The last TV interview with ABBA on Swedish TV, November 17, 1982
"Nöjesmaskinen"
TV special hosted by Sven Mellander and Stina Dabrowski


Sven Mellander: You are here tonight because you celebrate your tenth
anniversary.
Stina Dabrowski: Wasn’t it so that you celebrated the 10th anniversary last
year?

Björn Ulvaeus: Yes, but I don’t think it was right. Maybe the others think
different...

SM: Why not?
BU: “Ring Ring” is our first real song when we decided to work together. Benny
and myself started writing the song ten years ago.
Benny Andersson: On the other hand our first single “People Need Love” came
earlier. We had already worked together as “Festfolket” and doing cabare shows
at restaurants and so on.

SM: And you released your single in USA under the name...

BA: As today...

/Waterloo at Eurovision Song Contest in 1974/

Agnetha Fältskog: Oooh...
SM: Why do you say oooh, Agnetha?

AL: Did I have a wig there?

/Mamma Mia from Made in Sweden for Export 1975/

BA: It’s one of our first videos.
AL: We did 4 videos...

SM: How does it feel to see these videos?
AF: It feels like 7 years later...

/Dancing Queen – the video/

AL: It must be from Australia??
BA: No, it’s Stockholm – Alexandra disco.
AL: Oh yes, that’s right...
BA: I was more handsome on this video.

/Chiquitita live/

BA: It’s from our latest tour...

SM: When you listen to the songs you can say: oh this is this one and this one
and all are hits.
BA: We’ve done quite many songs which are still good.

SM: Can you still the lyrics?
AF: Oh yes, they come directly...
BU: I don’t remember most of them...
AF: When you started singing a song so you continue only and the lyrics come
automatically...
BU: The same lyrics all the time... (laugh)

SM: Which is the best ABBA song?
BA: It is very difficult to say...
AF: We like different songs each of us...
BA: We have to pick up some of them...

SM: Please, do it.
AF: My favorite is “The Winner Takes It All”
BA: I cannot choose one song only – I agree that “The Winner Takes It All” is
very good.

SD: It must have happened a lot of crazy things during this period... Frida...
AL: Oh, it was a stupid thing that happened on our tour – which year was
it?...
BU: 1977.
AL: Yeas 1977. We did a mini musical which lasted about 20 minutes during the
concert. Agnetha and myself had a little different clothes then and blonde wigs.
We were of course in a horrible hurry when we changed. When we put the wigs we
had to trample down the hair and put a stocking on it. Then you have to fasten
the wig with needles so it sits stable on your head. But it was so hurry that I
did not manage to do it... So we had a rockier number and we danced and shaked
our heads and ... my wig landed on the floor... It was not fun for the audience
to see me without hair with the stocking on my head. Then I tried to put the wig
on my head but in a hurry I put it back to front... (laugh).


SD: Was it possible to continue after such a funny incident?
BU: We had to. We laughed.
BA: We wanted to create a special atmosphere with this musical but after this
it was impossible.

SM: OK. Now something else. Frida has made her solo project this year and the
boys are planning a musical. Tell us about it.
BA: We’ve been talking about it for many years.
BU: A journalist said to me some days ago: I found an article from 1970 where
you say that you want to write a musical... But now it is for real. We have a
contact with Tim Rice. We have met him three times.

SM: Are you not afraid of such a big project.
BA: No, not at all. I think that we three manage it.

SD: How long time can it take to write a musical.
BU: We don’t know. It is very difficult to say. We can get a kick and it can
go fast. But it can take a long time as well.
BA: It takes one year to do an ABBA album including holidays and other things.
Here is double so much to do...

SM: But there is something else which is hot today. Benny can you start the
video?

/The Day Before You Came – video/


SM: You don’t like traditional, boring questions which are asked several
thousands times. So I want to ask another one. When do ABBA split up?
(laugh – nobody answers)

BU: Well, everybody asks this question all the time.

SD: Ok, what is the most stupid question you’ve been ever asked?
BA: Well it was on MIDEM in Cannes some years ago. We got two silly questions
one after another. The first one was: “Do you like music, yes – no?” (laugh).
The second one was: “How to make a hit?” (laugh).
AL: I started to laugh and I had to leave the room.
BU: You got angry.
AL: Yes, I got angry as well.

SD: Your dreams have problably come true now. You are rich and famous and very
succesful. But are there still any dreams you have?
BU: Well, I don’t know.
BA: There are a lot of ambitions still. But I don’t know if I had so many
dreams...
BU: Sure, you want to do you job better and better. Of course we had dreams
about success.
AL: Maybe not you (to Benny). You were successful from the very beginning with
Hep Stars.

