ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions Notes
Introduction
Page 6: “There was a little bit of suspicion”: ABBA – The Complete Recording Sessions by Carl Magnus Palm; Century 22, Iver Heath 1994, p3.
The future is calling: 1966–1971
Page 12:
“We were out in a house”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 13:
“Everybody was damned happy”: Interview by Dan-Eric Landén, 4 December 1998.
“‘Sunny Girl’ is a better song”: Interview by Susanne Cederberg, Musikspegeln special: Benny Andersson, TV programme broadcast 21 January 1997.
Page 14:
“When the Beatles started to make an impact” and “There was something wrong”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“because it was so bloody catchy”: Interview by Craig McLean, the Observer, 13 July 2008.
Page 15:
“I remember very well”: Interview by Frank Östergren, Expressen, 6 November 1982.
“actually wasn’t very good”: Interview in Livet är en fest, radio series (episode 7) broadcast 20 February 2000.
“There was a good connection”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, B för Benny, radio programme broadcast 28 December 1976.
Page 16:
1
“That situation had changed”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“Gert was a fun guy”: Interview by Dan-Eric Landén, 4 December 1998.
“Benny and I would”: Interview by Dan-Eric Landén, 10 May 1999.
“I remember thinking”: Interview by Pete Paphides, the Guardian, 8 June 2002.
Page 17:
“The good thing about Hep House”: Interview by Dan-Eric Landén, 4 December 1998.
“He was my mentor” and “That wasn’t alien to him”: Author interview, 5 June 1998.
“We soon discovered”: Interview by Barbro Hähnel, Dagens Nyheter, 8 April 1974.
“On Björn’s 40th birthday party”: Author interview, 16 September 1993.
Page 19:
“It was the happiest moment”: Interview by Michael B. Tretow featured in track ‘Introduktion’ on Agnetha Fältskog CD My Love My Life, 1996.
Page 20:
“and then I had a bit of a tune”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 22 June 1969.
Page 21:
“My biggest wish”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, B för Björn, radio programme broadcast 29 December 1976.
“I called Björn up”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 22:
“There’s going to be”: Interview by Mona Krantz, På turné, radio programme broadcast 29 August 1969.
“very pleased”: De legendariska åren – Metronome Records by Håkan Lahger & Lasse Ermalm; Premium Publishing, Stockholm 2007, p239.
2
Page 23:
“three or four [Andersson/Ulvaeus] songs”: Dagens Nyheter, 13 July 1969.
“Stig approached us”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 24:
“even if you [threaten to] murder me”: Interview by Harry Amster, SvD.se, 5 July 2008.
Page 25:
“Billy had this kind of Joe Cocker-like voice”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 26:
“a cross between country and western and The Salvation Army”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
Page 27:
“the birth of ABBA”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
“They knew exactly what they wanted”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 29:
All quotes from author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 30:
“I think that in those days you mainly made albums”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
“This was because we recorded”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
“it’s happened”: Interview, Aftonbladet, 12 April 1972.
Page 32:
“the absolute low point of the careers”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
3
“It got absolutely the best reaction”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 33:
“The Lycka album was a bit so-so”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 35:
“Suddenly a bass player was needed”: Little Mike’s Big Story by Mike Watson; Little Music, Halmstad 1993, p8.
“I’ve never felt that I was an artist”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 36:
“I’m allowed to just be myself”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“Of course it was fun”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 37:
All quotes from email to author, 29 September 2015.
The best of friends: 1972
Page 40:
“There were a couple of titles”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 41:
All quotes from author interview with Janne Schaffer, 12 June 1993.
Page 43:
“I continued playing” and “It was through Janne”: Author interview, 30 May 1993.
“I am a session musician”: ABBA Magazine, #14 1979.
“He was tremendously important”: Dagens Nyheter, 17 March 2008.
4
“He was a highly creative musician”: Interview by Jorun Amcoff, Expressen, 17 March 2008.
“‘People Need Love’ was written for us”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 44:
“We’ve got our model from England and America”: Expressen, 28 January 1973.
Page 45:
“We tried to nag”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“Give the award to Rune”: musikindustrin.se, 9 January 2014.
Page 46:
“The atmosphere is in the walls”: De legendariska åren – Metronome Records by Håkan Lahger & Lasse Ermalm; Premium Publishing, Stockholm 2007, p223.
