"Hey, Hey Helen" is a song by

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

, featured on their 1975 self-titled album. It was used as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to Mamma Mia in Australia and

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, and former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa and Asia (like the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka). It is e ...

in the UK.

Composition

The song is in the

Glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was primarily defined by the flamboyant clothing, makeup, and hairstyles of its musicians, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists d ...

genre.

Analysis

George Starostin Reviews says the song has "perfectly tolerable lyrics about a family breakup" from an anti-feminist perspective. PopDose says "'Helen' took an adult look at divorce and single motherhood in a time when the divorce rate was up and the traditional family unit was taking a beating. At first, the lyrics seem a bit judgmental, until you get to that last bit in the chorus where the girls assure the newly single mother that she can, in fact, make it alone".

Covers

Lush covered the song for an abandoned anti-

poll tax A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources. ''Poll'' is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sen ...

compilation, the cover version was released on their 1990 album ''

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush * Gala (singer), Italian singer and songwriter *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman * GALA Choruses, an association of ...

''.

Critical reception

''The Trouser Press record guide'' described the song as "obscure". OneWeekOneBand said "The best bit of this - OK maybe apart from the riff - is where the lyrics go “Can you make it alone?” and the backing vox reply “Yes you can” and to prove it the song goes into a FUNK BREAKDOWN, the only one in ABBA's catalogue." George Starostin Reviews says the song is "quite memorable", and adds it is "what all those 'heavy metal tunes' off Waterloo would have sounded like" if they had been given more of the 'ABBA' sound. It adds "the heavy guitar riffs on that one don't bother me in the least, as they never try to sound dreary or 'mock-ominous': they just emphasize the power of the tune, which is, in my opinion, a highly underrated ABBA classic, with all those riffs, a catchy, rhythmic synth solo, a groovy drum pattern". PopDose describes the song as "one of the earliest glimmers that ABBA were more than just your standard bubblegum pop group". It wondered why the song wasn't featured in the Mamma Mia musical considering its subject matter, and theorises that it was because the song wasn't popular enough. It notes, however, that the group mimed it for quite a few TV appearances at the time, citing “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert” in 1975.

References

{{Authority control 1975 songs ABBA songs Songs with feminist themes Songs about divorce