Cassandra (song)

Infobox Song
Name =Cassandra


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Type =B-side to "The Day Before You Came"
Artist =ABBA
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Released =October 18, 1982
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Genre =Pop/Europop
Length =4:56
Writer =Björn Ulvaeus,
Benny Andersson
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Label =Polar (Sweden)
Epic (UK)
Producer =Björn Ulvaeus,
Benny Andersson
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Audio sample? ="Cassandra", originally "El Paso", is a song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA, released on October 18, 1982 as the B-side of the single "The Day Before You Came". In Yugoslavia, however, "Cassandra" was released as the A-side, despite the fact that it did not appear on the compilation album that featured "The Day Before You Came".

The song

"Cassandra" was written and produced by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with Anni-Frid Lyngstad delivering the lead vocal. The song appears to be about an unknown Trojan singing about the events she has witnessed, but also about Cassandra of Troy, the chorus, for example, stating: "Sorry, Cassandra, I misunderstood, now the last day is dawning." Another part of the chorus, "Some of us wanted, but none of us would listen to words of warning, but on the darkest of nights, nobody knew how to fight & we were caught in our sleep" appears to be about the Greeks sneaking out of the wooden horse (see "Trojan Horse") to destroy Troy while the helpless Trojans were either asleep or drunk (due to a great celebration in the city). As the song progresses, it becomes clear that Cassandra can see into the future ("You know the future is cast in a shadow... No one else sees it but you know your fate"). In Greek mythology, no one believed in Cassandra's prophecies as Apollo had placed a curse on her so that no one would ever believe her predictions. ("I only saw it as dreams you would weave until the final hour").

Chart success

The single "The Day Before You Came" was released at a time when ABBA's popularity was declining in the UK, hence the reason why it only reached number 32. It was, however, a much bigger hit in Continental Europe, reaching the Top 5 in several countries.