“I remember thinking”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 47:
“I remember that we thought”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
“with one eye on Japan”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 48:
“Compared to what we had been used to”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 50:
“It’s like there’s a dragon in a cave”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, pp52–53.
“It’s a natural state to be two”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 51:
5
“too many people were phoning there”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 14 April 1973.
“The room we used”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“It’s easier that way”: Interview in Joepie, June 1978.
“Although we tried to work”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 52:
“Since we could concentrate”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“by helicopter if need be”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p74.
Page 53:
“I know a lot of other writers”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p52.
“After we release an album”: Interview by Pat & Pete Luboff, Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“There is nothing bohemian”: Interview by Frank Östergren, Expressen, 6 November 1982.
“Inspiration comes”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, B för Benny, radio programme broadcast 28 December 1976.
“All of a sudden”: Interview by Kent Finell, Svensktoppen, radio programme broadcast 24 March 1974.
“You don’t write a good song”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p106.
Page 54:
“I actually think”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“I don’t know what it is”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“We don’t really adhere to any principle”: Interview by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 15 October 1977.
“Of course, if we’ve written eight songs”: B för Benny, 28 December 1976.
“Sometimes it takes you a week”: Interview by Ray Moore, This Is ABBA, three-part radio series broadcast 1980.
6
“never leaving a song”: Interview by Karin Enokson, Ny musik, March 1974.
“You start at one end”: Author interview, 6 July 1993.
“Benny provided most of the music”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“It’s an interesting question”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 55:
“five or six-year-old stuff” and “Sometimes they may fit”: Svensktoppen, 24 March 1974.
“brought out things”: Interview by Kristoffer Triumf, Värvet, podcast published 26 January 2016.
“The technique we used”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
“The backbone of a tune”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“We tinkle and warble and hum”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 14 April 1973.
Page 56:
“In the end you feel”: Interview in Nyhetsmorgon, radio programme broadcast 30 November 1981.
“Before you have that”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“Often when they’re sitting there”: Interview by Susanna Hauffman, Vecko-Revyn #42, October 1976.
“I’m not religious”: Interview by Jan Gradvall, DI Weekend, 14 June 2013.
“We knew nothing was more important”: ABBA The Official Photo Book by Jan Gradvall, Petter Karlsson, Bengt Wanselius & Jeppe Wikström; Bokförlaget Max Ström, Stockholm 2014, p112.
Page 57:
“It was all so silly”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
7
Page 58:
All Rutger Gunnarsson quotes from author interview, 21 June 1993.
“he’d find divine bass lines”: Dagens Nyheter, 4 June 2015.
Page 60:
“Virtually all of the 12 tracks are self-written”: Helg-Extra, 24 June 1972.
Page 61:
“it’s because of [our ambition to make it abroad]”: unidentified source.
Page 62:
All quotes from author interview, 15 December 2015.
Page 63:
“The managing director”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“Four songs have been written”: Expressen, 7 September 1972.
“I don’t know why”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“rather forget it”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I’ve always felt”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 64:
“It’s not one of our best songs”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 67:
“They don’t like it”: Interview by Ann Hesselblad, Aftonbladet, 12 November 1972.
I feel like I win when I lose: 1973
Page 70:
8
“Started writing lyrics”: Stig Anderson’s diary, quoted in Min pappa hette Stikkan by Petter Karlsson; Anderson Pocket, Stockholm 2008, p59.
“it was the best thing”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 14 April 1973.
Page 71:
“That explained why”; “it was just a coincidence” and “Before that”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“It sounded like the world’s biggest guitar”: Interview in Newton, television programme broadcast 4 May 2000.
“I changed it”: Fenomenet ABBA by Christer Borg; Sweden Music, Stockholm 1977, p115.
“It was the like the roof was caving in”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 72:
“half a day:” Expressen, 14 April 1973.
“He’s a source of inspiration”: Interview by Jørgen de Mylius for Danish radio, circa May 1973.
Page 73:
“I thought it could become a hit”: Let’s Talk About ABBA by Stany van Wymeersch; Dragonetti, Belgium, 2013, p256.
“It would have been [music publisher] Donny Kirshner”: Interview by Carl Wiser, 13 September 2011, published on songfacts.com.
