"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish band

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

. It was recorded in August 1979 in order to help promote their North American and European tour of that year, and was released on ABBA's '' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' album as the brand new track.

Original ABBA version

History

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was written and composed by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with the lead vocal sung by Agnetha Fältskog. Fältskog, as the narrator, weaves the image of a lonely woman who longs for a romantic relationship and views her loneliness as a forbidding darkness of night, even drawing parallels to how the happy endings of movie stars are so different from her own existence. The melody line of the song was played on an

ARP Odyssey The ARP Odyssey is an analog synthesizer introduced by ARP Instruments in 1972. History ARP developed the Odyssey as a direct competitor to the Moog Minimoog and an answer to the demand for more affordable, portable, and less complicated "perf ...

synthesizer. Originally, ABBA had recorded another song, "Rubber Ball Man", which was planned as a single. It featured the typical "ABBA-arrangement" with both Fältskog and

Anni-Frid Lyngstad Princess Anni-Frid Synni Reuss, Countess of Plauen (born Anni-Frid Synni Lyngstad on 15 November 1945), also known by her nickname "Frida", is a Norwegian-born Swedish singer, songwriter and environmentalist, who is best known as one of the foun ...

on lead vocals and the use of classical strings. This song was also performed by the group during rehearsals for its 1979 tour as "Under My Sun". However, the group felt that "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", with its disco sound, would be a better choice, and thus, "Rubber Ball Man" remained nothing more than a demo.

Single version

The single version of this song, which was released in its full length of 4:48 everywhere else in the world, was released in the United States and Canada in an edited format, being just 3:36 in length. This was done by removing the first half of the opening instrumental, the first four of the eight bars of the instrumental bridge between the second and final chorus, and fading the song out early. It is believed the edit was done by

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, ABBA's North American record label and not Polar, hence the reason why it was available only in the US and Canada. This single version has never appeared on any commercial CD issued by Polar/Universal to date and along with the US promo edit of " Chiquitita", it marked the only time Atlantic ever commercially released an edited version of an ABBA single while they had the North American rights to release ABBA recordings. As of September 2021, it is ABBA's tenth-biggest song in the UK, including both pure sales and digital streams. The single was never released by Polar Music in the group's native Sweden, instead being featured on the '' Greatest Hits Vol. 2'' album, which did get a Swedish release. While Polar released the single in neighbouring Norway, Denmark, and Finland, copies of these versions were not made available in the Swedish record stores, who thus arranged to import copies of the United Kingdom version on Epic Records. Sales of these imports were sufficient for the single to reach no. 16 on the sales chart in Sweden.

Spanish version

"¡Dame! ¡Dame! ¡Dame!" is the Spanish-language version of the song. The song was released as a single to promote '' Gracias Por La Música'' in Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' called it "another exercise of sparkling

euro-pop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

, with the slightest hint of boogie bottom to give the song an edge." The song is notable as being one of two works in ABBA's discography (the other being

Dancing Queen "Dancing Queen" is a Europop and disco song by the Swedish group ABBA, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Arrival'' (1976). It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Andersson and Ulvae ...

) that have gone on to become gay anthems. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was another highly successful song for ABBA. It hit no. 1 in Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, and Switzerland, while reaching the top 3 in Austria, West Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway. It also proved to be ABBA's most successful song in Japan, hitting no. 17.

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

A-Teens version

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was

A-Teens A-Teens (stylized as A★TEENS or A*Teens) were a Swedish pop music group from Stockholm, Sweden, formed by Niklas Berg in 1998 originally as an ABBA tribute band called ABBA-Teens and was later renamed A-Teens. The band members were Marie Ser ...

' third single (fourth in other territories) from their first album ''

The ABBA Generation ''The ABBA Generation'' is the debut studio album by Swedish pop group A-Teens. It was released on 25 August 1999 by Stockholm Records. The album is composed of cover versions of well-known ABBA songs. The album spawned four singles, " Mamma Mia" ...

'', a collection of

cover versions. When the single was released in 1999 in Sweden, it earned a

Gold certification Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. It also became their third top ten hit there and the band's third top 40 hit in Germany. The song peaked at no. 51 in Switzerland, no. 27 in the Netherlands, no. 20 in Mexico, and no. 22 in Argentina and Chile. "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was recorded in Spanish for the Latin American promotion that started in early 2000.

Music video

The music video was directed by Sebastian Reed, and it was filmed in Sweden. The video starts with the boys entering a

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of citie ...

