ABBA, ABBA songs and my memories of ABBA lyrics!
77If you say the word ABBA in Sweden, everyone immediately get two things on their mind: the pop group ABBA and the fish-canning factory; ABBA Seafood AB, that doesn’t sing a tune, but instead produce absolutely delicious food from the sea in Sweden. This article is about the pop group ABBA and I would like to remind you of their music in case you have forgotten about them!
The group was active from 1972 to 1982 with, as I remember it, their biggest hits in the 70´s. I have so many memories from their carrier and from events attached to their music since I was a teenager during some of those years. When I searched my collection of old LP discs I found their first four albums, all produced by the Polar Music AB. It is a special feeling to touch them now after so many years and I remember everything about them. The covers are a bit worn on the edges and the latest of my records, “Arrival”, from 1976 has unfortunately no album cover at all. My favourite song back then, Dancing Queen, is on that particular album. The album with the song that my friends and I played over and over again, so I guess the cover gave in at the end! I will tell more about why, later on.
The group started out pretty much as any other Swedish pop group at that time around 1970 and at the time, they didn’t had the name ABBA. Their group name back then was Bjorn& Benny and later, when the girls joined, they called themselves Bjorn & Benny, Agnetha & AnniFrid.
Ring, Ring
Ring, Ring
In 1973 the participated in The Eurovision Song Contest with a song called “ Ring, Ring” and that is the first ABBA song I really remember. It is a sweet song with a very relevant and true message for that time. I spent hours and hours waiting for that phone call to come! If I didn't wait for a phone call I talked to my friends on the phone instead and we shared our thoughts with the music “Ring Ring” in the background. ABBA didn't win the Eurovision Song Contest that year but the song was placed third in the Swedish preliminary round. It isn´t one of my favorite but it is the first song I remember by ABBA.
ABBA, Ring, Ring
ABBA
When the popularity increased in Sweden and in other parts of Europe it became unpractical to have a group name that consisted of their actual names so 1973 was the year for the official naming of the group: ABBA. The group name is formed from the first letter of the group members name and was easy to use also for other countries outside Europe.
Waterloo!
In 1974 they group once again participated in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Waterloo” and at this time they actually won and qualified as the Swedish entry in the Eurovision Song contest! I can still remember how excited I was that night, watching ABBA win the contest in Brighton, in England 1974!
My parents didn’t know what to think of them nor the winning song. For the first time a pop song of that kind won the contest and how they rocked! Dressed in plateau boots and glitzy clothes they looked so smart and very different compared to the other entries. Or that was at least my opinion but I was of course partial!
Take a Look for yourself and enjoy!.
ABBA, Waterloo
My favorite back then; The Dancing Queen!
The ABBA song the “Dancing Queen” was performed for the first time in 1976 at the Royal Swedish Opera for King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. The performance was a part of the Royal marriage that was a fantastic and memorable event. I can still remember the feeling of astonishment I had watching on TV when they performed this for the Royalties and all the honorable guests from other countries. And during the whole song I wondered how the King and the Queen would react to this song. But of course they liked it, and both the King and the Queen smiled and clapped their hands when they finished the song. ABBA had traditional 18th Century costumes to honour the occasion and it was so totally unlike their usual dresses. Everything they did during this time was wonderful and made a big success.
During this time in Sweden it was very uncommon for artists to look the way ABBA did so their image with plenty of glitz and glamor was something totally new. As a teenager, I absolutely loved them! My friends and me could dance to the songs over and over again and some special and a bit complicated steps were invented to some of the songs. We spent endless hours in my room trying to get the steps right, while Dancing Queen roared from the huge speakers I had in my room. And we learn the words by heart by doing so. We felt so cool, when we later on danced those special dances on discos! Even now, when I hear the song my feet sort of make the special moves without me thinking about it.
I must add a video from US TV special News back in 1979! The quality isn’t the best, but the content is!
ABBA consisted of two married couples; Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Björn Ulveus and Agneta Fältskog. Unfortunately Agneta and Bjorn broke up in 1979. They continued to do play together and also made tours, but in 1981 the marriage between Benny and Anni-Frid Lyngstad ended also. The group finally broke up a few years after that, in 1983. Since then, there has been endless request for a reunion and the former members of ABBA have been offered big amounts of money to do a performance again. But so far, it hasn’t happened and I don’t believe it will either. Why should they? Nothing they do together now could ever compete with what they did together back then.
All four team members have made career themselves after the group broke up. Bjorn and Benny have continued to work together and have made some wonderful musicals as well as songs together. Through them, some of the old ABBA sound keeps on living and in my mind they are both fantastic composers and songwriters. The most famous international musicals done by Bjorn and Benny are Chess and Mamma Mia.
