BOTH: # Super trouper, beams are gonna blind me, # but I won't feel blue, # like I always do, # cos somewhere in the crowd there's you. (ABBA'S 'SUPER TROUPER' CONTINUES) It's over 50 years since the members of Sweden's only supergroup met. 400 million records later, helped by a musical full of their songs that's been running for over 20 years and two hit movies, they're as popular today as they've ever been. # I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Glasgow... ABBA truly is forever. ABBA will never disappear. I get fan mail from teenagers. I could be their grandmother. (CHUCKLES) It's quite wonderful to be able to work with what you enjoy most and to have success with it. All my childhood, I was dreaming to be a singer and to be famous. # Tonight the super trouper lights are gonna find me, # shining like the sun. # Supe-pah-pah troup-pah-pah. # Smiling, having fun. # Supe-pah-pah troup-pah-pah. # Feeling like a number one. # Super trouper beams are gonna blind me. # Supe-pah-pah troup-pah-pah. # But I won't feel blue. # Supe-pah-pah troup-pah-pah. # www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2019. ABBA have not performed together since 1982, but they have made occasional public appearances. The only time all four faced the cameras together was in 2016, at the opening of Stockholm's 'Mamma Mia! The Party' dining experience, a British branch of which launched at the O2 in September 2019. # People everywhere... # The ABBA industry seems unending ` the Mamma Mia! movie sequel in 2018, the stage musical still running, a concert with digital avatars in the offing. It all seemed unimaginable back in 1974, when they entered the Eurovision Song Contest. BOTH: # My, my. At Waterloo, # Napoleon did surrender. Oh yeah... Before 1974, when we won the Eurovision Song Contest, no one in the Anglo-Saxon world ever wanted to hear anything coming out of that little country in the north. Before '74, we sent tapes around. It was thrown in the garbage bin, I swear. BOTH: # Waterloo, I was defeated. # You won the war. # Waterloo, promise to love you forevermore... # 'The impact of Waterloo was immediate, 'because that is the nature of a successful Eurovision song. 'It becomes a hit in all European countries, and if you're lucky, it then spreads beyond that.' It goes to number one in Britain, big hit around the world, and it even goes to the top 10 in the United States. So they're off and running, and then the question is, can they follow it up? # Love me or leave me ` # make your choice, # but believe me. BOTH: # I love you... For 18 months after Waterloo, ABBA had no international chart success. 'The reason why we didn't have any hits was really that everyone had decided this is a Eurovision group. 'Therefore they just have one hit single, because they all do, and then they'll be forgotten.' They were also getting a frosty reception in their own home country. We got very criticised, especially here in Sweden, during in the '70s when it was a left-wing movement, so to speak, and they were very strong in the music business as well. So we got very, hard criticism about selling a lot of records, earning a lot of money and so forth. So, I don't know ` it's kind of hate and love feeling towards the Swedish media. BOTH: # I love you, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do. # They were sort of mad at ABBA for winning and wearing those outrageous clothes. Nobody should wear clothes like that ` everybody should wear blue jeans in those days. And so the, radio, for instance, refused to play the ABBA records, which was OK with us, because people loved the ABBA records, and the only way to hear them was to buy them ` suited me perfectly. # Where are those happy days? They seem so hard to find. # I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind. # Whatever happened to our love? # I wish I understood. # It used to be so nice. # It used to be so good. ALL: # So when you're near me, darling, can't you me? SOS. # The love you gave me, nothing else can save me. SOS... Looking back, it seems as though ABBA had a constant stream of hits. The reality was different. Especially music critics tried to rationalise ` oh, they have a formula, they're a hit factory. Of course they know. We never did. We never knew. We would release something, and we didn't know. # So when you're near me, darling, can't you hear me? SOS. # The love you gave me, nothing else can save me. SOS. # When you're gone, how I can I even try to go on? SOS is substantial enough, it gets noticed everywhere, and that's enough to make you think, OK, well, this is a group that we've now heard from a few times ` they might be capable of something big. We had SOS; I Do, I Do ` no airplay in England, nothing really happened in England, but it happened in Australia. So all of a sudden, they released Mamma Mia. BOTH: # I've been cheated by you since I don't know when. # So I made up my mind it must come to an end. And once it started in Australia, the record company in England thought, 'Maybe we should take a look at this.' # Look at me now. Will I ever learn? I don't know how. But I suddenly lose control... The Brits looking at the Australian charts, 'What is this? There's still life in this group? 