Fernando - ABBA (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Fernando (ABBA, 1976). Live performance by Bill Sharkey, Puka's Bar & Grill, Kahala, HI. 2025-03-05. "Keeping the Oldies Alive"

"Fernando," written by Stig Anderson, Benny Andersson & Bjorn Ulvaeus, was ABBA's sixth top 40 hit landing at the no. 13 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1976 (Whitburn, 2013). The song hit the no 1position in the UK (Kutner & Leigh, 2005) as well as in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland and West Germany (songfacts, 2025). Ulvaeus stated that "That lyric is so banal and I didn't like it. It was a love lyric, someone who loved Fernando, but I inherited the word 'Fernando' and I thought long and hard, what does Fernando tell me? I was in my summerhouse one starry evening and the words came, 'There was something in the air that night' and I thought of two old comrades from some guerrilla war in Mexico who would be sitting in the porch and reminiscing about what happened to them back then and this is what it is all about. Total fiction" (Kutner & Leigh, 2005).

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Lyrics:

Can you hear the drums Fernando
I remember long ago another starry night like this
In the firelight Fernando
You were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar
I could hear the distant drums
And sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar

They were closer now Fernando
Every hour every minute seemed to last eternally
I was so afraid Fernando
We were young and full of life and none of us prepared to die
And I'm not ashamed to say
The roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Now we're old and grey Fernando
And since many years I haven't seen a rifle in your hand
Can you hear the drums Fernando
Do you still recall the frightful night we crossed the Rio Grande
I can see it in your eyes
How proud you were to fight for freedom in this land

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

There was something in the air that night
The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There's no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Yes, if I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando