Chiqitita

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Abba
"Chiquitita"

Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong
You're enchained by your own sorrow
In your eyes there is no hope for tomorrow
How I hate to see you like this
There is no way you can deny it
I can see that you're oh so sad, so quiet

Chiquitita, tell me the truth
I'm a shoulder you can cry on
Your best friend, I'm the one you must rely on
You were always sure of yourself
Now I see you've broken a feather
I hope we can patch it up together

Chiquitita, you and I know
How the heartaches come and they go and the scars they're leaving
You'll be dancing once again and the pain will end
You will have no time for grieving
Chiquitita, you and I cry
But the sun is still in the sky and shining above you
Let me hear you sing once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita
Try once more like you did before
Sing a new song, Chiquitita

So the walls came tumbling down
And your love's a blown out candle
All is gone and it seems too hard to handle
Chiquitita, tell me the truth
There is no way you can deny it
I see that you're oh so sad, so quiet

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Last Sunday DESMOND CARRINGTON had a special 3-of-a-kind section on... SINEAD O'CONNOR. I could not believe how much I liked her version of this song. I liked the others too. But this thread is about that song and what you think of (versions of) it.

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, where is her version PF? I love "Chiquitita", it is perhaps the most unfairly ignored of ABBA singles (in as much as any of them are ignored)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)

It's one of my least favourite ABBA songs, along with 'Fernando'.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Fernando too, and Angelo by the Brotherhood of Man for that matter.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 15:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish I knew, Tico - you see, I rely on DESMOND CARRINGTON for... new music.

Just to prove it,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/carrington/playlist.shtml

Here is his info:

Title: 'MOLLY MALONE'
Artist: SINEAD O'CONNOR
Album: SHE WHO DWELLS
Label: IRL

Title: 'CHIQUITITA'
Artist: SINEAD O'CONNOR
Album: SHE WHO DWELLS
Label: IRL

Title: 'I'LL TELL ME MA'
Artist: SINEAD O'CONNOR
Album: SEAN-NOS NUA
Label: HUMMINGBIRD RECORDS

― the pinefox, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

1. tico tico - do you like 'Live in Trouble' by the Barron Knights?

2. was it Noel Edmonds who came up with:
"Take your teeth out / and tell me what's wrong ..."
i can only ever think of that now whenever this song is played.

― zebedee (zebedee), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 16:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Here are the lyrics in Spanish:

Chiquitita, dime por qué
Tu dolor hoy te encadena
En tus ojos hay
Una sombra de gran pena

No quisiera verte así
Aunque quieras disimularlo
Si es que tan triste estás
Para qué quieres callario

Chiquitita, dimelo tú
En mi hombro, aquí llorando
Cuenta conmigo ya
Para así seguir andando

Tan segura te conocí
Y ahora tu ala quebrada
Déjamela arreglar
Yo la quiero ver curada

Chiquitita, sabes muy bien
Que la penas vienen y van y desaparecen
Otra vez vas a bailar y serás feliz
Como flores que florecen

Chiquitita, no hay que llorar
Las estrellas brillan por ti allá el lo alto
Quiero verte sonreir para compartir
Tu alegria, Chiquitita

Otra vez quiero compartir
Tu alegria Chiquitita

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I like Chiquitita, Fernando, Angelo, Figaro the lot.

Peter: what's Chiqitita in English, is it something to do with bananas?

― Keith Watson (kmw), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Fernando rules with an iron fist over Chiquitita.

― dleone (dleone), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:31 (twenty-two years ago)

what's Chiqitita in English, is it something to do with bananas?

It means "little one." And I feel like making a Swedish banana joke, but I won't.

― Miggie (Miggie), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 21:16 (twenty-two years ago)

this and "eagle" are my two favourite abba songs. i love benny's piano tinklings at the end, they totally make it.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 22:07 (twenty-two years ago)

I suppose it is an affectionate diminutive. I've heard people using 'chiquita' but never 'chiquitita' - it's like extra diminutive. Think 'Keithy-Weithy' on Marmite. Phonetically, it mimics the pattering of tiny footsteps.

PS: Spanish translation by some people called McClusky!!!

I am listening to this song now. I like the fact that it takes ages for the uplifting chorus to kick in. It's not as depressing as I rememebered it, in fact it's a bit like a circus. The clown is sad and then, when performing, the clown is happy. This makes it a close cousin of 'Super Trouper'.

It is followed by 'Fernando' on ABBA Gold. What an amazing double-whammy. 'Fernando' does indeed pack an iron fist, making references to cannon fire.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Since I've seen "Mamma Mia" I can't take the song seriously.

― Rob M (Rob M), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:42 (twenty-two years ago)

best abba song ever: knowing me, knowing you

― k (blue), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 12:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The Sinead version is a stormer, thankyou PF!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 12:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Fernando rules with an iron fist over Chiquitita.