“shrill” and “ugly”: Author interviews, 13 November 2013 and 29 March 2016.
Page 75:
“There are artists who give so much”: Väggen e’ klar – Världens första bok om Kalle Sändare by Lars Carlsson, Reverb, Göteborg 2010, pp166–167.
Page 77:
“I played in the Melodifestivalen orchestra”: Author interview, 12 June 1993.
9
Page 78:
“a hobby”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, ABBA i kvadrat, radio programme broadcast 31 December 1976.
Page 79:
“I guess I was rather proud”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
“It’s the boys’ business”: unidentified source.
“I don’t think they’re good enough”: Interview by Janeric Sundquist, Avsminkat, radio programme broadcast 30 December 1981.
Page 80:
“The things we produced for ourselves”: Author interview, 18 May 1973.
Page 81:
“a happy, comparatively simple music” and all other quotes in this paragraph: Interview in Göteborgs-Tidningen, 16 June 1973.
Page 83:
“within the next few months”: Polar Music press release, September 1973.
“We had to sing phonetically transcribed lyrics”: Interview by Karin Skogsberg, Hemmets veckotidning #4, 21–27 January 1974.
Page 84:
“It’s very close to”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 85:
“Everyone thought it was fun”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
“I can just hear me”: Email to author, 11 December 2013.
Page 86:
10
“I find it hard”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
“In the early days”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“I guess one should ask”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
Page 87:
“pretty cool”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“were searching a little”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
“was one of those titles”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“‘What About Livingstone’ is one of those fun tracks”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“The lyrics are kind of fun”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“The most difficult thing” and “It’s a good song”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
Page 88:
“Electronic sounds are the future”: Interview by Hans Fridlund, Expressen, 9 April 1974.
“the best synthesizer” and “I actually don’t know”: Interview by Jonas Frick, Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
“I have to confess”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p21.
“I remember that Agnetha and I”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 89:
“It’s a typical example”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“It’s the worst onstage moment”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 90:
“The tune is all right”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
11
“How come you take so much trouble”: Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976.
“I think there’s a lot of melancholy”: Interview by Anton Spice, thevinylfactory.com, 12 November 2013.
“If you are one of those people”: Interview by Alona Wartofsky, Washington Post, 31 March 2002.
“We write a lot of tunes”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 22 June 1969.
“It was pretty hopeless”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“a necessary evil”: ABBA: The Interview, 1999.
Page 92:
“as pure routine work”: Interview by Elisabeth Frankl, Expressen, 6 February 1972.
“learned a lot from Stig”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p14.
“The most important thing”: Interview by Kent Finell, Svensktoppen, radio programme broadcast 24 March 1974.
“Because we were foreigners”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, pp21–22.
“You have to be able to remember the titles”: Interview by Susanna Hauffman, Vecko- Revyn #42, October 1976.
Page 93:
“It came much, much easier” and “On some of the early songs”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“That is our major problem”: Interview by Mary Campbell, AP Newsfeatures, published circa October 1974.
“Somebody has to push the buttons”: Interview by Sam Graham, High Fidelity, March 1980.
Page 94:
“I always thought it was so boring”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“It is possible that we’ve been concentrating”: New Musical Express, 24 April 1976.
12
“the content has suffered”: unidentified source.
“It was part of my development”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“Sometimes when we went into the studio”: Interview by Pat & Pete Luboff, Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“I wanted there to be some kind of ambience”: Author interview, 1993.
“A song or a piece of music”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 95:
“We talk about that for a while”: Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“I may have”: Interview by Marie Nyreröd, Babel, television programme broadcast 16 March 2014.
“Part of the satisfaction” and “You learned empirically”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“I think it’s my musical background”: Interview by Niklas Natt och Dag, kingmagazine.se, 22 April 2016.
“It’s so obvious that something’s missing”: Interview by Peter Fröberg Idling, Vi, 10 October 2015.
Page 96:
“A hook has to be a hook”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 97:
“We’re grown-up people”: Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“I’d like to think”; “a habit of being one degree above drivel” and “That might be true”: Interview by Joe Breen, The Irish Times, 19 May 1979.
“If you listen to the recent lyrics”: Interview by Ray Moore, This Is ABBA, radio programme broadcast 1980.
Page 98:
“The difficult thing about writing lyrics”: Babel, 16 March 2014.
