Tim Rice had long wanted to create a musical about the Cold War; in the 1970s he had discussed writing a musical about the Cuban Missile Crisis with his usual collaborator, Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 1979, Rice had the idea to instead tell the story through the prism of the American-Soviet chess rivalry; he had previously been fascinated by the political machinations of the 1972 "Match of the Century" between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. Lloyd Webber was busy at the time with the musical Cats, so American producer Richard Vos suggested working with Andersson and Ulvaeus instead, knowing they were looking for projects outside of ABBA. Rice, who was a fan of ABBA, agreed; he wrote later that he felt no reservations because "there is a sense of theatre in the ABBA style". Rice met with the two for the first time in December 1981 in Stockholm to discuss the concept (Vos was also in attendance), and they quickly signed on to the project.
All through 1983 Rice, Andersson and Ulvaeus worked on the music and lyrics. Rice would describe the mood of particular songs he wanted, then Andersson and Ulvaeus would write and record the music and send the tapes to Rice, and Rice would then write lyrics to fit the music. Some of the songs on the album contained elements of music Andersson and Ulvaeus previously had written for ABBA: the chorus of "I Know Him So Well", for instance, was based on the chorus of "I Am An A", a song from ABBA's 1977 tour; while the chorus of "Anthem" used the chords of the guitar solo of "Our Last Summer". Ulvaeus would also provide dummy lyrics to emphasize the rhythmic patterns of the music, and some of them ended up in the final version since Rice found them "embarrassingly good" ("One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble" is the most well-known example).One song, which became "Heaven Help My Heart", was recorded
with an entire set of lyrics, sung by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog, with the title "Every Good Man"; though none of the original lyrics from this song were used.
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All through 1983 Rice, Andersson and Ulvaeus worked on the music and lyrics. Rice would describe the mood of particular songs he wanted, then Andersson and Ulvaeus would write and record the music and send the tapes to Rice, and Rice would then write lyrics to fit the music. Some of the songs on the album contained elements of music Andersson and Ulvaeus previously had written for ABBA: the chorus of "I Know Him So Well", for instance, was based on the chorus of "I Am An A", a song from ABBA's 1977 tour; while the chorus of "Anthem" used the chords of the guitar solo of "Our Last Summer". Ulvaeus would also provide dummy lyrics to emphasize the rhythmic patterns of the music, and some of them ended up in the final version since Rice found them "embarrassingly good" ("One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble" is the most well-known example).One song, which became "Heaven Help My Heart", was recorded
with an entire set of lyrics, sung by ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog, with the title "Every Good Man"; though none of the original lyrics from this song were used.
Chess Musical Tickets at Sold Out Ticket Market
Ticket Market for Chess Musical Tickets
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