Singled Out: DD Verni & The Cadillac Band's 'So Long' (ABBA Cover)

09-23-2025

DD Verni & The Cadillac Band just released their take on the ABBA classic "So Long", and to celebrate we asked DD to delve a little deeper into what inspired them to cover the song on their new album "Buckle Up". Here is the story:

What inspired you to give the Abba song "So Long" your treatment?: I'm always listening to music with half an ear for, "is this a song I could cover?" The song has a swing it in that has a swing like the rock n roll/big band style we do...or so I thought, haha. And as I started playing along, it felt very natural to have it steer a bit more towards that style. Plus, I have some great female singers (Kingston and GreyStarr) in my band so having the ability to have keep some female vocals in it was appealing. Lyrically I had to change it to a male perspective, but the idea of 'I don't care or need money to be with someone because they want to be with me' has a rock & roll attitude: 'So long see you honey.' So I could relate to that.

Can you talk about the recording of it in the studio and how you feel it turned out?: I did an arrangement for this that felt great to me; on the original it just kind of fades out at the end but I felt I could get it rocking some and that turned out very cool. I sent it to Jim McMillen who did an amazing job on the horn arrangements. We worked very well together and he 'got it' right away. Everything we did for the record was about lots of energy, and I felt like the horns really grabbed that. Plus Bernie Dresel who played drums just did an amazing job on the whole record, but he really gets playing with rock & roll energy while keeping a swing/big band base in the song."

What are your thoughts about ABBA in general?: I absolutely love ABBA. I mean really, who doesn't? They just write such great catchy songs. I mean, I could live without some of the really disco stuff, but if you listen to their catalog, a lot of it is not so much that, but just great pop songs. I got stuck on 'Waterloo' a number of years ago after watching the movie 'The Martian,' which is one of my favorites. There's a whole thing in the movie about the captain loving ABBA. I recently went to see 'Mamma Mia' on Broadway, and it was just amazing. I think of ABBA as fun and energetic music that's catchy the very first time you hear it. I really love music like that, and that's what I really strive for in my writing.

Will you be performing "So Long" live?: I'm really excited for people to hear this version. I have done a lot of interviews and get asked about this song in particular a bunch, because as I said everyone is an ABBA fan. But this is a deeper cut of theirs, and the response has been great so far. Will be a fun song to play live. We're starting with some shows later in the year so I'm hoping for some singing and dancing for this one. Although I will not be putting on bell bottoms and platform shoes-I mean there has to be a line somewhere (laughs).

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more here