13
“The soul of a tune”: From Take A Chance On Me, essay included in vinyl singles box set ABBA The Singles, 2014.
“After an analysis”: Lars Weck in Dagens Nyheter, 7 April 1974.
“The title is the most important thing”: Interview by Lars Weck, Dagens Nyheter, 7 April 1974.
Page 99:
“I needed a tri-syllabic word”: Interview by Lars Petterson, Se #14, 4 April 1974.
“I was searching frantically” and “I called Benny up”: Fenomenet ABBA, p16.
“‘Waterloo’ was a song in D-major”: Author interview, 12 June 1993.
“If it hadn’t been for Janne Schaffer’s guitar riff”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“filler material”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“We had this feeling”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
Page 100:
“We realised that neither of us”: Fenomenet ABBA, p116.
Page 101:
“To me it sounds nice”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“Sometimes it felt embarrassing”: Interview by Ernst Nathorst-Böös and Olle Niklasson, Musikermagasinet #6, 1993
A question of give and take: 1974
Page 102:
All Christer Eklund quotes (except “music seems much too calculated”) from interview by Stany van Wymeersch, Official International Fan Club magazine #118, March 2014.
“music seems much too calculated”: Interview by Hans Lovén, Röster i Radio-TV #46, 5 November 1976.
14
Page 110:
“it’s as if we hadn’t understood” and “It’s the final album”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
“If we hadn’t known” and “My kids”: Interview by Karin Enokson, Ny musik, March 1974.
“But if you actually listen”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
Page 112:
“It was a damn nervous situation”: Author interview, 12 November 2013.
Page 113:
“When everything is going at full speed”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 114:
“insisted on the re-release”: Facebook message to author, 29 January 2015.
“too mawkish” and “middle-of-the-road”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“a little too lightweight”: Fenomenet ABBA by Christer Borg; Sweden Music, Stockholm 1977, p40.
“I was so tired of working”: De legendariska åren – Metronome Records by Håkan Lahger & Lasse Ermalm; Premium Publishing, Stockholm 2007, p225.
Page 115:
“Although there was nothing wrong”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“came and went”: ABBA The Official Photo Book by Jan Gradvall, Petter Karlsson, Bengt Wanselius & Jeppe Wikström; Bokförlaget Max Ström, Stockholm 2014, p147.
“We did have good equipment” and “Ann-Louise’s mother”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“irresistible”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“The studio was right below”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“the bathroom cabinet”: Interview in Minnenas Journal #3, March 2012.
15
“That’s the way things had worked”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 116:
“some guy”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“The things I did with ABBA”: Author interview, 14 June 2016.
Page 118:
“I’d like to go on”: unidentified source.
“Hansi Schwarz of the Hootenanny Singers”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“My demands on myself” and all other Agnetha quotes: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
Page 119:
“It’s really a fantastic feeling”: Interview by Pat & Pete Luboff, Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“The gramophone record”: Interview by Jens Peterson, Schlager #98, 30 October 1984.
“laughed from the first day”: Interview by Kjell Ekholm, Skivor större än mitt liv, radio programme broadcast 23 July 1990.
“If I had to choose”: Interview by Hans Fridlund, Expressen, 11 August 1973.
“We moulded this thing together:” first part of quote from interview by Charlie Bates, ABBA Magazine #38, August 1981; second part from Fenomenet ABBA, p115.
Page 120:
“sound like real records”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“It wasn’t very easy”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“Recording drums”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 121:
“Michael never miked the drums” and “With most other engineers”: Author interview, 30 May 1993.
16
“I hate cymbals!”: ABBA Magazine #38, August 1981.
“If someone is playing a guitar”: Interview by Anders Isacsson, Propeller #3, 1999.
“I have the world’s most exciting job!”: Interview in Vecko-Revyn #46, 10 November 1976.
Page 122:
“I would write down the chords”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, pp57–58.
“Sometimes we’d chance it”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“We would try to work ourselves into some kind of groove”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, pp57–58.
“Although we would always”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“We’d just play around”: Author interview, 2 June 1993.
“I would usually be sitting there”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 123:
“There would be a good moment”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, pp57–58.
“I would say that Björn functioned”: Author interview, 2 June 1993.
