Well, what a morning! Having only gotten online as of 50 minutes ago, what a wonderful surprise to see photos of the ABBA members arriving at the Royal Palace in Stockholm with their family and loved ones. I believe Agnetha arrived with either Christian, her and Bjorn's son, as I saw some report, or her manager, Bjorn arrived with possibly one of his and Agnetha's granddaughters as well as his girlfriend Christina, Frida arrived with her partner Henry, and Benny arrived with his son, Ludvig and I believe Ludvig's wife Milana. Then the ceremony was livestreamed on SVT (I missed it but have caught up!), and oh my goodness, what a treat to see all four members of ABBA, literally my favorite people in the world, together again once more.
What an honor to be able to witness ABBA reuniting, both muically and just the four members together in public standing next to each other, so many times over the last 8 years. First we had the opening of Mamma Mia the Party in 2016, Bjorn and Benny's 50th Anniversary celebration in 2016, ABBA reuniting for the recording of I Still Have Faith In You and Don't Shut Me Down in 2017, then for the subsequent recordings of Voyage from 2018-2021 and the motion-captures for the ABBA Voyage show, 2022's premiere of ABBA Voyage, and now this, where our beloved members of ABBA received the Royal Order of Vasa for outstanding efforts in Swedish and International Music Life.
Congratulations Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha, and Frida. This award is so well deserved.
So I've been on a bit of an ABBA book reading kick lately, and bought myself a few books over the course of this year. Unfortunately the two that I had bought before, both pieces by Carl Magnus Palm, were not my favorite books in the world. I've read plenty of ABBA books from the library over the years, but never really in full detail (I was a kid who mostly enjoyed looking at the pretty pictures Hahaha), and my not overly pleasant experience reading CMP's books had me wondering if all ABBA books were like this - overly sensationalized, focusing more on the drama than the people and the music themselves, and mostly highlighting the negatives. Now I'm not saying that ABBA and its members' story is all perfect with no drama whatsoever, but to only focus on the details that are key to sell a book seems wrong.
Up until recently, there hadn't really been any books that take a big deep dive into the ABBA members' individual stories and lives. Of course, with Agnetha being the PreTTy BlONdE oNe, there are certainly plenty of books all about her, but none that I had seen that were very respectful and didn't sexualize her. That is until I read Agnetha Faltskog - The Girl With The Golden Hair by Daniel Ward. I think I failed to give the book a proper review when I got it back in 2023, but I actually really enjoyed it. The author spent a lot of time compiling quotes from Agnetha over the decades from various interviews, and you really get a feel for her personality, what she was like, how she's really not this quiet, pretty, blonde girl that you perceive during interviews, but rather she had quite the temper and was very outspoken and opinionated, and we love that for her. And his intention was to actually tell the story of Agnetha Faltskog, omitting the "AgNeThA iS SeXY" narrative because most people only ever see her as a sex icon and he was trying to prove that she is actually a person. Of course I question the validity of some sources, especially the story about STIG BANGING ON AGNETHA'S HOTEL ROOM DOOR AFTER THE TRAUMATIZING BOSTON FLIGHT AND HER GETTING SICK, and the only source for that incident is Carl Magnus Palm's totally 100% truthful Bright Lights, Dark Shadows book, and the claim allegedly comes from Bosse Norling, ABBA's tour manager, but Bosse Norling was not interviewed for the book, so... where does it actually come from? Tabloids? Sensationalized stories that aren't 100% accurate? Which does also lead me to question the validity of other quotes because they too could come from interviews that aren't 100% true and are sensationalized. But aside from that, I found the book to be absolutely delightful and enjoyable.
In February 2022, author Remko van Drongelen released a book all about Frida's story, spanning her entire career from childhood, becoming a singer at age 13, all the different competitions she entered to try and get somewhere with her career, the ups and downs of it all - a feat that hadn't actually been touched on until that point. When the book first came out, I really wanted to get my hands on it, but the book is pricey and I didn't really have that kind of money to justify spending on a $100+ book. But, now that I have my hands on the book, I just have to say, this book was worth every penny.