'There's not supposed to be life in this group; it's supposed to be dead.' # Whoa. Mamma mia. # Here I go again. My, my. # How can I resist you? In fact, ABBA were anything but finished ` Mamma Mia was their breakthrough, reaching number one in the UK. # Yes, I've been broken-hearted, # blue since the day we parted. ALL: # My, my, I could never let you go. Mamma Mia led off a string of 19 consecutive hit singles. BOTH: # I've been angry and sad about things that you do. # I can't count all the times that I've told you we're through... In their early years, ABBA stood out not just for their upbeat pop songs, but also for their glam-rock costumes. It's only natural for a pop act to want to be different and to be noticed, and the clothes, we thought at that time was great fun, and there was nothing wild enough. (CHUCKLES) # Mamma mia, does it show again? # I never, at the time, ever was aware of how bad their fashion was. Cos I think probably every one of us at that time was wearing worse. I just always remember I was so deeply in love with Frida, you know, no matter what she wore. (ABBA'S 'MAMMA MIA' CONTINUES) (MUSIC FADES) In the summers of the early '70s, Benny and Bjorn used to head to a cabin on the island of Viggso, in the Swedish archipelago. Agnetha and I bought this place, I think somewhere around '71 or something like that, and Benny and Frida, three years later than that, bought a house on the other side of the island. So it was very convenient during the summer to have the families here, and then work during the days. I'd wake up, and I had my breakfast, and after a while, I'd hear a piano from up here, telling me that Benny has arrived, and so I'd saunter up, and then we'd start working. First when we sit down, piano and guitar, trying to write music, you realise that this, what we're doing now, is great stuff. And the one we did yesterday, if we did one yesterday or last month, is good, but it's not as great as this one. We would write around the clock, and then all the associations were, kind of, freer in that environment, and all that work that we'd put on came to fruition in that process. And we usually ended up with, you know, four, perhaps three or four songs, after a session like that, and then we'd go into the studio and record them. (ABBA'S 'FERNANDO') I can remember both Fernando and Dancing Queen being done here. # Can you hear the drums, Fernando? # I remember long ago, another starry night like this. # In the firelight, Fernando, # you were humming to yourself and softly strumming your guitar. # I could the distant drums, # and sounds of bugle calls were coming from afar. BOTH: # They were closer now, Fernando... 'A song like Fernando, which is an anti-war song, 'is not the love song that a lot of people think it is. 'But that is an example of great songwriting ` it works at many levels.' And the people who pay attention will get something out of it ` the people who don't pay attention will get another thing out of it. BOTH: # And I'm not ashamed to say # the roar of guns and cannons almost made me cry. ALL: # There was something in air that night. # The stars were bright, # Fernando. # They were shining there for you and me, # for liberty, # Fernando. BOTH: # Though we never thought that we could lose, # there's no regret. ALL: # If I had to do the same again, # I would, my friend, # Fernando. # If I had to do the same again, # I would, my friend, # Fernando. # One of the reasons Bjorn and Benny were such successful songwriters is that they were not stationed in either New York or London and could write their songs oblivious to the latest trends. They weren't reading the New Musical Express every week, thinking, 'Oh, my lord, this is what we're supposed to be doing, not what we're actually doing.' They were not trying to cater to today's headlines ` they were writing timeless pop songs. Big, bold volume? Colossal Mascara from Maybelline New York. Volume so big, so bold, so instant, it's colossal, just like New York. And create infinite looks with new Lemonade Craze palette, only from: * We were exposed to American music in our teens, English music as well, but also... German schlager, Italian