“It was a matter of trust”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“It took an enormous amount of time”: Author interview, 30 May 1993.
Page 124:
“We would always take great pains”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“You’d use it on the piano” and “There were separate rooms”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“The tune remained the same”: Author interview, 2 June 1993.
“You’d try everything”: Author interview, 30 May 1993.
17
“Sometimes the song just didn’t happen”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
Page 125:
“When we’d been at it”: Interview by Olle Niklasson & Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, Studio #2, 2012.
“Michael had a very nice way”: Author interview, 12 June 1993.
“Musicians have a very special jargon”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“Working together with musicians”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“Once he starts playing”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
“a virtual music box”: Author interview, 24 May 1993.
“If it hadn’t been for Björn”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
“We’d record a version”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 126:
“It became easier”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“These days”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“But at the same time”: Interview by Olle Niklasson & Carl-Michael Herlöfsson, Studio #1, 2012.
“It was fun playing bass”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
“Björn and Benny were always”: Author interview, 24 May 1993.
“We would bring in our influences”: Author interview, 3 October 2016.
“When they called”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
Page 127:
“One day Michael went into the pool room”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“At that time”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“She almost had a heart attack”: Interview in ABBA In Pictures – The Photographers’ Stories, DVD included with Deluxe Edition of ABBA The Official Photo Book, 2014.
18
“I had … acquired something”: Mitt liv som Schaffer by Janne Schaffer & Petter Karlsson; Roos & Tegnér, Malmö 2012, p214.
“It isn’t very good”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“By that time”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
Page 128:
“In those days”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
“Our attitude was”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p28.
Page 130:
“If there was any realism”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“We spent a whole day”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 131:
“Björn and Benny said to me”: Author interview, 18 February 2016.
“howling”; “Today, with access to real synths” and “We had this idea”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 132:
“I think her singing was excellent”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“It’s a damn good ballad”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 133:
“once we’d started working on it”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
“‘Terra del Fuego’ was one of those recordings”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 136:
“When I was 16” and “With ‘Intermezzo no. 1’”: Author interview, 2 June 1993.
19
Page 137:
“hellishly difficult”: Author interview, 18 February 2016.
“It worked really well”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“During rehearsals”: Email to author, 16 August 2012.
“I think I played the song to Claes”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“It’s one of those songs”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
Page 138:
“perhaps a little mawkish”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
Page 139:
“It’s a song that I liked”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
Page 141:
“We wanted ‘Rock Me’”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 142:
“Janne Schaffer had some kind of guitar gadget”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Getting in the swing: 1975
Page 145:
“They sat in the sofa”: Author interview, 7 November 2016.
“The recording isn’t especially good”. Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“in hindsight”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
Page 146:
“there’s not very much reggae in it”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
20
Page 147:
“pretty uninteresting”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“it’s OK”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“We were in Benny and Frida’s house”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I still have a great love”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“a damn good title”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 148:
“In the late 1950s”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“a Billy Vaughn-style song”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“Benny sat at the piano” and “It’s my biggest hit!”: Author interview, 14 June 2016.
Page 149:
“You can’t play it loud”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p26.
Page 150:
“Benny and I were working”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I was definitely now into working”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p36.
“That was the first eureka moment”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“We had tried the chorus”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p36.
Page 151:
“Almost all the songs”: ABBA The Official Photo Book by Jan Gradvall, Petter Karlsson, Bengt Wanselius & Jeppe Wikström; Bokförlaget Max Ström, Stockholm 2014, p138.
“I must say”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
21
“It’s one of those typical ABBA songs” and “and naturally I had to find out”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“It made for a really catchy start”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p36.
“The descending guitar line”: Author interview, 18 February 2016.
Page 153:
“When our single was finally released”: Author interview, 4 October 2000.
“I think it was a matter of”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“We felt that Svenne & Lotta”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“I guess we didn’t want our version” and “The one thing we learned”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 155:
“the awful realisation”: Interview by Malcolm Laycock on Radio London, as reported in Expressen, 1 July 1974.
“We were pretty much on the go there”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“[W]e were almost beginning to doubt ourselves”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p27.
Page 156:
“album that we’ve managed to produce”: Interview by Viveca Sundvall, Aftonbladet, 25 April 1975.
“You can tell”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“I think we titled it ABBA”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 157:
“But there’s no use”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“it was a good album”: Author interview, 6 August 2012.
