ABBA
Martin Luther King said ‘I Have a Dream’ and the world saw his dream, realizing it was theirs too.
I Have a Dream, A Song to sing – Sang ABBA and the world sang with them.
ABBA was a hit Swedish music group of the 70s and 80s, ruling the music charts for more than a decade. The name ABBA is an acronym of the first names of the Band members:
ABBA – Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, Anni-Frid
Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus were a married couple as were Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson. Benny and Bjorn met in 1946 and were soon writing songs together. Benny and Bjorn were members of popular bands ‘The Hep Stars’ and ‘Hootenanny’ respectively.
In 1969 they met Agnetha and Anni-Frid who were both accomplished singers. In 1972 they recorded their very first single ‘People Need Love’ which became quite a hit in Sweden.
The song ‘Waterloo’ won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 and for a while after that ABBA flopped repeatedly in the UK, being passed off as a band that could only deliver single hits.
Then came ‘Mamma Mia’, the last song to be recorded for the album ‘ABBA’ in 1975. This song swept the world off its feet and changed the way ABBA was looked at.
When the year 1977 dawned, ABBA had become a sensation; they were superstars. Some of their songs are so heartwarming, catchy and ever-current in their themes that they have become immortalized. One such song is ‘I Have A Dream’,
This song speaks of believing in what is inherently good in you and in nature and of overcoming obstacles. It speaks of being resilient and strong from within and always having hope and having some dream to cherish.
The lyrics go as follows:
I have a dream, a song to sing
To help me cope with anything
If you see the wonder of the fairy tale
You can take the future, even if you fail
I believe in angels, something good in everything I see
I believe in angels, when I know the time is right for me
I’ll cross the stream, I have a dream
This song combines amazing lyrics, full of meaning and inspiration with a very smooth, flowing music that somehow seems to surround you and make you calm and relaxed. This song was rerecorded by the band Westlife in 1999.
From such not-so-loud beginnings, ABBA soon conquered the hearts of all popular-music fans.
Their Albums are:
- Ring Ring (1973)
- Waterloo (1974)
- ABBA (1975)
- Arrival (1976)
- ABBA – The Album (1977)
- Voulez-Vous (1979)
- Super-Trouper (1980)
- The Visitors (1981)
Even though there has been no reunion even 25 years after ABBA ’split’, their music keeps hitting the audience afresh. Many movies use ABBA songs on their soundtracks and the compilation CD ABBA GOLD has sold 26 million copies so far. This was released in 1992.
In 1999 ‘Mamma Mia’, a West End Musical was released based on ABBA songs. This was remade in 2008 as ‘Mamma Mia – The Movie’, a blockbuster film. The film included songs such as ‘I Have A Dream’, ‘Honey, Honey’, ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘Waterloo’, ‘Mamma Mia’, etc.
ABBA has sold nearly 370 million records worldwide. After 1982, relationships started straining and both couples divorced one after the other. Even though they have never officially announced the splitting of the band, they are considered dissolved. ABBA is and will always be one of the classic bands of a glorious time that almost seems an era away. Their music has a universal appeal and charm that will never fade.
- Kavya Kumar
Tags: abba, abba songs, agnetha, agnetha faltskog, anni frid, anni frid lyngstad, benny, benny andersson, bjorn, björn ulvaeus, mamma mia, music, swedish music group
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