ballads, French ensemble, all of it at the same, which Americans weren't, I think, and when we take the influences... from all these countries and, uh, all these musical traditions and make pop music out of them and write our own English lyrics, it becomes something else, something exotic, I think. (PLAYS 'CHIQUITITA') (PLAYS 'CHIQUITITA') # Chiquitita, tell me what's wrong. ECHOES: # You're enchained by # your own sorrow. # In your eyes, # there is no hope for tomorrow. # How I hate to see you like this! # There is no way you can deny it. # I # can see that you're oh, so sad, # so quiet. This is in fact a typical example of when things turn out differently in the studio than you had anticipated. I always thought that the title would be at the end of the verses and the choruses, only to find out it should be at the beginning. So, it was called In The Arms Of Rosalita, and I wanted something more percussive to start the choruses off, so it had it had be Chiquitita. Cos I still thought it had a kind of a Spanish ring to it. BOTH: # Sing a new song, # Chiquitita. # So the walls came tumbling 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... # Though Bjorn and Benny wrote the songs, the contributions of Frida and Agnetha were also important. Agnetha was a great musician, and she has this, uh, way of singing harmonies that, uh, sometimes turned into a completely different direction that was the intention, so I think she contributed a lot to the ABBA sound. (ABBA'S 'DANCING QUEEN' PLAYS) BOTH: # You're a teaser; you turn 'em on... 'My musical home is the studio. 'There I'm in control of everything, and my voice shows itself to advantage.' # Anyone will do. You're in the mood for a dance... # 'People mustn't underestimate these two girls. They could sing. 'Dancing Queen has a two-octave range for the singers.' # Friday night, and the lights are low. # (HUMS) And then it goes into that amazing,... um,... FALSETTO: # You are a dancing queen, # 17, la, la, # la, la, la, ah. # I mean, it's unbelievable. BOTH: # You can dance. # You can jive, # having the time of your life. # Ooh, see that girl. # Watch that scene, digging the dancing queen. # Ah, ah, # ah. # Friday night, and the lights are low, # looking out for a place to go, # ooh, where they play the right music, getting in the swing. You come to look for a king... 'Dancing Queen was one of the songs that instantly goes straight into your heart.' And I remember when Benny and Bjorn had recorded the background in the studio, Benny came home with a tape and played it for me, I started to cry because I was so moved by it. BOTH: # With a bit of rock music, everything is fine. # You're in the mood for a dance. And when you get the chance, you are the dancing queen... 'It's hard to tell when a hit is being made. You don't always sense it. 'Dancing Queen was an exception. We knew immediately it was going to be big.' # Dancing queen... Dancing Queen was ABBA's biggest ever hit, selling 11 million records and becoming their only number one in the United States. # You can dance. # You can jive, # having the time of your life. # Ooh, see that girl. # Watch that scene, digging the dancing queen... # 'When you're right in the middle of it, you never know.' You lose self-confidence in the middle of the night and you ask yourself, 'What the hell am I doing,' and stuff like that. But after the event, it seems like it's sure-fire success, but it isn't, you see. # We are the dancing queens. (CHEERING) # Young and clean, only 17. # Dancing queens... It was the era of punk rock, and ABBA were to be beheaded, and I probably would have held the axe. # You can dance. You can jive... # They didn't make boys' music, and they made girls' music, so that was... that was enough, um, to have you completely ignore what turned out to be one of the greatest pop groups of all time. 'But I think ABBA have a pure joy to their music, and that's what makes them extraordinary.' (ABBA PLAY 'DANCING QUEEN') (CROWD SING 'DANCING QUEEN') We are not worthy. (CHEERING) # Man has always wanted a woman by his side to keep him company... ABBA had come a long way since they met in 1969. # Matrimony and harmony. # Everybody knows that a man who's feeling down wants some female... # We met on the road; he was in his band called the Hootenanny Singers. I knew about him because he wrote some songs for them, and he knew about me as a songwriter too, so we started talking about maybe doing something together. And you know that two guys meet. One happens to meet a blonde, fantastic singer, and the other one just a month later or something like that` Yeah, yeah, a month later. Meets a red hair who's an equally fantastic singer, and they didn't even think of starting a group. And it didn't occur to us that maybe we should form a band until after, like, three years, in 1972. Yes. But then we said, 'Yeah, but you know what we should do? 