Does Your Mother Know
Encyclopedia
"Does Your Mother Know", originally "I Can Do It", is the name of a song recorded in 1979 by Swedish
pop group ABBA
and was the second single to be released from their album Voulez-Vous. The B-side
was "Kisses of Fire", also taken from the album.
and Björn Ulvaeus
, the song is something of a pastiche to 1950s/early 1960s-style rock and roll and touches on the subject of a man responding to the flirting of a much younger girl. "Does Your Mother Know" deviated from the typical 'ABBA at their most famous' formula, in that the lead vocals were sung not by the female vocalists (Agnetha Fältskog
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
) as was usually the case, but by Björn Ulvaeus. This was one of the only ABBA singles to feature Björn as the sole lead vocal, along with 'Rock Me
'.
The track originally featured a 30 second instrumental introduction which was ultimately cut from the recording. A session in late March 1979 saw the addition of Benny's characteristic synthesizer introduction, as well as work on the backing track that turned a boogie rock stomper into a disco track.
and reaching the top 5 in Great Britain
, Ireland
and the Netherlands
. It was also a top 10 hit in Australia
, Canada
, West Germany
, Rhodesia
and Switzerland
. In the United States
, "Does Your Mother Know" would become ABBA's penultimate Top 20 hit, reaching #19.
Allmusic reviewer Donald A. Guarisco said in a review of the song that "ABBA's recording balances the song's rock elements with dance music touches to create an intriguing dance/rock hybrid" and that its "macho feel is enhanced by a rockabilly-styled melody that flowers into a swinging chorus".
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
pop group ABBA
ABBA
ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...
and was the second single to be released from their album Voulez-Vous. The B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
was "Kisses of Fire", also taken from the album.
History
"Does Your Mother Know" was recorded in February 1979 and released as a single in April of that year. Written by Benny AnderssonBenny Andersson
Göran Bror "Benny" Andersson is a Swedish musician, composer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
and Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Ulvaeus
Björn Kristian Ulvaeus is a Swedish songwriter, composer, musician, writer, producer, a former member of the Swedish musical group ABBA , and co-composer of the musicals Chess, Kristina från Duvemåla, and Mamma Mia!...
, the song is something of a pastiche to 1950s/early 1960s-style rock and roll and touches on the subject of a man responding to the flirting of a much younger girl. "Does Your Mother Know" deviated from the typical 'ABBA at their most famous' formula, in that the lead vocals were sung not by the female vocalists (Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Fältskog
Agnetha Åse Fältskog is a Swedish recording artist. She achieved success in Sweden after the release of her début album Agnetha Fältskog in 1968, and reached international stardom as a member of the pop group ABBA, which to date has sold over 375 million records worldwide, making it the fourth...
and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Anni-Frid Prinzessin Reuss von Plauen , is a Norwegian-born Swedish pop singer...
) as was usually the case, but by Björn Ulvaeus. This was one of the only ABBA singles to feature Björn as the sole lead vocal, along with 'Rock Me
Rock Me (ABBA song)
"Rock Me", first called "Didn't I?" and later called "Baby", was a song recorded in 1974 by Swedish pop group ABBA, with Björn Ulvaeus singing the lead vocals. It was first released on the album ABBA....
'.
The track originally featured a 30 second instrumental introduction which was ultimately cut from the recording. A session in late March 1979 saw the addition of Benny's characteristic synthesizer introduction, as well as work on the backing track that turned a boogie rock stomper into a disco track.
Reception
"Does Your Mother Know" was another sizable ABBA hit, hitting #1 in BelgiumBelgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and reaching the top 5 in Great Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. It was also a top 10 hit in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, Rhodesia
Rhodesia
Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, "Does Your Mother Know" would become ABBA's penultimate Top 20 hit, reaching #19.
Allmusic reviewer Donald A. Guarisco said in a review of the song that "ABBA's recording balances the song's rock elements with dance music touches to create an intriguing dance/rock hybrid" and that its "macho feel is enhanced by a rockabilly-styled melody that flowers into a swinging chorus".
Chart positions
| Chart (1979) | Position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
7 |
| Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
13 |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 1 |
| British Singles Chart | 4 |
| Canadian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| French Singles Chart | 26 |
| German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
10 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
3 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 27 |
| Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
19 |
| Zimbabwe Singles Chart | 9 |
Cover versions
- Studio 99 covered the song on their album Studio 99 Perform A Tribute To ABBA, Vol. 1.
- The 1992 compilation ABBA: The Tribute contained a cover by Swedish artists Pelle Almgren & Wow Liksom.
- The San Francisco Gay Men's ChorusSan Francisco Gay Men's ChorusThe San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus is the world's first openly gay chorus, one of its largest and the group most often credited with creating the LGBT choral movement....
recorded a cover of the song for their 1997 album ExtrABBAganza!. - Australian indie band SmudgeSmudgeSmudge is an Australian rock band. Its frontman Tom Morgan is better known outside Australia as a songwriting collaborator of Evan Dando and his band The Lemonheads.-History:...
included a cover of the song on their 1997 album Mo' Poontang. - Northern Irish rock band AshAsh (band)Ash are an alternative rock band that formed in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland in 1992. The band has sold 8 million albums worldwide.-Band beginning, Trailer and 1977 :...
recorded what has often been called the best cover, which can be found on the 1999 compilation ABBA: A Tribute - The 25th Anniversary Celebration. - Gleaming Spires recorded a cover for their 1983 "Party E.P."