In many ways, there are overlaps with Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, which I had literally just finished reading, but Frida Beyond ABBA goes into so much more detail. I had mentioned that one think I didn't like about Bright Lights, Dark Shadows was the fact that the author has to remind us constantly about Frida's struggle with depression, and it basically only focuses on that fact and makes you think that Frida had no positivity in her life, and she is always going to be Depressed Frida. Frida Beyond ABBA is the opposite. Yes Frida's depression comes up a lot in the book, but it never makes you feel that she is just a depressed person, that the depression enveloped her entire personality and she was only Depressed Frida. We actually follow her depression in real time, see what triggered it and how it got better. We learn all about Frida's motivation in life, why she wanted to start singing. We learn about her family history as well, all about her mother Synni and her father Alfred Haase, but most importantly, the book kept things respectful.
Bright Lights, Dark Shadows had been rather explicit, talking all about how Synni and Alfred Haase first made love, and like, I don't know about you but I don't think that's details that we should or need to know, especially as what does it matter how and where they were when they did? Did the author only include it because Sex is a SENSATIONAL TOPIC and Sex sells?????? Frida Beyond ABBA wasn't like that in any way at all. It does explain how children out of wedlock had been a common occurrence in Frida Lyngstad's family history, but like, that's all. And it's fine. I'm not judging of course, I just don't think we need to know all the little details on how each person was intimate together, and where and when. That's too personal and feels disrespectful to include in a biography. This book (as did Bright Lights, Dark Shadows) also confirms that Frida was not a child of the Lebensborn program, a rumor that goes around every once in a while. (Like it's even stated as a "fact" on the wikipedia page for Lebensborn, even though it was never proven to be true.)
Speaking of respectful, this book included a paragraph about personal details and whether to included them or not in this book. The line "A determining factor in this was also whether Frida had spoken publicly about these periods in her life or not, and whether a certain detail as a fact or just somoene's opinion, in which case it would often only be included as a quote, if relevant at all." AND THIS QUOTE IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME! And that quote alone proved to me that this author was trying his best to share a respectful, non-sensationalized story, and I agree that the end result was just that.
I should also mention, this book also did not vilify Stig Anderson in anyway. Even in the events that Stig allegedly was mean to Frida, specifically in the making of her Something's Going On album, you learn that his telling Frida that none of her songs had hit potential came from a place of caring, as he was worried that this new musical style she was taking on wouldn't sell or have success. Ultimately he was proven wrong, as I Know There's Something Going On went on to become a very big hit, but never once in this book do you see Stig as EVIL, a theme that shows up constantly in all the Carl Magnus Palm books that I have read. (CMP's books really had me thinking that it is the general consensus that Stig Anderson is BAD, but this book proves to me that maybe CMP is the problem....)
Now the one thing that I am confused by is the book's statement that after ABBA, pre-Voyage of course, Frida was the only one to be in support of ABBA recording anything again but the rest of the ABBA members, including Agnetha, would constantly make statements that no, ABBA is over. No more ABBA. I get I haven't read all that many paper interviews, but that's not the tune that I've ever gotten from Agnetha..? Like she of course would reiterate that the guys are busy writing a musical and "ABBA is sleeping," but as far as I know she's always had a "never say never" philosophy. A good example of it is this interview on the Mike aan Zee show in 1985.
Now, I should mention, this book glosses over all of ABBA's career, and doesn't go into much detail about ABBA at all. I would say this book is definitely not for those who don't know ABBA's full story, but at the same time it makes a wonderful companion book to those who do. It's just full of so much rich detail, tons of rare and new information that I had never heard of before. I learned about songs that Frida contributed backing vocals to, I learned all about the early dance-band years, and I feel like I really got to know Anni-Frid Lyngstad as a person.
Now while I do of course still question the validity of some quotes and their sources, there is no doubt that the author did so much work and research on this book, and even gives a PDF to the reader when you buy the book that includes all the sources, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this. This book was nothing other than respectful, and there is no doubt that this book was created with love
I just really liked this book, and I would honestly give it a 10/10, and definitely a must have for all ABBA fans (if you can afford it of course.) I think Remko van Drongelen is now one of my favorite authors. :)
In early 1979, as Bjorn and Benny were struggling to come up with songs they found sufficient enough for a new album, the two of them decided to take a songwriting trip to the Bahamas. The result: Voulez-Vous. Apparently Bjorn and Benny were so eager to have this new track they came up with recorded that they went to a nearby recording studio in Miami, Florida to have it properly recorded. I think I read that they may have re-recorded the track anyway once they returned to Sweden, but I'm not 100% certain on that. Regardless, Voulez-Vous remains the only ABBA song to have ever been recorded, even just partially, outside of Sweden.