'We should write a pop song in English and see what happens.' # Ring, ring, why don't you give me a call? We wanted 'Ring Ring' in English, and we said maybe somebody else should do it, so we called Neil Sedaka. # The happiest sound of them all. # Ring, ring, # I stare at the phone on the wall... # Stig Anderson, who was their publisher, approached Phil Cody and I and said that, uh, they needed an English translation to the Swedish song 'Ring Ring'. VOICEOVER: Hey, Auckland, which of the Youi 40 ways to save would work best for where you live? Grey Lynn, close to the city, is where Ava lives, so number 1 of 40 - "Don't drive to work" - could be best for her. Titirangi, where most people have off-street parking, is Rick's suburb, so number 24 - "Park securely at night" - could be best for him. Why not see which of the 40 ways apply to you? You could save lots. Get a quote online at youi.co.nz and save 15%. BOTH: # Yes, I'm down and feeling blue... # Stig Anderson sent me a demo of... basic track of 'Ring Ring' in Swedish, and Phil and I wrote the lyric, 'Ring, ring.' BOTH: # Ring, ring, I stare at the phone on the wall. ALL: # And I sit all alone impatiently. # Won't you please understand the need in me? # So ring, ring, why don't you give me a call? # Oh, ring, ring, # why don't you give me a call? # Stig Anderson was far more than ABBA's publisher ` he also managed ABBA in an energetic and encouraging way; he even co-wrote some of their early lyrics. He was an engine. I mean, he... he made us keep on going. He always said that sooner or later, this is gonna happen, in the days before ABBA. So he believed that we were good songwriters. The other key member of the ABBA team was recording engineer Michael Tretow, who was crucial to the rich textures of the ABBA sound. So, I bought this book about Phil Spector and read to my astonishment that he used, like, two drummers and three bass players and five guitar players. And so, oh, then it's not so funny that it sounds so big ` it is big. When you hear a wonderful record like Do You Wanna Dance, with The Beach Boys, and we played that on a little plastic gramophone like that, and it had this marvellous sound, something that we wanted to do too, make the record sound great. We spent a lot of time making them sound great, as we thought were great, and obviously, I mean, we had enormous help, and a lot of influence came from Michael Tretow, who never gave up, always looking for something new. We developed a thing with, uh, vocals that you could actually overdub by altering the pitch. It sounded thinner and brighter, and you combined that with the original vocals, and that made them like you... sparkled... dust over them. And I put it on different tracks, and I'd adjust the speed slightly out of tune, and there it was. - (DISCO MUSIC) - BOTH: # Half past 12. # And I'm watching the late show in my flat all alone. How I hate to spend the evening on my own! Back in the early '70s was when The Osmonds hit. It was, you know, the white suits and the harmonies and all that kind of stuff, and I think it was a natural progression, and I think that's why I had an affinity to the band is because they took the harmonies then and brought those into real strong pop music and great, great production. So it was the next step towards disco. # Prayer. BOTH: # Gimme, gimme, # gimme a man after midnight. # Won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? # Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight. # Take me through the darkness to the break of the day... The interesting aspect of the ABBA sound was created by our differences. We made the most of our respective voices. Technically, she's a soprano and I'm a mezzo-soprano, so I have a little deeper voice, and she has a higher pitched voice. Benny and Bjorn know perfectly well our ranges and which kind of voice they wanted on a specific song, and sometimes I envied the choice of Agnetha, I must admit. (CHUCKLES) BOTH: # Tired of TV. # I open the window, and I gaze into the night, # but there's nothing to see, no one in sight... They pushed us all the time to do the best. More and more. More and more and higher and higher and without screaming. (BOTH LAUGH) Sometimes it was impossible. # Prayer. BOTH: # Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight. # Won't somebody help me chase the shadows away? # Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight. # Take me through the darkness to the break of the day... You know, getting that kick in the studio of