leader-Post explains that the song is about "our pathetic love-starved hero answering an ad for the girl of his dreams".^[2] The song's lyrics describe a man with a low-status job who answers a personal ad for two women seeking a threesome: the final punchline reveals that one of the women is the other one’s mother.

Composition

Abba's Abba Gold describes it as the "obligatory Bjorn-sung track".^[3]

Critical reception

ABBA - Uncensored on the Record says that "Two for the Price of One" is an "extraordinary song" and that it, along with another song from the album, "attracted some interest".^[4] Abba's Abba Gold likened it to "Electric Light Orchestra doing an operetta, with superb multi-layered vocals on the chorus".^[3] Keith Tuber of Orange Coast Magazine describes the song as his favourite on the album, describing it as a "humorous, clever ditty with a twist ending", and likens it to Rupert Holmes' "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)".^[5]

The Leader-Post describes "Two for the Price of One" as a "novelty number", and a "witty little tune". Along with "When All Is Said and Done", he said it is one of two songs worth mentioning in the review.^[2] L.A. Times talks about the album's melancholy vibe, noting that "even the album's two lighthearted cuts - "Two for the Price of One" and "Head over Heels" - are about out-of-synch relationships."^[6]

Only Solitaire says "the Bjorn-sung "Two for the Price of One" is an absolute lyrical nadir with a banal pop melody that could have easily made it onto Ring Ring. In regard to the song's inclusion on ABBA's live album, it says "if you're gonna have one really really bad ABBA song on a live album, at least make it something goofy from the early days, like "King Kong" or "Nina Pretty Ballerina"! At least they were having fun with these ones."^[7]

Writing for Pitchfork on the 2012 deluxe reissue of The Visitors, Tom Ewing was also dismissive of the track, calling it "a hokey story of a failed threesome [that] calls back to their earliest, goofiest records".^[8]

References

↑ Rowe, Felix (October 31, 2024). "Classic Album: Abba - The Visitors". Classic Pop. Retrieved December 22, 2024.
1 2 Michael Lawson (Dec 16, 1981). "Swedish quartet scores top marks". The Leader-Post.
1 2 Vincentelli, Elisabeth (2004-03-31). Abba's Abba Gold. ISBN 9780826415462.
↑ John Tobler (2012). Abba - Uncensored on the Record. Coda Books Limited. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-908538-23-9.
↑ "The B Side". Orange Coast Magazine. March 1982. ISSN 0279-0483.
↑ Grein, Paul (Jan 24, 1982). "POP RECORDS: ABBA DABBLES IN DEPRESSION". Los Angeles Times.
↑ "Abba Reviews".
↑ Ewing, Tom (18 May 2012). "ABBA: The Visitors [Deluxe Edition] Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 20 December 2024.

v t e ABBA songs
Discography Unreleased songs
Ring Ring	"Ring Ring" "Another Town, Another Train" "Disillusion" "People Need Love" "I Saw It in the Mirror" "Nina, Pretty Ballerina" "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" "Me and Bobby and Bobby's Brother" "He Is Your Brother" "She's My Kind of Girl" "I Am Just a Girl" "Rock'n Roll Band"
Waterloo	"Waterloo" "King Kong Song" "Hasta Mañana" "My Mama Said" "Dance (While the Music Still Goes On)" "Honey, Honey" "What About Livingstone"
ABBA	"Mamma Mia" "Hey, Hey Helen" "SOS" "Bang-A-Boomerang" "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do" "Rock Me" "Intermezzo No. 1" "I've Been Waiting for You" "So Long"
Greatest Hits	"Fernando"
Arrival	"When I Kissed the Teacher" "Dancing Queen" "My Love, My Life" "Dum Dum Diddle" "Knowing Me, Knowing You" "Money, Money, Money" "That's Me" "Why Did It Have to Be Me?" "Tiger" "Arrival"
ABBA: The Album	"Eagle" "Take a Chance on Me" "One Man, One Woman" "The Name of the Game" "Move On" "Hole in Your Soul" "Thank You for the Music" "I Wonder (Departure)" "I'm a Marionette"
Voulez-Vous	"As Good as New" "Voulez-Vous" "I Have a Dream" "Angeleyes" "The King Has Lost His Crown" "Does Your Mother Know" "If It Wasn't for the Nights" "Chiquitita" "Lovers (Live a Little Longer)" "Kisses of Fire"
Greatest Hits Vol. 2	"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" "Summer Night City"
Super Trouper	"Super Trouper" "The Winner Takes It All" "On and On and On" "Andante, Andante" "Me and I" "Happy New Year" "Our Last Summer" "The Piper" "Lay All Your Love on Me"
The Visitors	"The Visitors" "Head over Heels" "When All Is Said and Done" "Soldiers" "I Let the Music Speak" "One of Us" "Two for the Price of One" "Slipping Through My Fingers" "Like an Angel Passing Through My Room"
The Singles: The First Ten Years	"The Day Before You Came" "Under Attack"
Voyage	"I Still Have Faith in You" "Don't Shut Me Down" "Just a Notion" "Little Things"
Other songs	"Hej gamle man!" "Det kan ingen doktor hjälpa" "På Bröllop" "Merry-Go-Round" "Man vill ju leva lite dessemellan" "Elaine" "Put on Your White Sombrero" "Should I Laugh or Cry" "You Owe Me One" "Just Like That"
Category

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