In 2000 ABBA where offered one milliard dollar for a tour but they turned the offer down. In fact, it seemed almost impossible to bring them together even at the same place and it wasn’t before 2008 that all four of them could be photographed together again! At that time they where all attending the premiere of the movie “Mamma Mia” at the cinema Rival in Stockholm, Sweden.
The 15 March 2010 the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Bee Gees as the first Swedes ever. Anni-Frid and Benny gave their acceptance speech at this great and honourable event. In the speeches they explain their music as well as the Swedes!
ABBA has sold 400 million albums worldwide and the group still sell 2-4 million records per year! So the interest for ABBA continues!
There has been, and still are, some plans on opening an ABBA museum in Stockholm. It has been discussed during a couple of years but so far there is no real building plan. I think it is a great idea and there are so much to show about their marvellous career so I think it would be a given success!
Even though I don’t listen to ABBA so much now I remember every word and I still love the music. It is a very special sound, the ABBA sound.
Please join me in this cavalcade of great ABBA songs that also happens to be some of my personal favourites. They have done so many more great songs but it is impossible to include them all. But these are really great! Enjoy!
Mamma Mia
ABB, Take a chance on me!
Does your mother know?
Now, after listening to all those videos while I wrote this hub, I feel that it is a sad that my husband don’t know the special steps and moves that I learned back then in the 70s. He is a bit older than me and he has never been an ABBA fan like me and my friends were at the time, although he likes their music.
I think I will have to invite the girls from back then to a big ABBA party!
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I always liked ABBA and thanks for bringing back some good memories of this band. I always had wanted to see them, but never got a chance to.
I loved listening to ABBA music in the 1970's. Thank you for all the great memories, Tina - and for the information. I didn't know that "Dancing Queen" was created for a royal marriage celebration. This is a wonderful hub for an ABBA fan!
Thanks for this page, I will bookmark it and return often. ABBA was one of my favorites too as was Dancing Queen. When Dancing Queen was at it's height of popularity I was a lonely teenage boy looking for her in dance clubs that allowed teens. If "Anybody could be that guy..." I wanted to know why she wasn't finding me... ahhh how painful being a teenager was ha ha ha. Thanks for the memories.
Bob
Tina I started smiling in the first capsule and it just got bigger from there. What a delightful tribute and ABBA bio. Your experiences with the music and learning the dance steps and all were such fun to read about. Now, back in the day you would never have caught me saying I liked ABBA, but in the intervening years there's been a reevaluation and now they're loved! Dancing Queen and the rest of em are awesome songs still today. Ha! What in the world did we dress like back then. Can you believe the star-burst guitar in the Swedish opera video. Anyhow, great band and singers. They really made you feel good with their music. Tina, thanks so much for this.
ABBA was a great band and you've written a wonderful hub. Brings back childhood memories. It was very popular in the USSR in the late 1980s and in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. I remember that there were always ABBA songs at the school discos, in mid-1990s. And even now it's hard to find a person who doesn't like ABBA!
Hi Marwan asmar, it is so nice meeting you! Yes, the ABBA songs are timeless and I thought that there must be someone else out there who still like the ABBA music! Thanks for your comment
Tin
Hi Susan, Strangely enough, I never got the chance to see them live either! I guess I was too young to even consider it and my parents didn’t like them so much. Their performances was conducted only in the big cities in Sweden after they became famous and it was out of the question that my friends and me would get permission to go by our selves to such an event. It would have been fun though! It is sad that their career was so short, otherwise I am sure that we would have seen them live.
Thanks Susan for reading and enjoy their music with me!
Tina
Alicia, Memories associated with music appears as if no time has elapsed. As soon as you hear the music you are moved back both to the scene, the time and the emotions! It is a great feeling and these videos are the one that was and are most important to me! Thanks for reading and I am glad to hear you liked them too!
Tina
Hi FIS, it is great to meet another ABBA fan! To be a teenager was a painful time for me too but I only have happy memories associated with ABBA. I know what you mean though, some words seems to be sung just for us who listens because they fit so right in our reality. I do hope that you found your “queen” at the end, and thank you so much for reading and telling your memories.
Tina
Alastar, So, you where not an ABBA fan back then! I know many with the same experience as you. It is good to hear that you now have changed your point of view so you could enjoy this hub! All these memories came after I did some cleaning in a closet and found my old records. As soon as I saw the old albums, touched them and listened to the songs it all came back to me. The Dancing Queen video from the Swedish opera is fantastic to watch now and so are some of the other videos. To look at the clothes is part of the nostalgia trip! I can´t say that I wish that the fashion from back then comes back, but back then was all that glitter and glamour very hot!