that final mix, you never get that in any other field. I mean, that is the ultimate. # away. # (PLAYS SOLO) It was just sounding OK, and then suddenly, after a while, and it always took time, it was there ` all the things were there in the right place. Very strange, like magic. And I only experienced that with Bjorn and Benny. It never happens otherwise. (APPLAUSE) As the ABBA sound developed, Benny and Bjorn's musical ambition outstripped their expertise, so they brought an arranger into the team. BOTH: # Keeping me so busy all the day through. Strings. (HUMS) BASSILY: Cello. (HUMS) (HUMS) Cack, cack. (HUMS) Bop, bop. # I'm so restless, I don't care what I say... I received, like, a backing-track tape,... with how far they had come at that stage on the songs. And then they sort of... then we sat round the tape and discussed, well, what kind of things do you want in this arrangement to happen? And then I took home the tape, and then you start analyse what's on it, and then you write down what's on the tape, and then you add on arrangements, and hopefully they say, 'What a great arrangement!' Or they say, '(CLEARS THROAT) Well,... (CLEARS THROAT) thank you. We'll call you again.' (CHUCKLES) ALL: # If it wasn't for the nights, I think that I could make it. BOTH: # How I fear the time when shadows start to fall, # sitting here alone and staring at the wall. # Even I could see a light, if it wasn't for the nights. ALL: # Even I could see a light. I think that I could make it. BOTH: # Somehow I'd be doing all right, if it wasn't for the nights... # Having perfected their recording techniques, the next step was to take the songs out on tour. In 1977, they played across Europe before flying off to Australia. (CROWD CLAMOURS) ABBA! The expectations were very high, I think, from the audience, and you can never live up to high expectations. That's the feeling that I had, at least. Hello, everybody. This is Frida. I really appreciate this. I love you. The fantastic, amazing thing, having people, you know, along all that way, waving,... (CHUCKLES) with flags and banners, and that was something incredible, because that very rarely happened in those days, anywhere. (CHEERING) # You're so hot, teasing me. # So you're blue,... ALL: # ...but I can't take a chance on a chick like you. # That's something I couldn't do. I thought it was great. I loved every second of it. # There's that look in your eyes. # I can... ALL: # ...read in your face that your feelings are driving you wild. # Oh, but girl, you're only a child. ALL: # Well, I can dance with you, honey, if you think it's funny. # Does your mother know that you're out? And I can chat with you, baby... Bjorn was enjoying himself, but that couldn't be said for everyone in the group. # Take it easy. BOTH: # Take it easy. ALL: # Better slow down, girl... # There were times that were a bit strained, because I also had... or Bjorn and I had our small children at home, so there were problems, I thought, with leaving them too often, which we had to. Some say at this age life turns grey. Ahhh. La vie en Rosy. Golden Age Rosy Day Cream by L'Oreal Paris, with peony polyphenols in a rosy cream texture. Flower power. It stimulates skin and reactivates a natural glow. Get your glow back. Some say I should act my age. I am! I'm age perfect. Because we're worth it. And to correct dark circles, discover new Age Perfect Golden Age Rosy Eye Cream. (ABBA'S 'KNOWING ME, KNOWING YOU') Between Agnetha and myself, it was always difficult, because I wanted to go; she didn't want to. # No more carefree laughter... # ABBA played 50 concerts in 1977, took a break in 1978, but toured to a further 40 cities in 1979. This time the pressures become too much for Agnetha, and she and Bjorn divorced that year. When Bjorn and I separated, we always told the media that it was a happy divorce, which, of course, was a front. Obviously, we all know that there is no such thing as a happy divorce ` they are painful, especially when children are involved. BOTH: # Knowing me, knowing you. - BOTH: # Uh-huh. - BOTH: # There is nothing we can do. # Knowing me, knowing you. - # Uh-huh. - # We just have to face it ` # this time we're through... A few months later Benny and Frida split up, but not because of the strains of being in ABBA. If we didn't have ABBA, we would not have been married as long as we were. - BOTH: # This time I know. - BOTH: # Knowing me, knowing you, it's the best I can do. (GUITAR SOLO) Bjorn and Agnetha got divorced, we got divorced, but we still worked, you know. I mean, we knew what we had. Our personal life changed over those years, and as I remember it, Bjorn took advantage of, uh, what happened in our lives to write his more elaborate lyrics, because, you see, it's not very easy to split up, is it? (ABBA'S 'THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL') We wrote some of our best stuff after the divorces. A thing like a divorce can be, for songwriters, (CHUCKLES) a new experience and something to use in lyrics. # I don't wanna talk # about the things we've gone through. # Though it's hurting me, # now it's history. # I played all my cards. # And that's what you've done too... I think there is a sadness which is special for the Nordic people. It's very good to be sad. (CHUCKLES) # The winner takes it all. # The loser's standing small... 