- Irish girl group B*Witched's version of the song can be found on the AbbamaniaABBAmaniaABBAmania is a tribute album to Swedish pop band ABBA, released in 1999. It followed an ITV programme of the same name and featured various British and Irish artists covering ABBA songs.-Track listing:# "Money, Money, Money" – Madness...
album from 1999. They also performed it on the TV special. On the subsequent 2004 ABBAMania 2 album, the song is covered by British actor Will MellorWill MellorWilliam "Will" Mellor is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Jambo Bolton in Hollyoaks, Gaz Wilkinson in comedy, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps...
. - On the German compilation ABBA Mania, the song was covered by German actors Stefan Bockelmann and Kai Noll.
- Swedish skaSkaSka |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
band LiberatorLiberator (band)Liberator is a ska band originating from Malmö, in the south of Sweden. They started in 1994 and released their most recent album in 2009. Currently they are signed to Burning Heart Records.-Albums:*This Is Liberator...
covered the song on their 2001 album Soundchecks 95-00. - Punk rockPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band The RestartsThe RestartsThe Restarts are a street punk band from London, England.They formed in 1995 in London with Darragh on drums, Kieran from Armed and Hammered on bass, and Mik on the guitar. They played many shows in the UK with their three-piece until Mik left, at which point Alan joined the band...
covered the song on their Slumworld album. - Canadian a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
group StreetnixStreetnixStreetnix was a Canadian a cappella group based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They performed a total of over 2,500 shows across Canada and the United States, making over 300 appearances a year at their height....
recorded a cover of the song. - Indie band Nosehare recorded a cover of the song.
- Swedish studio musicians The Black Sweden recorded a cover on their ABBA tribute album Gold. Their version includes an opening riffRIFFThe Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
from the Deep PurpleDeep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
song "Woman From Tokyo". - A cover of the song by FinnishFinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
a cappellaA cappellaA cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
choral ensemble RajatonRajatonRajaton is a Finnish a cappella ensemble, founded in Helsinki in 1997. The Finnish word rajaton means "boundless", to indicate the breadth of their repertoire, from sacred classical to near Europop...
can be found on their 2006 ABBA tribute album Rajaton Sings ABBA With Lahti Symphony Orchestra. - A cover of the song by Speachless Project can be found on the 2006 chill out musicChill out musicChill out music is an umbrella term for several styles of electronic music characterized by their mellow style and mid-tempo beats — "chill" being derived from a slang injunction to "relax."Chill out music emerged in the early and mid-1990s in "chill rooms" at dance clubs, where relaxing music...
compilation ABBA Chill Out. - American indie rock music artists The Lundell Brothers recorded a cover of the song.
- The Slingsby Hornets recorded the song for their 2008 album Whatever Happened To....
Live cover performances, appearances in other media etc.
- The song is performed in the Mamma Mia!Mamma Mia!Mamma Mia! is a stage musical written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, based on the songs of ABBA, composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, former members of the band. Although the title of the musical is taken from the group's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia", the plot is fictional, not...
musical by the character of Tanya. In the 2008 Mamma MiaMamma Mia! (film)Mamma Mia! is a 2008 musical/romantic comedy film adapted from the 1999 West End/2001 Broadway musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson...
film adaptation, it is sung by actress Christine BaranskiChristine BaranskiChristine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
, who plays Tanya. - Eoghan Quigg gave a live performance of this song on The X Factor as a contestant in 2008, as it is his favourite song. He also covered the song in his debut album. Eton Road performed the song in series 3.
- UK rapper Dizzee RascalDizzee RascalDylan Kwabena Mills , better known by his stage name Dizzee Rascal, is a Ghanaian British rapper, songwriter and record producer. His music is a blend of garage, hip hop, grime, ragga, pop and electronic music, with eclectic samples and more exotic styles...
performed the song on tour. - "Does Your Mother Know?" featured in the 2003 film Johnny EnglishJohnny EnglishJohnny English is a 2003 British action comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. The film stars Rowan Atkinson as the incompetent titular English spy, with John Malkovich, Natalie Imbruglia, Tim Pigott-Smith and Ben Miller in supporting roles...
starring Rowan AtkinsonRowan AtkinsonRowan Sebastian Atkinson is a British actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is most famous for his work on the satirical sketch comedy show Not The Nine O'Clock News, and the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Thin Blue Line...
, who lip-synchs to the song in the bathroom, and incidentally, also briefly sings "Thank You for the MusicThank You for the Music"Thank You for the Music" is a song by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was originally featured on the group's fifth studio album ABBA: The Album and was released as a single on November 6, 1983, to promote the Epic Records compilation album Thank You for the Music: A Collection of Love Songs...
" earlier in the film.