“They were songs”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
22
Page 159:
“It was fun to do it”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 160:
“We released ‘SOS’”: Interview by Jan Iles, Record Mirror & Disc, 17 January 1976.
“My strongest memory”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 161:
“[I]t must have been a special occasion”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p40.
“The night before the session”: Author interview, 1 February 2011.
Page 162:
“We have often had problems”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 163:
“It had a really nice groove”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p40.
“I felt and still feel an affinity”: E-mail to author, 3 June 2009.
“There were plenty of fills”: Interview by Sara Moein, sverigesradio.se, 16 December 2011.
“These days you would do it”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 164:
“We needed a good song”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“there was meter in it”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“I like the results”: E-mail to author, 3 June 2009.
“I was so excited”: Interview by Pete Paphides, the Guardian, 8 June 2002.
23
Page 165:
“He got home”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
“I even helped build the studio” and “Benny was often like”: Author interview, 7 July 2016.
Page 166:
“There was a pizza box”: Author interview, 24 October 2016.
Page 168:
“good enough to do in English”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“at an early stage”: Fenomenet ABBA by Christer Borg; Sweden Music, Stockholm 1977, p51.
Page 169:
“on a beautiful summer night” and “I was looking at”: From Fernando, essay included in vinyl singles box set ABBA The Singles, 2014.
“We just want to create the atmosphere”: Interview recorded in California, October 1976, featured on CD included with ABBA Interview Disc & Fully Illustrated Book, Sound and Media Limited 1996.
Page 171:
“in the wrong place”: Interview by Arne Norlin, Aftonbladet, 5 March 1978.
“When we recorded the vocals”: Interview in Förmiddag, radio programme broadcast 16 May 1979.
Page 172:
Except where otherwise noted, all Agnetha and Frida quotes in the Recording the vocals essay are from Letter to author, 5 September 1993 (Agnetha) and Author interview, 13 August 1993. (Frida).
“I think we have to give the girls”: Interview in The ABBA Story, radio programme, 1977.
“Björn and Benny are held up”: Interview by Jens Peterson, Aftonbladet, 23 January 2009.
24
Page 173:
“It often turned out wrong”: Fenomenet ABBA, pp116–117.
“It was the most painless bit”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“as tinkles on the piano”: ABBA The Official Photo Book, p276.
Page 174:
“Nice sounds”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“That’s what the Beach Boys did”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p96.
“Every melody line in an arrangement”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p82.
“Once I’ve learned the melody”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, A för Agnetha, radio programme broadcast 27 December 1976.
“trying to be open and flexible”: Interview by Stina Lundberg and Sven Melander, Nöjesmaskinen, television programme broadcast 19 November 1982.
Page 175:
“The lyrics have to fit the music”: Fenomenet ABBA, p116.
“We wanted to see”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“For a composer”: ABBA The Official Photo Book, p200.
Page 176:
“He said”: Interview in Livet är en fest, radio series (episode 7) broadcast 20 February 2000.
“There was always a lot of fighting”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“The sparks fly sometimes” and “It adds spirit to the song”: Interview by Ingrid Hansson, Allers #45, 7 November 1976.
“We wanted Agnetha and Frida”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, pp46–48.
“It’s magical sometimes”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“heated recording atmosphere”: Allers #45.
25
“so that people won’t get the wrong impression of us”: Interview by Hans Fridlund, Expressen, 19 April 1976.
“I felt that there was”: Agnetha Fältskog, Som jag är. Livsbilder berättade för Brita Åhman, Norstedts, Stockholm 1996, p50.
“We pushed each other along”: Interview by Lena Katarina Swanberg, Månadsjournalen #10, October 1996.
Page 177:
“Of course, I always knew”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“most other artists”: Interview originally made for television programme The Nation’s Favourite ABBA Song, 2010.
Page 178:
“Then I discovered”: ABBA The Official Photo Book, p266.
“Singing is principally about”: ABBA The Official Photo Book, p200.
“They had an enormous amount of control”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“Don’t forget that the Ls should be thick”: Reported by Leif Schulman, Hänt i Veckan, 1977.
Page 179:
“It was a prerequisite”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“The tension that used to exist”: Press conference in Edmonton, 13 September 1979, as reported by Leif Schulman in ABBA – succé på världs-scenen, Allerbok, Sweden 1979, p62.
