‘The Name of the Game’ is the first single from ABBA’s fifth studio album, titled ABBA: The Album. It spent a month at the top spot of the UK charts, and made it to #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
The song’s opening riff was apparently inspired by the Stevie Wonder song ‘I Wish,’ which appeared on Songs in the Key of Life a year earlier. It was sampled by The Fugees, quite effectively, on their 1996 track ‘Rumble in the Jungle,’ the first time ABBA allowed another act to sample their music.
All of that aside, my one and only association with this song is the amazing three-minute segment of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, in which Lily James performs it while cartwheeling through an orchard and being chased by a goat.
That sequence contains one of the greatest shots in modern cinema, captured partially in this GIF:
I’ve seen you twice, in a short time
Only a week since we started
It seems to me, for every time
I’m getting more open-hearted
[Pre-Chorus: Agnetha & Frida]
I was an impossible case
No one ever could reach me
But I think I can see in your face
There’s a lot you can teach me
So I wanna know
[Chorus: Agnetha & Frida]
What’s the name of the game?
Does it mean anything to you?
What’s the name of the game?
Can you feel it the way I do?
[Post-Chorus: Frida]
Tell me, please, ’cause I have to know
I’m a bashful child beginning to grow
[Bridge: Frida & Agnetha]
And you make me talk (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
And you make me feel (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
And you make me show (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
What I’m trying to conceal (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
If I trust in you (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
Would you let me down? (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
Would you laugh at me (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
If I said I care for you? (Ah-ah)
Could you feel the same way too, I wanna know
The name of the game
[Verse 2: Agnetha & Frida]
I have no friends, no one to see
And I am never invited
Now I am here, talking to you
No wonder I get excited
[Pre-Chorus: Agnetha & Frida]
Your smile, and the sound of your voice
And the way you see through me
Got a feeling, you give me no choice
But it means a lot to me
So I wanna know
[Chorus: Agnetha, Frida & Björn]
What’s the name of the game?
(Your smile and the sound of your voice)
Does it mean anything to you?
(Got a feeling you give me no choice, but it means a lot)
What’s the name of the game?
(Your smile and the sound of your voice)
Can you feel it the way I do?
[Post-Chorus: Frida]
Tell me, please, ’cause I have to know
I’m a bashful child beginning to grow
[Bridge: Frida, Agnetha & Frida]
And you make me talk (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
And you make me feel (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
And you make me show (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
What I’m trying to conceal (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
If I trust in you (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
Would you let me down? (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
Would you laugh at me (Doo-doo, doo-doo)
If I said I care for you? (Ah-ah)
Could you feel the same way too, I wanna know
Oh, yes, I wanna know
[Chorus: Agnetha, Frida & Björn]
The name of the game
(I was an impossible case)
Does it mean anything to you?
(But I think I can see in your face that it means a lot)
What’s the name of the game?
(Your smile and the sound of your voice)
Can you feel it the way I do?
(Got a feeling you give me no choice, but it means a lot)
[Chorus: Agnetha, Frida & Björn]
The name of the game
(I was an impossible case)
Does it mean anything to you?
(But I think I can see in your face that it means a lot)
What’s the name of the game?
(Your smile and the sound of your voice)
Can you feel it…
Meet Me In Montauk 
You are too funny!
😂
Wonderful song and scene 🙂 love the colors of that outfit so much. We actually watched an extended version on the special features of our dvd, but I think they made the right call and cut it down exactly where it needed to be.