'I used to write, obviously, from my own viewpoint, 'and Agnetha and Frida would sing it, and it rang true, I thought.' # I was in your arms... I know that we talked it over, and Bjorn asked if it was sometimes too emotional to sing those lyrics, but, I mean, that was also in a way a challenge, to be able to put your emotions into the songs and the lyrics that you sang. It was a bit sensitive for all of us. # But I was fool, # playing by the rules... 'Singing it was like playing a part. But I couldn't let my feelings take over. 'It was quite a while before I realised that we'd made a small masterpiece.' # And someone way down here # loses someone dear... That was kind of cleansing. I had written the words, she sang them, and it was somehow the right thing to do, and to then release it, and, you know, let the world know. # But tell me, does she kiss # like I used to kiss you? You never expected that they were going to touch emotionally, but their last hits did. The Winner Takes It All is incredibly emotional. You think it's eerie ` how can these people lay their lives open like this? # Rules must be obeyed... Genius, pure genius to get the woman that you're having the biggest problems with in your life, at probably the most difficult time of your life, to sing about it. # Always staying low. # The game is on again. # On again. # A lover or a friend. # Or a friend. # A big thing or a small. # Big or small. # The winner takes it all. # Takes it all. # The winner takes it all. # It was so sad and so conclusive, and right here it stops. Now it ends. And then we did The Day Before You Came, and that was even sadder. (CHUCKLES) I said this must be it. This must be the last one. But there was never any, uh, decision of OK, guys, time is up for ABBA ` let's go home. (ABBA'S 'THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME') # Must have left my house at 8, because I always do... One of the last singles, which was not a big hit, but undeservedly so, I think, was The Day Before You Came. # I must have read the morning paper going into town... The Day Before You Came was ABBA's last recording. Its lack of commercial success showed they were finally losing touch with their public. # I must have frowned. # I must have made my desk around a quarter after 9... We came to a point when it doesn't feel good any more, because people wanted us to go on, and we were just too tired, all of us, and I think that's understandable. # At 5, I must have left... Professionally, you can go on for a while, but privately and also emotionally, it tends to be quite difficult after a while to get it going, because there seemed to be a lack of motivation to do that, at least Agnetha and myself. # The train back home again, # undoubtedly I must have read the evening paper then... # ABBA didn't wanna do ABBA any longer, and I think that's the most important thing. And if you don't wanna do it, then you shouldn't do it, because then it'll become wrong, and the whole thing will collapse. (ABBA'S 'THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME' CONTINUES) After 10 years recording together and with 19 hits to their name, ABBA announced its end. But Benny and Bjorn did not stop songwriting. They were moving away from these three-minute, you know, pop songs, and they were moving on to something else. (ABBA'S 'THE DAY BEFORE YOU CAME' CONTINUES) * We wanted to try this thing, writing for the theatre, and Tim came along, Tim Rice, so that gave us a good opportunity. So, he's there, he's done it before ` we just go along. And we wrote Chess. # Nothing is so good it lasts # eternally. # Perfect situations must go # wrong... The album they wrote together was a big hit a year before the musical was staged in the West End. # wanting far too much for far too # long. # Looking back, I could have played it differently... 'Benny and Bjorn were used to the sound of two women singing together. 'They must have enjoyed writing a song which had that concept. 