Anni-Frid Lyngstad: ... Björn & Benny & Svenska flicka (Swedish girl).
BU: It was in Japan…

SM: But the name ABBA came with “Ring Ring”.
AL: Was it so, really?
BA: ABBA came first in 1974 with “Waterloo”.
AL: Yes, exactly.
BA: We’ve been working together for 11... almost 12 years now.
AL: It can be 10 or 11 or 12th anniversary...
BU: You can be a little confused.
BA: We haven’t celebrated anything anyway.

SM: It is high time now.
SD: Now can we take a look at the last 10 years. Please start the film so we
can see how you looked like ten years ago.

SM: But how about the material dreams...
AF: Well, what kind of dreams. When I look back on our 10 years so I can
hardly find any glamour in them... It has been extremely hard work all the time.

AL: Of course when you have money you can buy what you want but you have to
learn to live with it. Then you start to think that other things are more
important, not money. You start thinking who am I , what do I want? You think
about your work, you want to be better and better and that’s the most important
thing.

BU: The best thing I know is the music. It is most important. I can live
without limousines but not without music because it’s still a great fun for me.
Happiness can be small things as time together with the children and so on.

AF: The most important things when you get older are that you and your
children are healthy, that you have a nature and fresh air you can breathe...

SM: It has not only been 10 years with ABBA but as well you became 10 years
older.

AF: You are not happier of living in a double suite.
BA:..neither of getting older...
AF: No, not at all... but wiser. Maybe you get more harmony...
AL: I don’t think so. It can be up and down anyway... But you start to think
about your life in a different way.
AF: And it’s the same thing for all people, not only for us who are
successful.
BA: ... are you sure...

SD: But you are quite special anyway. In one of the interviews with you you
were asked how it was to work with ABBA. Björn said that it was very wonderful
because we did not have to compromise at work. Agnetha and Frida said that the
time with ABBA was wonderful because they had learned a lot.
BU: I think we are talking about two different things now. I mean, when I
played with Hootenanny Singers I had to compromize all the time. We could not
play all the show in the evening because it was too short time, we could not do
what we wanted musically because of something and so on and so on.

AL: Well, I can see it in a different way. Myself and Agnetha when we came to
the studio as singers we had to compromise when we sang the material written by
Björn and Benny because they as composers had a clear picture of the song from
the very beginning. So even if you maybe wanted to do something more as a singer
you couldn’t and you had to compromise.

AF: On the other hand we could add something to the songs what Björn and Benny
had not thought about.
BU: Absolutely.

SD: It has nothing to do with the fact that you are girls?
AF: Absolutely not. Not in this case.
BA: Not at all. Of course we have a clear picture of what we want to create.
Björn and myself start to work with a song long before the girls come to the
studio, so it is quite natural that it will be in this way.
AF: The boys know exactly how they want us to sing a song.

SD: But still we are different men and women. After a divorce it takes 7 years
for women to get married again and only 1 year for men.
BU: Is it true?
AL: I think that boys are afraid of being alone.
BA: I think, there are not enough of good boys...
AF: I agree, boys are afraid of living alone.
BU: I was single one week only... what a horrible week...

SM: Now you can sing little..
AF: Yes, we do!
/singing Thank You For The Music – live/

SM: You are going to sing one more song “Under Attack”very soon but before
that you have to attack our interview-machine – Benny.


The question: Do you have any complex?
BA: Björn has, he can talk about it...
SM: Don’t you have any?
BA: I don’t think so. It can be maybe some business affair... no I don’t know.
SM: It’s OK. Björn now.


The question: Who did you want to be when you were a little child?
AL: Have you ever been little child?
BU: Oh, yes. I suppose that I wanted to be a pop star very early in my life.
Probably I had a dream of being train driver or something like that. Is is ok?
SM: OK, Agnetha.


AF: It will be sure very difficult.
SM: No difficult questions here.

The question: Who do you admire most?
AF: Now? (thinking; Frida is pointing on herself but Agnetha pretends not to
see it).

AF: Myself!
AL: Typical Agnetha... (laugh).


The question to Frida: Which finds mean most for the human being?
AL: Telefon, radio, plane, TV, kitchen machines...

SM: It’s enough, thanks.

“Under Attack”

Marielle <marielleoneill@...> wrote:
Greetings!

Does anyone know any sites/links to interviews ABBA did when they were
together?

Peace
Marielle






Magda
Did you know that those who spend their time protecting others
are the ones that really need someone to protect them?







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