, where they find a crystal ball. Inside, there is an "alternate world" where they perform the song. Part of the video also features the band at a bowling alley where they play a few games against each other. The video had high rotation on several music channels beginning year 2000, but it was not as successful as the first singles. The version of the song used on the video is the Radio Version, which is shorter and includes different beats and sounds more Techno than the album version.

Releases

European 2-track CD single #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" adio version– 3:45 #"A*Teens Medley" ierre J's Radio Mix– 3:54 European maxi CD #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" adio version– 3:45 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

xtended version ''X'' is the second studio album by American rapper Ken Carson, released through Opium and Interscope Records on July 8, 2022. In the United States, the album entered at number 115 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The deluxe version, titled ''Xtende ...

– 6:02 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" arthbound Late Show Remix– 5:04 #"A*Teens Medley" ierre J's Full Length Mix– 8:19 Mexican CD single #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" adio version– 3:45 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" panish version– 3:43 Japanese maxi CD #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" adio version– 3:45 #"A*Teens Medley" ierre J's Radio Mix– 3:54 #"Mamma Mia" panish version– 3:46 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" panish version– 3:43 ''1 Track CD #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" adio version– 3:45

Charts

Star Academy France version

In 2001, the song was covered by the first edition of the French TV reality show Star Academy 1. The song was credited to

Olivia Ruiz Olivia Blanc (born 1 January 1980), known as Olivia Ruiz, is a French pop singer of partial Spanish descent belonging to the nouvelle chanson genre.

Jenifer Bartoli Jenifer Yaël Juliette Dadouche-Bartoli (born 15 November 1982), known by the mononym Jenifer, is a French singer. Since winning the first season of ''Star Academy France'' in 2002, she has had a number of hit singles on the French, Belgian an ...

and Carine Haddadou, three of the contestants. This version went straight to no. 1 in France, dislodging Star Academy's previous hit, "

La Musique (Angelica) "La Musique (Angelica)" is a 2001 song recorded by the contestants of the first edition of French TV reality show Star Academy. The song was released as a single in December 2001 from the album ''L'Album'' and also recorded in a live version on ...

", and stayed atop for two weeks.

Track listings

; CD single #"Gimme ! Gimme ! Gimme ! (A Man After Midnight)" – 3:30 #"Brigitte Bardot" (remix edit) by Jean-Pascal Lacoste – 3:01

Charts

Cher version

American singer and actress

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...

covered the song on her album ''

'', released on 28 September 2018. Cher's version is the lead single on the album. The accompanying audio video for "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was premiered through Cher's official YouTube channel on 9 August 2018. An extended version of the track was later released on 14 September 2018. The song peaked at number 4 on the

Hot Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart.

Critical reception

Writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'', Brittany Spanos felt that "working with producer Mark Taylor who helped seal Cher's legacy with the game-changing '

Believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

' in the late Nineties, she finds subtle changes that update ABBA classics without totally stripping them of the catchiness that made those songs beloved hits well beyond their heyday. 'Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)', '

SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, that was originally established for maritime use. In formal notation is written with an overscore line, to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" ...

' and ' Mamma Mia' are given just enough of a knob turn that they're transformed from upbeat

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

into club bangers, pulsating with every beat."

Track listing

Digital download

#"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" – 4:11

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) xtended Mix– Single

#"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) xtended Mix – 7:25

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) idnight Mixes/h3>
#"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) xtended Mix – 7:25 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) ffer Nissim Needs a Man Remix – 7:19 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) ove To Infinity Classic Remix – 5:27 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) uy Scheiman Anthem Remix – 7:19 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) alphi Rosario Remix – 7:52 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) ove To Infinity Insomniac Remix – 6:11 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) anny Verde Remix – 5:54 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) hris Cox Anthem Remix – 6:06 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) uy Scheiman Anthem Dub Remix – 6:06 #"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) alphi Rosario Dub Remix – 6:27

Credits and personnel

Credits for ''Dancing Queen'' adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

Management

*Published by Universal Songs of PolyGramInt., Inc. (ASCAP) and EMI Waterford Music Inc. (ASCAP) *Recorded by Mark Taylor and Paul Meehan at Metrophonic Studios, London *Mixed by Matt Furmidge and Mark Taylor at Metrophonic Studios, London *Mastered by Stephen Marcussen Mastering, Hollywood, CA

Personnel

*Cher – primary vocals * Benny Andersson – songwriter * Björn Ulvaeus – songwriter *Ash Soan – drums *Adam Phillips – guitars *Hayley Sanderson – backing vocals *Andy Caine – backing vocals

Charts

Film version

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" was the first single released from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

for the 2008 film version of ''

Mamma Mia! Mama(s) or Mamma or Momma may refer to: Roles *Mother, a female parent *Mama-san, in Japan and East Asia, a woman in a position of authority *Mamas, a name for female associates of the Hells Angels Places * Mama, Russia, an urban-type settlemen ...