'When I was sent a demo of that song 'and I put it on, and I said, 'That's an ABBA record. I'd like to be on an ABBA record.' It was an ABBA song sung by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. # Wasn't it good? # Oh, so good. # Wasn't he fine? # Oh, so fine. # Isn't it madness... BOTH: # ...he can't be mine? # But in the end, he needs a little bit more than me, # more security. # He needs his fantasy and freedom. # I know him so well... # Meanwhile, what of ABBA's own singers? Agnetha has had a stop-start solo career over many years. After the ABBA years, we just felt that we have to do something else now. It gets so it has been too much now, and, um, uh, I felt very, very strong that I had to be for myself. # No, if it's the last time, # let me wrap my love around you. # Let me lose you like I found you. # Make it feel like paradise. # If it's the last time, # there's no danger in the fire... # Despite moderate success, in 1988, Agnetha decided to withdraw from public view and did not record again until 2004. During a 10-year period, I neither played, sang nor listened to music. The silence has been necessary. This is where the walks have been so important, because it has perhaps been a way for me to digest everything, a kind of recovery. (FRIDA'S 'AVEN EN BLOMMA') # Aven en blomma # en manniska som jag... Frida had a brief solo career too, peaking at number 13 in the Billboard Hot 100. # I djupa andetag. # En manniskas karlek och lag, # en manniskas renaste slag, # att vara precis den hon ar. # Aven I barnet... # Gradually, her main focus became a new life and family and environmental charity work. There was a long period of time when I didn't even listen to ABBA or the music that we once had recorded. And then I got, uh, some cassettes sent to me, where Michael Tretow and Benny and Bjorn had put together, uh, the music and remixed some of the songs and so forth. And I remember playing those cassettes over and over again, and actually for the first time in so many years, listening to Agnetha's voice, my voice, the arrangement, the production and so forth. And that was a very happy moment, I must say. # 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. BOTH: # So I wanna know, # what's the name of the game? The tracks Freda listened to were remixes that went on to be released in 1992 as the Greatest Hits album ABBA Gold. ALL: # What's the name of the game? # Can you feel it the way I do? # Tell me, please, cos I have to know... 'I had a dream, and it was fulfilled by meeting with Benny, Bjorn and Agnetha. 'And, I mean, what we did during this period is absolutely something very fantastic.' # And you make me talk. # And you make me feel. # And you make me show... BOTH: # ...what I'm trying to conceal. # If I trust in you, # would you let me down? BOTH: # Would you laugh at me # if I said I care for you? # Could you feel the same way too? # I wanna know... # the name of the game. # ABBA Gold caused an upsurge of interest in ABBA's music, carried further by its inclusion in two hit films ` Muriel's Wedding and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. All this spawned the idea for a new Benny and Bjorn musical, using many of the old ABBA hits. 'Mamma Mia!' is a romantic comedy. It's based on, um, 27 ABBA songs, and a story, completely new story is woven around those songs. But it is not the story of ABBA. (BASSLINE PLAYS) Yeah, that'll have to be done with the keyboard. Yeah, it is a zither. Yeah? So we can just...? Yeah. 'It's quite wonderful because we have this guy in Stockholm, Anders Neglin, 'who has been sitting there for months, 'listening to each track and writing down exactly what it is that is being played there, 'and so that's what we're gonna reproduce on stage.' I like that. You approve of that? Yes, I do. (BOTH LAUGH) Good. Yeah. Well, it starts with... Oh yes. (PLAYS DESCENDING TUNE) I think it was important to get the ABBA sound because I don't think it could be topped, and on top of that, I think people want to come and hear it the way they remember it. I think to do it any other way is gonna be a disappointment. (BASSLINE PLAYS) So, we've got the bass here, which is unusual, because it's playing the tune. The tune, yes, exactly. Which is very unusual to have the bass guitar playing the tune. Then the drums... (ABBA'S 'MONEY, MONEY, MONEY' PLAYS) ...and the guitars. Two guitars playing exactly the same line. Several tracks of keyboards. (ABBA'S 'MONEY, MONEY, MONEY' CONTINUES PLAYING) And then, of course, all the vocals. ALL: # Money, money, money # must be funny in a rich man's world... I was there the first preview, and I didn't know anything. I couldn't tell is this was a good piece or a bad piece or something in between. But once the audience was in there, it was just wonderful. # All the things I