“I notice when we’re working in the studio”: Interview by Kjell Dabrowski, Solklart, radio programme broadcast 27 August 1981.
“I guess it could be frosty sometimes”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
“When something doesn’t turn out right”: Fenomenet ABBA, pp114–115.
“Benny and Björn always calm things down”: Allers #45.
26
“He was very, very positive”: Interview by Ingmarie Halling for video originally shown at ABBAWORLD exhibition in London, 2010.
“I know that I can hear it”: Interview in The Nation’s Favourite ABBA Song, television programme broadcast 5 December 2010.
“When you talk about concepts”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 184:
“When I started working at Glenstudio”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“I’ve discovered plenty of things”: Fenomenet ABBA, pp118–119.
Page 185:
“A funny thing about ‘Sandwich’”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“completing two new songs”. Reported by Brian Mulligan, Music Week, 13 December 1975.
Page 187:
“By this time”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“I just can’t understand”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
Playing night and day: 1976
Page 188:
“Now we can get a nice sound”: Interview in Expressen, 15 January 1976.
Page 191:
“I remember that Björn and I”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
“The policy is to always do songs”: Interview by Lars Weck, Dagens Nyheter, 5 February 1976.
“We consciously modelled ourselves”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
27
“It is really very unconventional”: Interview by Jan Iles, Record Mirror & Disc, 17 January 1976.
Page 194:
“a very, very good song”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“was a happily married man”: From Knowing Me, Knowing You, essay included in vinyl singles box set ABBA The Singles, 2014.
“It’s possible that I felt a premonition”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p50.
“When the image jumped out”: From Knowing Me, Knowing You essay.
Page 195:
“I think this ranks as one of our five best recordings”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 197:
“something out of [the musical] Cabaret”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p46.
Page 198:
“I’m not really a session musician” and all other Anders Glenmark quotes: Author interview, 7 July 2016.
“some phrase ending with the word ‘gypsy’”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 199:
“that there were enough ‘money’ songs around”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“I remember that the entire group was there”: Author interview, 8 June 2016.
“In pop music”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“If it’s not there”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“That song is the one”: Interview by Artur Ringart, Skivspegeln, radio programme broadcast October 1976.
28
Page 200:
“If the song had really been too far out”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p48.
Page 201:
“That song was called ‘Rio de Janeiro’”: Interview by Susanna Hauffman, Vecko-Revyn #42, October 1976.
“we did at least three versions”: Boken om ABBA by Rud Kofoed, Askild & Kärnekull, Stockholm 1977, p120.
“I think this is one of our very best recordings”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 203:
“I usually use the brass preset”: Interview by Jonas Frick, Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
“like a blanket over everything”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 206:
“Here is the song”: Interview by Gregory Allan Fitzpatrick, Schlager #6/7, December 1980.
“some kind of ‘orchestra’”: Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
“He wanted as many overdubs as possible”: 3 November 2016.
“Björn and Benny are trying”: Sound International, February 1980.
“A record isn’t just a melody”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, B för Benny, radio programme broadcast 28 December 1976.
Page 207:
“If you listen”; “We were always looking around” and “In those days”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p22.
“Sometimes we’d try out impossible overdubs”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“I’d get a cassette tape”: Author interview, 21 June 1993.
29
Page 208:
“They’d let the tape recorder run”: Author interview, 9 June 2016.
“It happened that we’d been working”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“Our aim”: Interview by Ann-Katrin Ljung, Göteborgs-Tidningen, circa November 1976.
“reasonable”: Interview in ABBA i kvadrat, radio programme broadcast 31 December 1976.
“[They] come into the control room”: Sound International, February 1980.
Page 209:
“It was more fun”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“Concepts like ‘finished’”; “I was also responsible” and “By the time it had scanned through”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“You had to remember” and “Sometimes you made it”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 210:
“The only thing I can complain about”: Interview by Jim Irvin, Mojo #66, May 1999.
“Benny is insatiable”: Fenomenet ABBA by Christer Borg; Sweden Music, Stockholm 1977, p118.
“After 10 hours”: Sound International, February 1980.
“Sometimes you’ve worked like crazy”: Interview by Karin Enokson, Ny musik, March 1974.
