Interpretation[edit]Some interpret the song about "the ordinary life of a woman the day before the arrival of her lover".[2][22] Simon Frith in The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock says the song, his favourite from ABBA's catalogue, is about "the wonder of falling in love by flatly documenting how banal life was before love struck".[23] Christopher Patrick, author of ABBA: Let The Music Speak, says the "account of one ordinary woman's mundane and predictable daily existence" is made sobering as it becomes evident that she doesn't have the lover she yearns for.[3] Malcolm Womack in his article Thank You For the Music: Catherine Johnson's feminist revoicings in Mamma Mia! says the song illustrates a common ABBA theme, in which "the unremarkable woman [is] given purpose by a remarkable man...most often...through romance". He interprets the song as a female narrator listing the bland events throughout her day "until she is rescued from [it by a lover]".[24] However, others interpret the song as depicting the final events in a woman's life before her death. Tom Ewing of Pitchfork comments that the narrator describes the events "on the day before it is changed forever: By what, we never learn." He turns to journalist Taylor Parkes for the answer, whose 1995 essay on ABBA talks about "the spectral choirs of backing vocals suggest[ing] a murderer as much as a lover". He goes on to argue that this song epitomises ABBA's central theme, which is that "life is trivial and nothing happens, but the somethings that might happen are worse".[25] Tom Ewing of Pitchfork notes that the narrator is providing a "hesitant reconstruction" of the events leading up to she meets someone who "we assume is her lover". He comments on the banal details of the day (that come alive through Agnetha's singing technique), which are "contrasted by keening backing vocals of...dread", implying the "You" is in fact referring to a "killer, not partner".[26] Priya Elan of Pitchfork expands on this theory by suggesting that "the protagonist is a ghost, who is eerily detailing the minutiae of her daily life before her murderer – the “you” of the title – ended her life". He adds that despite the theory sounding "far-fetched", the "celestial harmonies" of Frida and Benny throughout the verses, and the harmony (which he suggests is actually shrieking) in the middle eight gives added weight to this interpretation. He adds that it makes the final line "a bit more chilling" due to its ambiguity.[27] Kulture explains that the song "depicts a woman['s] strenuous [and] repetitive daily life at the office and at home, the day before...she meets the man of her life". It then goes on to add that "there is something wrong", in that "instead of being a happy song about complete solitude", the song is driven forward "by an overwhelming sadness". It draws the conclusion that "when she met the man [her life] became even worse", for unspecified reasons that might include "fear, confinement, [or] beatings".[5] One Week II One Band also asks "Is it violent?", citing similarities with the 1960s song “Past, Present And Future” by The Shangri-Las, which has references to sexual abuse.[28]
There are many other possible interpretations. One of the main ones involves the protagonist retrospectively thinking back to the gloomy day before she met her lover who has since left her or even died (for example watching the coffin be lowered as she sings). This is supported by the music video showing a relationship blossoming and then falling apart, and in the final scene (which takes place in a theatre), Agnetha is wearing black and the other ABBA members look as though they are at a funeral. The narrator is only now reflecting on her life before she met her lover, and realising that she was just going through the motions in a worthless existence. She realises that her life changed for the better because of her love. She now sees the mundanity of the life she lived because she has to live that life again, only now knowing what she is missing and not able to live in blissful ignorance. The lyrics are therefore vague but in present tense ("I must have left the house at eight because I always do"), as she has to remember her previous routine, so she can pick it up again. The only time when she speaks with certainty is about the train leaving on time. In the music video, the lover is seen to be running after the train, because the narrator wishes she had been late and had therefore never met him. That is one of the few parts of the story that is essential to her current unhappiness, and is therefore the only concrete fact.[29][30] One Week II One Band says "The conceit of “The Day Before You Came” is simple and could be rather sweet – it’s about trying to remember what life was like before you met your lover. The lyrics reconstruct a typical day – tentatively, because life has changed so much now the singer can hardly remember the her that used to be." Though adds "Agnetha sounds bereaved – the world she’s left, and is singing about, is obviously beyond recovery, and there’s a longing in her voice sometimes as she recounts even the most banal details. And...in place of the chorus there’s a series of ghostly choral howls, wordless cries filled with sorrow." It further explains "it’s about loss: an utterly ordinary lifestyle which turns out to be something worth mourning." It also suggests that to the narrator, "love [is] a threat to [her] autonomy, as is, her life may have been mundane but at least if was her life."[28]
The narrator has also been interpreted as being a murderer, who is, the following day, recounting the events in order to form an alibi. She did it in the unaccounted for 2 hours between leaving work and arriving home - spoken about at the end of verse two. (She leaves her house at 8 and arrives at work at 9:15, yet she leaves work at 5 and arrives at home at 8). This part of the song is sung with much gusto and passion in order to convince the authorities, while the rest is sung with a feigned sadness. The theatre scene is placed in the music video as the narrator is merely performing, trying to entertain the three policemen/detectives, played by the other 3 band members, who are not convinced of her story. The song has a melancholy tone because deep down the narrator knows she will not get away with the murder. Frida's shrill operatic background vocals in the instrumental breaks symbolise the murder. They are performed twice - once in the place within the narrative where it actually takes place, and another time after the narrator has concluded her story, as she dwells on her murder. Her alibi is why is very direct and knowledgeable about the times in her story, and vague about everything else.
Another interpretation is that the entire song being a dream that the protagonist tries to recall after waking up – her tragic life being the "you" (supported by the vagueness of the lyrics). If the event the song is building up to is in fact her murder (and she is staring her murderer in the face whilst singing this song), the vague recollections may be due to her being drugged. She could also have a terminal illness, and be, after death, going through the final moments before her inevitable death. Another interpretation is that, throughout the song, the narrator has a sense of hope that her repetitive gloomy day will somehow get better, but singing from the perspective of the following day (which turned out exactly the same), she knows deep down this will not be the case. "She keeps living her office life in attendance of what should be coming but isn't. The guy in the train is a dream, in the end he does not materialize. That is why the song ends so sad, while continuing the theme of the song."[31][unreliable source?] The constant referring to "rain" throughout the song is seen by some to have a symbolic meaning, perhaps of crying. The man in the music video has been interpreted as being a dream of the narrator, which is why, as the train goes off into the distance, the song ends on a melancholy tone (the happy dream has come to an end). The entire song may be the narrator's life flashing before her eyes just before she dies.[32]
80s45s says that the "clockwork rhythm [of the] melancholic synthesizers and multi-tracked backing vocals" emulates the "relentless, yet comforting [sound] of the commuter train [as seen in the video clip]", and that the song is in fact about "the alienation of modern life". He says the narrator lives in "quiet desperation", something many can relate to, and recounts the tedium of her day-to-day life "as if to convince herself of her purpose in existing". He argues that "the song is about the day when her self-sufficiency ceases to sustain her [and when] succumbing to the pressure of loneliness, she trades her solitary stability...for love...[a] flimsy...defense against the emptiness of existence". 80s45s interprets the "powerful sense of finality [and the] baleful triumph [as the music swells in the outro]" as her being "resigned to the impossibility of returning to former comforts having once left them".[22]
While the entire song is leading up to something coming, and the narrator describes how mundane her life is before this event takes place, it is not explained what actually happens after the thing comes, something which remains a "pop mystery" like the "identity of the subject of Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain'". After being asked by The Times about this on March 26, 2010, Ulvaeus "smiled enigmatically" and said: "You've spotted it, haven't you? The music is hinting at it".[1][33