Similar to the vain of ABBA's Summer Night City, Voulez-Vous is a bit of a tribute to the disco/nightclub life that ABBA apparently were very into. The song seems to be set in a place of that sort, crowded with lots of people out and about, a bar nearby. I believe the song is basically about the narrator of the song spotting someone else eyeing them from across the room with eyes that are glowing in the dark (makes me think of Tiger from 1976 actually haha), and the narrator is like "Here we go again, we know the start, we know the end." Basically, I guess the nightclub life is very easy for people to like, meet up once, hook up once, and that's it. And clearly the narrator is clearly very experienced in this lifestyle and is like "Okay, I know what you want. Take it now or leave it. Now is all we get. Nothing promised,
no regrets." She also can pretty much read the guys mind, know what he wants to do and she knows how to act in response.
I guess you can say that it's a very flirty, more mature, adult-oriented song. Many people have said that Voulez-Vous, the album, is ABBA's most adult album, like they graduated from singing about simple love songs, almost "teenage love" sort of songs, to more mature themes, and while Voulez-Vous certainly has a lot of prevalent adult themes, I disagree that the songs are more mature than previous ABBA songs. Perhaps before they had songs that were relatable to almost everyone no matter the age, while a lot of songs on Voulez-Vous are more predominantly targeted at adults.
This song is also a very disco, nightclub inspired track musically, like it is totally the type of song that would play in those places.
ABBA only performed this song in it's complete 5:10 glory on two TV shows in Spain. All other performances, as in the Music Video and live during the 1979/80 tour, are of the single edit that is 4:22 long.
All in all, I like the song, and I mean I like all ABBA songs, but if I'm being honest, this song has never been in my top, top favorites. Not to say I don't listen to it, I do. But it is a good song.
2 years ago was the premiere of ABBA Voyage, when much to our surprise and astonishment, the four ABBA members reunited, in public, as the entity ABBA, for the first time in nearly 40 years, and probably the last time. (Although ABBA are being awarded the Royal Order of Vasa sometime this month, although I don't know how/when/if the ceremony will be and if ABBA will attend, so we will see....)
I remember watching a live stream of the red carpet and watching ABBA step out, and what a moment it was! Definitely one of the many highlights of 2022. And of course ABBA stepped out on the stage again after the first premiere of the concert was over, and it was an extremely emotional moment.
And of course we can't not talk about the ABBA Voyage show itself! I still have yet to see it for myself, but all the promotion, all the rare glimpses at shots from the show in promotional material, the bootleg photos/videos, all of them just make me all the more excited to finally get to see the show for myself and I can't wait to someday be able to experience that.
So happy 2 years, ABBA Voyage! Here's to many many more, be it in London, Las Vegas, Australia, or all three!
(I drew this picture last year but apparently neglected to share it here. In fact I have a lot of ABBA-related drawings that I neglected to share, but last year was a very tough year for me... so yeah....)
In December of 1978, ABBA began recording the song Chiquitita. Although the final version of the song contains lead vocals by Agnetha alone, the song in demo form was titled "In The Arms Of Rosalita" and featured either joint lead vocals by Agnetha and Frida or one verse sung by Agnetha and one verse sung by Frida, etc. The song also had "Chiquitita Angelina", ""3 Wise Guys," and "Kålsupare" as working titles.
Chiquitita is a Latin-inspired track about comforting a friend through a heartbreak. The narrator calls the friend Chiquitita, which (if you know Fluent Spanish like Bjorn does hehe) means "Little Girl" in Spanish, but we don't actually know the girl's name.
The song begins with a solo verse by Agnetha alone, with Frida joining in on the second verse, singing in harmony. Then they sing the chorus together, followed by the third verse which is also Agnetha with Frida in harmony.
Chiquitita is such a beautiful song, very comforting and sweet. In particular, I like the lines "Your best friend, I’m the one
you must rely on. You were always
sure of yourself. Now I see you’ve
broken a feather.
I hope
we can patch it up
together."
I mentioned in my post regarding Fernando that the initial Swedish version of Fernando and Chiquitita are basically the same song. In the Swedish version of Fernando, the narrator is basically comforting Fernando after a breakup, and hyping him up, reminding him of how good he is and to "play, play the melody and singthe song about happiness," which also shows up in Chiquitita: "Let me hear you
sing once more
like you did before. Sing a new song,
Chiquitita. Try once more
like you did before. Sing a new song
Chiquitita." And then the English version of Fernando essentially follows the same vocal harmony structure-ish as Chiquitita. Fernando has Verse 1: Frida solo, Verse 2: Frida with Agnetha in harmony, Chorus, Verse 3: Frida with Agnetha in Harmony, Chorus, and Chiquitita is Verse 1: Agnetha solo, Verse 2, Agnetha with Frida in Harmony, Chorus, Verse 3: Agnetha with Frida in Harmony, Chorus. And interestingly, both songs ended up being Latin-inspired songs.
