ABOUT THIS BOOK

Since its release in 1976, ABBA’s song “Fernando” has been loved by fans around the globe both for its sing-along chorus and its revolutionary spirit. In Fernando, Kay Dickinson takes readers from Sweden and Chile to Australia and Poland, tracing the complicated ways the song could express support with anticapitalist and Third World liberation struggles while remaining an unrepentant commodity. A song about freedom fighters was unlikely to become a pop mega-hit, yet as Dickinson demonstrates, ABBA’s lucrative, longstanding appeal rests on their ability to bridge contradictions within everyday life. Five decades later, “Fernando’s” rousing calls for freedom continue to resonate with gay liberation movements and other social struggles, demonstrating how a song can be both revolutionary and an envoy for global capital.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Kay Dickinson is Programme Convenor for Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Glasgow and author of Supply Chain Cinema: Producing Global Film Workers.

REVIEWS

“In this deeply researched analysis, Kay Dickinson approaches ‘Fernando’ as a rich and complex text, exemplifying tensions between revolution and global commodification. In applying sociopolitical, musicological, and technological lenses to ‘Fernando,’ Dickinson’s book is a deftly woven, insightful, and highly engaging critical appraisal of one of ABBA’s greatest hits.”
-- Samantha Bennett, Professor of Music, The Australian National University

“ABBA’s ‘Fernando’ winked at legibility, seduced the world with multitracked layers of improbable connection. Kay Dickinson’s Fernando sees the song as a marketed revolution on her study’s A-side, revolutionary marketing on its flip, and without clarifying squat renders each and every layer a semiotic postcard.”
-- Eric Weisbard, author of Songbooks: The Literature of American Popular Music

"Dickinson writes with academic rigor, but her prose is accessible and, at times, even lyrical, mirroring the lush sentimentality of the song itself. This trim book ultimately stands as a testament to the power of pop and how even the softest, most polished melodies can carry the weight of revolution, heartbreak, and liberation. Dickinson’s work will appeal to anyone curious about how a four-minute song can move millions, literally and symbolically."
-- Claire Sewell Library Journal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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