could do... ALL: # ...if I had a little money... I saw it as a small show in a smallish theatre, like, 800- to 1000-seater, something like that. # Money, money, money, # always sunny # in a rich man's world. # Ah... In fact, 'Mamma Mia!' went on to sell out a theatre double the size. It then opened on Broadway and in 40 other countries, being seen by over 60 million people and grossing over $2 billion. ALL: # It's a rich man's world. # We love you, Frida! Frida! BOTH: # So I made up my mind it must come to an end. # Look at me now. Will I ever learn? When you go to see 'Mamma Mia!', the greatest pleasure for me is not watching the show; it's watching how happy everybody is. # Just one look, and I can hear a bell ring... How few people have the gift of making people happy, and ABBA did have that gift, and they used it. # Mamma mia, here I go again. # My, my. How can I resist ya? # Mamma mia, does it show again, my, my... # I have a great memory of ABBA's music when I went to go see 'Mamma Mia!' In New York. I was sitting in the audience, and on the aisle was Colin Powell, his wife next to him, and I'm next to his wife. At the very end of the show, Dancing Queen, everybody's up dancing and just having a great time, and I look over, and there's Colin Powell in the aisle, dancing. Now, here's a man, a Secretary of State, and it's just, you know, when we're having the problem with Iraq, and there he is dancing in the aisles. His wife turns to me and says, 'Don't mind him ` he had all the 8-tracks.' (LAUGHS) And I'm thinking, this is a great moment ` I wish I had a camera. So when you break it all down, even to get a man like Colin Powell dancing in the aisles, that's the secret of ABBA. # And when you get the chance... So, Colin, this is for you. # Dancing queen. # Dancing queen. # No, I'm not saying you're the dancing queen. # Young and sweet, only 17. # Young and sweet, only 17. (LAUGHTER) Yeah, I feel young again, baby. # Dancing queen. # Dancing queen, # feel the beat from the tambourine. # Feel the beat from the tambourine. # Oh yeah. # Oh yeah... Perfect. # You can dance. # You can dance. And boy, can he dance! # You can jive. # You can jive. ALL: # Having the time of your life. # Ooh. See that girl. # Watch that scene. Digging the dancing queen. Whoo! That was a great moment. (LAUGHS) # You're a teaser. You turn them on. I love doing Dancing Queen. Dancing Queen for me. I love Dancing Queen. So do I. (LAUGHTER) BOTH: # Looking out for another. Anyone will do... Even if we've had a very quiet audience and they've been very respectful and not joined in very much, that number comes on, and they're all up. They're on their feet. They're up on their feet, whether they like it or not. (LAUGHS) ALL: # Young and sweet, only 17. # Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine... # 'It awakes a lot of memories, of course, and nostalgia as well, and at some time, 'I felt like I would have loved to go up on stage and do it myself, you know.' # Having the time of your life, # ooh. # (LAUGHS) ALL: # See that girl. # Watch that scene. # Digging the dancing queen. # (CHEERING) These days the members of ABBA, or three of them, at least, as Agnetha doesn't travel, are mostly only seen together at anniversary celebrations of the musical ` five years, 10 years and now 20 years in the West End. (ABBA'S 'MAMMA MIA') 'Mamma Mia!' was turned into a feature film in 2008, with a sequel 10 years later in 2018. Benny and Bjorn were involved in both. In this last film, I tweaked a couple of the lyrics, because they were songs that were not that well known. I took the liberty to do that, which was fun, and Benny was very hands-on, recording with these wonderful actresses and singers. There was even a spin-off dining experience, the first of which opened in Stockholm in 2016 and saw the only time all four of ABBA have appeared together in public for 34 years. # Now I really know, my, my, I could never let you go. # After 50 years since they met, over 20 years since Mamma Mia, who knows what the future will bring? ('MAMMA MIA' CONTINUES) It's a marvellous feeling. I mean, we don't know exactly why us ` why did this happen to us. It's kind of a miracle. (ABBA'S 'THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC') # But I have a talent, a wonderful thing, # cos everyone listens when I start to sing. # I'm so grateful and proud. # All I want is to sing it out loud. ALL: # So I say # thank you for the music, # the songs I'm singing. # Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. # Who can live without it, # I ask in all honesty. # What would life be? # Without a song or a dance, what are we? # So I say thank you for the music, # for giving it to me. #