It is always good to see you Alastar and thanks for your comment
Tina
Hi Snurre, Thank you for sharing your memories from another country and from the 80s and 90s as well. Even if I know that ABBA was popular worldwide it is very interesting to read personal memories like. Thanks for your visit and comment, I appreciate it,
Tina
Great Hub, thoughtforce :-) I just watched the youtube link of ABBA being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and was shocked that not only was I unaware of this but also it is over 28 years since they performed as a group !
I think when ABBA were at the height of fame in the 70's, people were divided on whether they liked their music or not, but over the years ABBA's music has stood the test of time and most people nowadays, regardless of their age, would know all the lyrics to at least one ABBA song - such is the longevity of their songs.
Yes I did... celebrated my 21st wedding anniversary this year... and my memories of the search in adolescence are bitter sweet.. happy and sad... wouldn't change anything.. especially not ABBA playing in the background.
Hi Rob Hanlon, I know, it is chocking how the years fly, since it doesn’t feel like so many years have gone by since then!
To be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of fame is such an honour but I must confess that I haven’t thought so much about it either. I know I heard it on the news when it happened but besides that, I haven’t seen nor heard so much about it.
I think your description of the popularity of ABBA is absolutely right. Back in the 70s it wasn’t considered so cool to be an ABBA fan, but now it is. It shows that their music really is timeless as you say. I am glad to know you enjoyed this hub Rob, and thanks for your comment!
Tina
FIS, I am so glad to hear that you did found your queen and congrats to the 21st anniversary! The teenage years really are bitter sweet since it is our first steps into the grown up world. It is a period of trial and error, success and failure, and the music plays on in the background:)
Tina
"Thank you for the music and giving it to me"~ABBA
They were one of my favorite groups, and all 4 individuals so beautiful. What a great idea was it to make the movie 'Mamma Mia' with all ABBA'S song! I, too, feel a come-back will be a mistake. They had surfed their tide properly - it was an enormous one - and it will never appear again. Tina, thumbs up for this profound hub about ABBA - Sweden may forever be proud of them.
Hi Tina, I didn't realise they have been in the Eurovision contest before Waterloo!
I have always been a fan and have really enjoyed reading this, their music is still just as popular today.
thank you for sharing.
So true! I agree FIS:)
Hi Martie, I am glad to hear that you like them too:) Yes, Mamma Mia was, and still is a success! It is a great way to get the music out there in another way and with new artists.
When I did some research for this hub I realized that their career also tell a story about the times back then, their music became popular for a reason. And the way they started out, describes both the Swedes and the music atmosphere in Europe at that time.
Thanks Martie, I appreciate the thumbs up from you:)
Tina
Hi Movie, Ring, Ring isn’t one of their best songs but it is still their first in Eurovision contest and the song is really sweet:) I am glad you enjoyed this hub and their music with me, Movie! Their music is timeless. Thank you for reading,
Tina
Hi Tina,
Oh how I loved this one,I think all Abba songs are so infectious and we never forget them so this one was indeed a great treat.
I am voting up up and away and bookmarking this gem that you have created.
Well done it's brilliant!!!
Take care and have a great day.
Eiddwen.
Wow what a brilliant hub. I've loved reading all about Abba from you and simply love the YouTubes too. I shall be bookmarking this and will be back to digest this some more. Voting up of course and pressing all the appropriate buttons too.
Hi Eiddwen! I think you nail it there, their music is infectious and are remembered by many! I am so glad you enjoyed this one Eiddwen, and thanks for your kind words. Best wishes for now and I see you soon!
Tina
Acaetnna, you are so welcome and it is always great to see you! Isn't it fantastic that some music just lives on. Since we don't have so many music groups that have stayed popular for so long time as ABBA, I must say that their music is special to me. Thank you very much for reading and for your great comment!
Tina
Wow......This was a great hub, Tina. You come up with my favorite and a music legend as well. I love ABBA so much. Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia are my favorite songs from ABBA. I love all videos here. You presenting this hub very well. I'll press all buttons, expect funny. I leave this hub with beautiful smile. Cheers.... :-)
Prasetio
Prasetio, I am thrilled to know that you love ABBA too! Many of their songs are songs that make me happy as well:) Thanks for the encouraging comment and your kind words and I am glad you enjoy ABBA music with me!
Tina
Fantastic, Tina. Who did not love ABBA, their music reminded you of sunshine. The seventies, weren't those the days? Thanks for the memories, Cred2
Credence, yes it really was a great time and when I listen to their music I am right back to the seventies! There is nothing like music to bring back memories:) I am glad this hub brought good memories to you too. Thanks for reading and for the positive comment!
Tina
I loved Dancing Queen! What a nice walk back down memory lane!!
stayingalivemoma, I am glad it brought back memories and it is the same with me when I hear the songs. Thanks for reading and your comment!
