"Knowing Me, Knowing You" was recorded in 1976 at the Metronome Studios in Stockholm and was released as a single in February 1977, becoming one of the group's more successful hits. The B-side was "Happy Hawaii", an arrangement of another ABBA song, "Why Did It Have to Be Me?", but with a different lead vocalist and lyrics.[citation needed]
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" was one of the early ABBA songs to deal with the break-up of a relationship. It predates the divorces of the ABBA members as well as further break-up songs to come: "The Winner Takes It All", "One of Us" and "When All Is Said and Done". "Conociéndome, Conociéndote" is the Spanish-language version of the song. It was included in the compilation Oro: Grandes Éxitos released in 1993 and Gracias Por La Música released in 1980.
Receptionedit
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" proved to be one of ABBA's more successful singles, hitting #1 in West Germany (ABBA's sixth consecutive chart-topper there and had sold over 300,000 copies there by September 1979),[3] and the United Kingdom,[4] Ireland, Mexico and South Africa,[5] and reaching the top 3 in Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It was a top 10 hit in Australia, Canada, France, New Zealand and Norway. In the United States, it became ABBA's sixth top 20 single, peaking at #14 on the Hot 100 and reaching #7 on Billboard's AC chart.
In the UK, "Knowing Me, Knowing You" was one of the biggest singles of 1977.[6] It also began a second run of three consecutive #1 singles for ABBA (followed by "The Name of the Game" and "Take a Chance on Me"), the group having had three consecutive #1 hit singles in 1976. As of September 2021, it is the group's third-biggest song in the country with 1.02 million chart sales, made up of pure sales and streams.[7]
Billboard reviewed the song and described it as a "melodically energetic but sad worded ditty about a romantic breakup."[8]Cash Box called it "a softly rocking record that combines memorable pop hooks in their distinctive reverb-soaked ambiance" and said that it has "a sound agreeable to just about any top 40 station."[9]Record World said that "Its chorus is a mighty hook, capping another superb melody."[10]
"Knowing Me, Knowing You" continues to be regarded as one of ABBA's finest songs. In 2017, Billboard ranked the song number four on their list of the 15 greatest ABBA songs,[11] and in 2021, Rolling Stone ranked the song number two on their list of the 25 greatest ABBA songs.[12]
Music videoedit
The music video for "Knowing Me, Knowing You" depicts the band against various colored backdrops singing while facing each other, turning away as a new line is sung. At the end of the video, the band's female members are seen walking away through thick snow. The video was directed by future Academy Award nominee Lasse Hallström, and most other videos of the band were directed by him.[13]
Richard Clayderman played an instrumental version on his album The ABBA Collection.
Live cover performances and appearances in other mediaedit
Brief clips from the original ABBA recording features in the film ABBA: The Movie (1977) when Ashley is stuck in a traffic jam; it is presumably coming from the radio of another car.
The song is performed in the musical Mamma Mia! by the character of Sam. In the context of the musical, the song is used as Sam's description of his failed marriage.
^"Ultra Top - Belgian Charts". Ultra Top. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
^"ABBA - KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU". Single Top 100. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^"Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^"Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^Pennanen, Timo (2021). "ABBA". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021(PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 8. Retrieved 21 June 2022.
^"The Irish Charts > ABBA". IrishCharts.ie. Retrieved 3 November 2020. Note: User must define search parameter as "Abba".
^"Hits of the World". Billboard. 19 March 1977. p. 70. Retrieved 17 July 2021 – via Google Books.
^"ABBA - KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
^"Official Top 40 Singles". RIANZ. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^"Norwegian Charts > ABBA" (in Norwegian). norwegiancharts.com Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
^http://home.zipworld.com.au/~callisto/zimbabwe.html Archived 8 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2017-09-23.
^"SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 17 July 2021.
^"Hot 100 - ABBA". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
^Downey, Pat; Albert, George; Hoffmann, Frank W (1994). Cash Box pop singles charts, 1950–1993. Libraries Unlimited. p. 1. ISBN 978-1-56308-316-7.
^"Offizielle Deutsche Charts: ABBA". GfK Entertainment (in German). Offizielle Deutsche Charts. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
^"Kent Music Report No 183 – 26 December 1977 > National Top 100 Singles for 1977". Kent Music Report. Retrieved 8 January 2022 – via Imgur.com.
^Steffen Hung. "Forum - 1970 (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^"Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^Hunter, Nigel; Scaping, Peter, eds. (1978). "Top 100 Singles in 1977". BPI Year Book 1978 (3rd ed.). London, England: The British Phonographic Industry Ltd. pp. 216–17. ISBN 0-906154-01-4.
^"Top 100 Hits of 1977/Top 100 Songs of 1977". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 12 October 2016.