KMC Forums - Happy New Year

ABBA's "Happy New Year" documents the disillusionment following a celebration, particularly a New Year's Eve party. There is no more champagne, and the morning is so grey. Our dreams are realized. Confetti is on the floor. All we can do is look to the future, hoping that our neighbors are friends and that we all have the will to try. Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" was a futuristic nightmare." Huxley picked his title from Shakespeare's "The Tempest." "O brave new world that has such people in it!" exclaims Miranda. And "The Tempest" takes place on an island, something Shakespeare and ABBA have in common. Pessimism and cynicism claim ABBA's song in the end. Man is seen as a fool, going astray on feet of clay. The great flaw in "Happy New Year" is that Benny & Bjorn dated it with "in the end of '89." It will not be relevant again until 2089.

I became conscious of the song's theme of death. This might be expected as the old year (1979) is "dying" and the new year (1980) is "being born." I feel like ABBA takes it farther. They sing "It's the end," "We might as well lay down and die," "in the ashes of our lives," and "The dreams we had before are all dead." I was too young in 1980 to anticipate death. Turning 67, however, and with my parents gone, I think about it every day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mObouU6xacs

No more champagne
And the fireworks are through
Here we are, me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It's the end of the party
And the morning seems so grey
So unlike yesterday
Now's the time for us to say...

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I

Seems to me now
That the dreams we had before
Are all dead, nothing more
Than confetti on the floor
It's the end of a decade
In another ten years time
Who can say what we'll find
What lies waiting down the line
In the end of '89

Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year
Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die
You and I