... And "Cassandanra" (A B-side!!!!) rules with an iron fist over "Fernando"!!!!!

― Old Fart!!! (oldfart_sd), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 17:00 (twenty-two years ago)

PJ is right - chiquitita and fernando are both crap.

― jed (jed_e_3), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 17:05 (twenty-two years ago)

'Chiquitita' is maybe not one of their finest singles, yet the outro is wonderfully rousing and melancholic; the most memorable thing in the song for me is the wonderful leap that the piano makes, after it seems the song has finished, and then this outro bursts in.

― Tom May (Tom May), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Truly, "Cassandra" is a right fine song. Nevertheless, "Fernando" will continue to spur on guerilla warriors of love everywhere.

― dleone (dleone), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

subthread: would it even be possible now for one of the biggest pop records in the world to make a record as "European" (in the sense that even Charles de Gaulle could have accepted) as "Chiquitita"?

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:32 (twenty-two years ago)

It is followed by 'Fernando' on ABBA Gold. What an amazing double-whammy. 'Fernando' does indeed pack an iron fist, making references to cannon fire.

I always thought "Chiquitita" was a clever but still somewhat desperate attempt to clone "Fernando" (tho without the Central American Marxist guerilla subtext ah course) - have I in fact been mistaken all these years and did "Chiquitita" precede "Fernando"?

I like Chiquitita, Fernando, Angelo, Figaro the lot.

Possibly the finest statement I've ever read in ILM.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Thursday, 30 October 2003 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

chica = girl
chiquita = little girl
chiquitita = very little girl

chiquitita possesses much more subtlety than fernando, the chorus is much less bombastic.

― gygax!, Thursday, 30 October 2003 18:20 (twenty-two years ago)

You'd be bombastic if you could hear the distant drums and sounds of bugle calls coming from afar. There was something in the air that night...

― dleone (dleone), Thursday, 30 October 2003 18:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm going to watch the video at some point, so hold on to your hollyhocks.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Friday, 31 October 2003 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I own no version of the song, or of any of the other songs mentionedo on this thread.

I like it though.

I was thinking the other day about how, while I liked Abba in c.1982, and I have nothing to say against their songwriting, which may well be as good as people say it is, I am not sure I would now be enamoured of their sound; assuming that they have a sound.

So O'Connor's version was a good way for me to discover the virtues of this song.

― the pinefox, Saturday, 1 November 2003 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

You want to get the video, Foxy. They perform it in front of a big snowman. It made me very happy, so happy I forgot to Report Back.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Saturday, 1 November 2003 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

finally got a chance to listen to it... the outro is really nice... i like the seques from spanish guitar to piano and back

― gygax! (gygax!), Saturday, 1 November 2003 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

A snowman! Wonderful, where were they getting it from in those days?

― Keith Watson (kmw), Saturday, 1 November 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.abbafiles.com/albums/gracias.jpg

― eriik, Sunday, 2 November 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

er..sorry for the large gracisa

http://www.annafriel.net/pix/ABBA_Chiquitita.jpg

― eriik, Sunday, 2 November 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I am not sure I would now be enamoured of their sound; assuming that they have a sound.

It was at least about the sound, wasn’t it? Lush and unearthly, all that business about varispeeding the tapes to pitchshift the harmonising voices, everything else twinned and stacked, tenor saxes like buzzy synths on Voulez Vous.

Chiquitita, though, was the moment I started to feel a bit embarrassed about my fanclub card-flaunting love for them; following up the ridiculously exciting and exotic Summer Night City with a badly sung* soppy ballad with a load of rambuctious joanna at the end seemed like a fatal error. (* - I really do remember thinking that the girls had lost it – there was something falteringly painful about it, no great blocks of voxy bliss.) I lost interest after that – well, until a few weeks ago, when I sneaked a listen to Madchen’s copy of Abba Gold and was bowled over by Lay All Your Love On Me – Agnetha wandering sadly under a cracking bassline.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 3 November 2003 00:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant 'at least half' above. Or perhaps 'at least two-thirds'.

Do you realise no Swedish man won a tennis title this year for the first time since 1973? Perhaps the Abba era is over.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Monday, 3 November 2003 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I had never heard this song before this thread came up, but wow - that Sinead O'connor version is really nice. Thank you pinefox! This may now force me to buy abba gold or something.

― dave k, Monday, 3 November 2003 00:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Ppff. And I thought this was a thread about that girl off Popworld...

― James Mitchell (James Mitchell), Monday, 3 November 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

ten years pass...

I'll tell you what's wrong, Chiquitita, it's that one random bar of 5/4 in the middle of you. Fucks with me every time.

― finn_the_scot, Wednesday, 15 October 2014 23:49 (eleven years ago)

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