Tina
When the movie Momma Mia came out my kids started watching it over and over. There is a whole new generation of Abba lovers because of that movie. Fun hub
Hi tirelesstraveler! Isn't it great that the music still can attract new fans. It is the same here too and both the movie and new bands singing their songs are very popular among a audience of mixed ages.Thanks for commenting and I am very glad you came by this hub!
Tina
Up, awesome, useful, and interesting. I never heard of them before, but funny enough, I have heard the Dancing Queen song many times. That was cool. I really enjoyed this Tina. Love all the extra songs as well. Great article.
Hi thelyricwriter! How interesting! I know what you mean, the same happens to me too:) There are so many songs I know I have heard before, but I have no clue who wrote them! I am glad you liked the songs and that you recognized the Dancing Queen! Thanks for reading, I appreciate the encouragement,
Tina
This is an absolutely fantastic trip down memory lane! Thanks for stirring up some wonderful memories and reminding me of this awesome group and their music. Dancing Queen is definitely my favorite:)Voted up and useful.
Thank you for reading and for your vote! I know what you mean and I enjoyed the music myself as I wrote this. There is something very special with music that brings back so many wonderful memories and I still like their music. I am grateful for your positive comment!
Tina
What a fun hub, Tina! Mamma Mia, Dancin Queen and Waterloo are some of my favorite Abba tunes. Two girlfriends and myself "Donna & The Dynamos" performed a dance tribute a couple of years back at a fundraiser. We had a blast and have our youtube clip to remember the fun. We rehearsed for months and I sewed the costumes. Your Abba hub had me wondering if I could remember our dance routine. Fun one!
DexisView, How fun you and your girlfriends must have had; Donna & the Dynomos! What a cool name, it could have been something big if you had continued! Or maybe it isn't to late:) It is amazing how music can make us remember things that we otherwise would have forgotten. I hope you have the costumes somewhere and that you will remember the dance routine if you turn on the music!
Thanks for your comment Dexis, it is always great to see you
Tina
Hi Tina,
What a great tribute to a fantastic group. Their songs are all classics. That is why I am bookmarking this hub for future parties lol
Nice that you still have your records too. The Videos are marvelous.
SHARING this everywhere. Everyone loves ABBA.
I love the ABBA music. How come music like that is not made anymore? Thanks for putting all those YouTube videos together.
I absolutely love this group. And I really love the way their songs were used to create the movie, "Mama Mia"!
I have been a big Abba fan all my life. My favorite was Fernando. Lady Gaga's song Aliendro sounds just like it. I also love the Swedish band called the Rednecks who do Cotton Eyed Joe. It is all great party music. It suggests Sweden is a really fun place. This is marvelous!
love ABBA, thank you for the wonderful memories!
ABBA songs is one of the greatest songs of all TIMES.
Hi malometer, there is nothing better than ABBA songs on a party since many knows the songs and can sing along if they like. That is a very great idea and the party is going to be a success of course! I cherish my LP:s and keep them in a safe place. Thanks for your great comment malometer, and I am so grateful for the sharing!
Thanks again,
Tina
Hi BlissfulWriter! I will never get tired ABBA music, it is timeless! I am so glad you liked this too. I enjoyed making this hub:)
Thanks for reading and the comment!
Tina
Hi homesteadbound, it is great to hear you are a ABBA fan too! I have seen the movie Mama Mia and I liked it. It was one of the best ABBA songs without ABBA singing and that is good:)) I am so glad to see you here and appreciate your comment!
Tina
Tammy, Fernando is a very beautiful ABBA song! When I made this hub I had a problem to choose since I couldn't include them all! The Rednecks have great party music, it is impossible to be sad and listen to that song at the same time:)) Yes, Sweden rocks and have good music!
Thanks Tammy, for the encouragement,
Tina
Hi amberld, It is so nice to meet you and I am glad you enjoyed this! It is something special with the memories we get from music.
Thanks for reading and take the time to leave a comment!
Tina
Hi vmhseo! I do agree! And I love to listen to the songs. I guess I will continue to do that and insists on listening to them also when I am old!
Thanks for reading, I appreciate your visit and the comment!
Tina
thanks for this...I love ABBA...I am listening now.
Hi Enlydia! It is amazing that ABBA:s music is still so good! I am glad to meet another ABBA fan:) Thanks for reading and listening!
Tina
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Dancing Queen was my favorite ABBA song, too.
Hi DeborahNeyens! I am glad you liked this one and thanks for coming along with me in my nostalgia trip:) I really appreciate your visit and the comment!
Best wishes
Tina
marwan asmar Level 4 Commenter 6 months ago
I remember ABBA very well. Brilliant group, songs so nice they are timeless