Indie / rock covers of ABBA's "Dancing Queen"?

January 27, 2007 9:39 AM

I recently admitted to myself and to the world that I really, really love ABBA's Dancing Queen! Are there any interesting indie / rock covers of it to be found online?

Links would be nice, but not necessary. I just want to listen (and know that such covers exist) to many, many variations of it, and it would be interesting to hear other artists' (esp. in other genres) take on such a glorious pop song.

posted by Lush to media & arts (28 answers total)

Milo Binder's singer-songwriteresque version of it on this compilation is a favorite of mine.
posted by FreezBoy at 9:43 AM on January 27, 2007

well, here's a list of people that have covered "dancing queen" according to the covers project.
posted by noloveforned at 9:43 AM on January 27, 2007

You do know about the A-Teens, right?
posted by gramcracker at 9:59 AM on January 27, 2007

While not an outright cover, The JAM's The Queen and I makes extensive use of samples from Dancing Queen.
posted by Aznable at 10:08 AM on January 27, 2007

Moxy Fruvous has a medley built around Dancing Queen and has some live shows on archive.org. You can just poke around for one that has "Dancing Queen Medley" on the set list. For example, this show.
posted by cmm at 10:09 AM on January 27, 2007

Yes, gramcracker. Though the fact that you ask makes me think maybe I should have put more emphasis on the indie / rock part of my question.
posted by Lush at 10:11 AM on January 27, 2007

U2's take, featuring Bjorn and Benny. (yt)
posted by gnomeloaf at 10:16 AM on January 27, 2007

I quite like the Redd Kross version, which can be heard in YouTube quality here.
posted by Martin E. at 10:19 AM on January 27, 2007

I like Robbie Fulks' live acoustic version. It does exist online, but not sure of the link.
posted by Clyde Mnestra at 10:24 AM on January 27, 2007

Not indie rock, but I like the ethnic flavor of Salma & Sabina covering many things ABBA - Scroll down to Salma and Sabina (aprilwinchell.com) There are also some german ABBA covers in there as well as a bunch of other weird/nice stuff.
posted by isopraxis at 10:33 AM on January 27, 2007

Admittedly not DQ, but Erasure covered several Abba songs on the Abba-esque EP: "(which) in due course precipitated the release of a similar EP, Erasure-ish, by ABBA tribute band Björn Again, which featured two Erasure tracks ("A Little Respect" and "Stop!") performed in the style of ABBA.
"Many credit this EP release [in 1992] as a major catalyst for a revival of ABBA's music in the 1990s, which was further perpetuated with heavy emphasis on ABBA music in the motion pictures Muriel's Wedding and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, as well as the stage show Mamma Mia!"
posted by dash_slot- at 10:34 AM on January 27, 2007

Also not Dancing Queen, but you may like the great Oliver's Army by Elvis Costello, who has remarked that Steve Nieve pretty much lifted the piano part from Dancing Queen.
posted by chococat at 10:56 AM on January 27, 2007

Robbie Fulks' version is from when he was on Fresh Air promoting Let's Kill Saturday Night... so sometime in 1998? Unfortunately you can't listen to old Fresh Air episodes easily like you can for TAL.
posted by Infernarl at 11:01 AM on January 27, 2007

You can't?

Granted, only in streaming format. 1998 is a bit old (the archives go back to sometime in the early 2000's), but this one had a recent rerun so it's up there.
posted by abcde at 11:26 AM on January 27, 2007

Sixpence None The Richer does a version that appears on a greatest hits package. Here's a link to an Amazon hosted sample

I generally like SNTR a great deal, but this treatment of that song really doesn't do anything for me since it seems so similar to the ABBA version.
posted by hwestiii at 11:59 AM on January 27, 2007

It ain’t “Dancing Queen,” but Chris Knox (of Tall Drawfs) does a rendition of “S.O.S.” that I love.
posted by ijoshua at 12:54 PM on January 27, 2007

Apparently, there’s also an ABBA covers compilation, Abbasalutely.
posted by ijoshua at 12:56 PM on January 27, 2007

^
I was coming in here to mention that album. It's pretty good, featuring most of the key artists of the 1980s-mid 90s classic era of New Zealand alternative/indie music (Headless Chickens, Tall Dwarves, Able Tasmans, 3Ds, Martin from the Chills, Shayne from Straightjacket Fits, etc...
posted by Infinite Jest at 1:27 PM on January 27, 2007

The Yahoos 2001 album Fear Not The Obvious has a wonderfully sloppy southern rock take on Dancing Queen.
posted by COD at 2:06 PM on January 27, 2007

Luka Bloom plays it live and recorded it on his album Keeper of the Flame.
posted by prolific at 2:27 PM on January 27, 2007

A quick peek at the hype machine implies that both Belle and Sebastian and the Sugarcubes have covered it at some point. And, hey, if you're into German bluegrass, the Texas Lightning link works, even!

Also: Wikipedia's list of artists who have covered ABBA songs.
posted by confusionball at 3:41 PM on January 27, 2007

Third Robbie Fulks' acoustinc cover.

Second "Oliver's Army." Lots of that album, Armed Forces, drew inspiration from Abba's arrangements.
posted by ibmcginty at 4:40 PM on January 27, 2007

Ohhhh, my favorite version of Dancing Queen has to be the version created by my very favorite bad vocalist, Wing (Yes, she of South Park fame.).

I can't explain why, but when I hear her sing it makes me smile from ear to ear... admittedly, it also makes my eardrums bleed. But in a good way.
posted by miss lynnster at 5:09 PM on January 27, 2007

I think the best cover is by P, featuring Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and Johnny Depp (?!).
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:24 PM on January 27, 2007

On a Fresh Air a few years ago Terry Gross asked this atheist country music musician to do a cover and he did Dancing Queen.. Unfortunately, I can't find it online thought.
posted by cowmix at 5:54 PM on January 27, 2007

The Stanford Fleet Street Singers, an all-male a capella band from Stanford University, do a nice cover. It's on their album "What You Want," which is unfortunately out of print.
posted by L. Fitzgerald Sjoberg at 6:08 PM on January 27, 2007

Tangent: you should watch this video of a car trip from Iowa City to Chicago listening to "Dancing Queen" on repeat.
posted by Hankins at 9:17 PM on January 27, 2007

Cowmix: My second Fresh Air-related post in a row... Robbie Fulks. I heard that episode, but it was such a vague memory that I couldn't remember the specifics until you mentioned it, so couldn't post anything here.
posted by abcde at 7:45 AM on January 28, 2007