'' by American actress Amanda Seyfried, who plays Sophie in the film. In the film, only the chorus is sung while the rest of the song is instrumental, much like the original stage play. On the soundtrack, Seyfried sings the complete song as a solo performance, and also does the same in a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

to promote the movie. The version on the soundtrack is a minute shorter than the version featured on the film's tie-in website.

Charts

Certifications

Other covers and uses

Erasure version

In 1986,

Erasure Erasure () is an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985, consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter Andy Bell with songwriter, producer and keyboardist Vince Clarke, previously known as co-founder of the band Depeche Mode and a membe ...

released a live version of the song as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to their single

Oh L'amour "Oh L'amour" is a song by English synthpop duo Erasure, released in April 1986 as their third single. Written by Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell, it is a lament from someone experiencing unrequited love ''("broke my heart / now I ...

and then in 1987 on their US version of the album The Two Ring Circus.

Abbacadabra version

Tribute group Abbacadabra released a cover of the song on their album "Abbasalute" through

Almighty Records Almighty Records is an English electronic dance music record label established in 1989. Almighty Records specialises in pop song remixes, dance-pop, and hi-NRG. The label's record producers, Almighty Associates, have remixed such performers as ...

in 1992. Mixes of the group's cover version were most recently included on its 2008 compilation ''We Love ABBA: The Mamma Mia Dance Compilation''. Audio samples can be heard on the official Almighty Records website.

BBC sitcom

The British sitcom comedy '' Gimme Gimme Gimme'' recorded a short version of the song as its title theme in 1999.

Mamma Mia! version

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is one of the major numbers in the ''

'' musical and movie. The movie version was released as a single in 2008.

BNB version

In 2008, the song was covered in a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

/ lounge style by American group BNB on its album ''Bossa Mia: Songs of ABBA''.

Unix/Linux Easter egg

The

Unix Unix (; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multiuser computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, ...

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, whi ...

computer operating system command line utility "man" for displaying manual pages would print "gimme gimme gimme" when run without arguments on 00:30 (as the opening lyrics of the song are "half past twelve"). The Easter egg has been removed since version man-db 2.8.0 after it had been discovered as an annoyance in a software automatic test system on 20 November 2017 and brought to broad attention on the Stack Exchange Q&A network site dedicated to Unix & Linux.

Sampling

In 2005, the song was sampled by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

, who used it on her worldwide hit single " Hung Up" from '' Confessions on a Dance Floor''. Madonna is said to have sent a letter to Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus asking to use the song as a sample, since the Swedish songwriting duo are reluctant to let other artists sample their material. It was only the second time that an ABBA track had been officially sampled, the first being the Fugees in 1996 with their hit " Rumble in the Jungle", sampling part of 1977's " The Name of the Game". Ava Max "subtly sample the ABBA song in her 2019 single "

Torn Torn may refer to: Film and television * ''Torn'' (2009 film), an American film by Richard Johnson * ''Torn'' (2013 American film), directed Jeremiah Birnbaum * ''Torn'' (2013 Nigerian film), directed by Moses Inwang * ''Torn'' (TV series), a ...

". Max stated that she listened to ABBA and Ace of Base during her childhood, and wanted to "add a little disco flair in there". Rina Sawayama sampled the guitar riff of the ABBA song in her 2022 single " This Hell.

References

{{Authority control 1979 songs 1979 singles 2000 singles 2002 singles 2018 singles ABBA songs A-Teens songs Cher songs European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Music videos directed by Lasse Hallström Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in France Number-one singles in Switzerland Oricon International Singles Chart number-one singles Polar Music singles Songs about loneliness Songs about nights Songs written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus Star Academy France songs Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles

Original ABBA version

History

Single version

Spanish version

Reception

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

A-Teens version

Music video

Releases

Charts

Star Academy France version

Track listings

Charts

Cher version

Critical reception

Track listing

Digital download

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) xtended Mix– Single

Credits and personnel

Management

Personnel

Charts

Film version

Charts

Certifications

Other covers and uses

Erasure version

Abbacadabra version

BBC sitcom

Mamma Mia! version

BNB version

Unix/Linux Easter egg

Sampling

See also

References