Thank You For The Music - Live Covers and Appearances in Other Media

Live Covers and Appearances in Other Media

• The original ABBA recording features in the film ABBA: The Movie (1977).
• A live version was performed on TV by The Carpenters on The Tonight Show hosted by John Davidson, on 27 June 1978 . They first heard the song when ABBA performed it on Starparade, as the Carpenters were sharing the bill with them for that particular episode. They laid down a track for it but Richard said:

  Nobody does ABBA like ABBA. I realized that, as usual, Benny and Bjorn had done the definitive arrangement and all I'd be doing was copying it; something I just don't do, of course. It's an outtake, never completed and in storage with the rest of the stuff in Pennsylvania.

  Fans have been requesting for years that Richard Carpenter release the Carpenters' version.

• The song is performed in the Mamma Mia! musical by the characters of Sophie and Harry. However, it omits the first verse of the original song. In the context of the musical, Harry is reminiscing about his younger, carefree days. At the same time, Sophie is letting the potential fathers get to know her better. She expresses how much she loves to sing and dance. In order to coincide with the lyric, "I'm the girl with golden hair," Sophie's hair colour is usually blonde. "The Girl with Golden Hair" was a mini-musical that Benny and Bjorn wrote which ABBA performed during their 1977 tour of Europe and Australia.
• American singer Deborah Boily recorded a live performance of the song for her album Thank You for the Music.
• Portuguese singer Nucha performed the song on the show Chuva de Estrelas for the channel SIC during the early 1990s.
• A live version was performed by Norwegian art band, Hurra Torpedo.
• 16-year-old Zoe Birkett performed a rendition of the song on the final 6 round of hit series Pop Idol, in 2002.
• In the 2003 comedy film Johnny English starring Rowan Atkinson, it is briefly sung in the dark as an echo chant.
• The song was sung on Australian Idol season 6 by Teale Jakubenko during ABBA week.
• In the "French and Saunders: Still Alive" farewell tour in 2008, both Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders perform the song to close the show with Dawn choosing to send herself up by making noises instead of actually singing in some parts.
• Several ABBA cover bands end their concerts with "Thank You for the Music", as a tribute to the original group.
• The horror novel Little Star by John Ajvide Lindqvist opens with a quote from "Thank You For The Music".