On the topic of the similarities between the two songs, I meant to include this in my review of Bright Lights, Dark Shadows by Carl Magnus Palm but forgot hahaha, so I'll bring it up now. For some reason, in CMP's book, he makes a big deal about how the subject matter and lyrics of the Swedish version of Fernando were lazy and too simple, as Stig was kinda retiring from the lyric writing side of things. And he basically doesn't like the Swedish lyrics because you know, Stig = Bad and Stig's Lyrics = Lazy, YET Chiqutitia lyric wise is basically the same song. Same concept, similar wording, but because Bjorn mainly wrote the lyrics, and Bjorn = Good and Bjorn's Lyrics = WOW AMAZING SONGWRITING, he has no complaints about Chiqutita????? One could argue that the lyrics in Chiqutita are also quite simple, but that's not a bad thing either.
Going off topic a little more, but I have been reading Frida Beyond ABBA by Remko Van Drongelen, and I find it so interesting how this book and Bright Lights, Dark Shadows overlap a lot and tell the same stories, yet Stig Anderson is NEVER painted in a negative light. Frida Beyond ABBA is nothing but respectful, factual, and so far has been nothing but fantastic. (When I finish reading it I will review it don't worry haha.)
Anyways, back to Chiquitita, unlike Fernando, the song has a beautiful instrumental outro to conclude the song, which in a way screams "hopefulness." Like the music itself is filled with hopeful sounds and positivity. Also throughout the song, we have some lovely backing vocals, which in the second verse are, "how it hurts to see you cry and how it hurts to see you sad," in the second chorus, "You and I, we know how all the heartaches come and go and you'll be dancing once again and all the pain you take will end..... Even though you cry the sun in shining in the sky so let me hear you sing some more the way you used to do before."
ABBA released the song as a single in January of 1979, and performed it for the first time at Unicef's Year of The Child gala in 1979, and ABBA donated and continue to donate all proceeds from the song to Unicef. ABBA would also go on to perform the song on various TV shows, though not many, and on their 1979/80 tour, and we have a shortened visual and audio footage of ABBA performing the song live at Wembley from the ABBA in Concert TV special, as well as the full version of that same performance on ABBA's 1986 LIVE album, as well as on ABBA's 2014 Live At Wembley album. And of course plenty of bootleg audio and visual footage as well. And in ALL of them, ABBA perform the song beautifully.
ABBA also recorded the song in Spanish, which according to Google Translate so it's not gonna be perfect are as follows:
Verse 1: "Little one, tell me whyyour pain today chains you.In your eyes there isa shadow of great sorrow.
I wouldn't want to see you like thiseven if you want to hide it. If you are so sadwhy do you want to silence him."
Verse 2: "Little one, you tell meon my shoulder, here crying. Count on me nowto keep walking. I knew you so sureand now your broken wing. Let me fix it. I want to see her cured."
Chorus: "Little one, you know very wellthat sorrows come and go and disappear. You will dance again and you will be happylike flowers that bloom. Little one, there is no need to cry. The stars shine for you up there.I want to see you smile to shareyour joy, Chiquitita.
Again I want to shareyour little joy."
Basically the song is the exact same as the Englihs one, however interestingly, the third verse is a repeat of the first verse rather than being a completely new third verse or a direct translation of the English one, which is: "So the walls
came tumblin’ down
and your love’s
a blown out candle. All is gone
and it seems
too hard to handle. Chiquitita
tell me the truth,
there is no way
you can deny it.
I see
that you’re
oh so sad, so quiet." I'm guessing someone in the lyric-translating department got lazy haha.
ABBA also performed the Spanish version of Chiqutita twice on TV.
Chiqutitita also shows up in ABBA's Voyage show, performed by the ABBA-tars in front of a beautiful Eclipse.
As usual, I love this song, and as with, in my opinion, all the vocals on the Voulez-Vous album and songs from that era, Agnetha and Frida's vocals were just at their peak and are just absolutely stunning.
Also I just need to say, unlike what the garbage ITV documentary tried to claim, ABBA's music video for Chiqutitia, filmed in front of a giant snowman, was actually filmed outside, not on a soundstage. Okay? Okay.