“straight into the waste basket”: Interview by Leif Olsson (syndicated Associated Press feature), Dover Times Reporter, 4 March 1977.
“Björn and Benny, who are so kind” and “Björn and Benny said”: Interview by Kjell Ekholm, Skivor större än mitt liv, radio programme broadcast 23 July 1990.
Page 211:
“By this time” and “All of us”: Skivor större än mitt liv, 23 July 1990.
30
“ABBA’s products are measured”: Interview in Vecko-Revyn #46, 10 November 1976.
“When English and American engineers said”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“It’s more interesting”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“But I still enjoy going into the studio”: Author interview, 13 November 2013.
“There’s a lot of junk”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 212:
“it sounded too much like ‘Dancing Queen’”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
“Benny said”: Author interview, 16 September 1993.
“All of us”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, A för Agnetha, radio programme broadcast 27 December 1976.
“It might as well”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 213:
“‘Dum dum diddle, to be your fiddle’ – I think that’s good”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 214:
“A silly song”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“There was nothing especially wrong”: Author interview, 10 February 1994.
Page 217:
“We knew immediately”: Agnetha Fältskog with Brita Åhman, As I Am – ABBA Before & Beyond, Virgin, London 1997.
Page 218:
“If you have a song called ‘Dancing Queen’”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 219:
31
“solid pop music”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p40.
“many different titles”: Vecko-Revyn #42.
Page 220:
“almost one of my absolute favourite songs”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“‘My Love, My Life’ lost something”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 221:
“The melody somehow lacked that extra something”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 222:
“I remember that Michael and I”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 224:
“We were working very intensely”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“I feel a tug at my heart strings”: Skivor större än mitt liv, 23 July 1990.
Page 225:
“The albums have a lot more to give”: Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 31 January 1976.
“at least two months”: Fenomenet ABBA, p132.
Page 227:
“I just remember it being very good”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
“It’s an okay song”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Everyone listens when I start to sing: 1977
32
Page 229:
“Benny and I” and “I think it was I”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 232:
“Besides”: Fenomenet ABBA, p133.
Page 234:
“Their voices would disappear”: All quotes from author interview, 20 April 1993.
“When you’re doing concerts”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
Page 236:
“getting harder all the time” and “We feel that we have to”: Interview in The ABBA Story, radio programme, 1977.
“I put in orders”: Interview by Henrik Kyhle, Vecko-Revyn #50, 14 December 1977.
Page 237:
“It certainly is a good recording”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 238:
“in our eyes” and “after a good deal of cosmetic renovation work”: Email to author, 7 July 2015.
“Up until the mid-1970s”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“We promoted ourselves”: Email to author, 3 July 2015.
Page 240:
“There was a phrase in it”: Author interview, 6 July 1993.
Page 241:
“They had a piano”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
33
“a bit like the Carpenters”: Comment to author, 29 October 1993.
“incredibly charming”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 242:
“I had a Morley echo”: Author interview, 12 June 1993.
“a return to the dismal Eurospeak”: Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976.
“It’s important that the words”: unidentified source.
“Those lyrics were directly inspired”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 244:
“lying on the floor”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 245:
“The songs are beginning to sound better” and following quotes in paragraph: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 246:
“It used to be a Konsum store”: Email to author, 13 September 2014.
“rattles”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“Good song, bad recording”: Interview by Kevin Bourke, manchestereveningnews.co.uk, 29 July 2008.
“has a music-hall quality” and “a singalong in a pub”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p64.
“The only chance”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 247:
“Although it had not been exactly like that”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p67.
34
“Being a dance-band singer”: Interview by Ulf Elfving, A för Anni-Frid, radio programme broadcast 30 December 1976.
Page 249:
“Lasse Hallström wanted something special”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 250:
“verse” and “I seem to remember”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
Page 251:
“had been around for a while”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 253:
“With ‘Take A Chance On Me’”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
Page 256:
“moved about the studio”: Report by Roy Ferguson, Reader’s Digest, September 1978.
Page 258:
“We wanted to get our work done”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
“We’d made all our big hits”: Author interview, 26 August 2002.
Page 259:
“This was the era”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“a very brief visit”: Report by Bosse Mellerskog, Göteborgs-Tidningen, 20 September 1977.
Page 260:
“a bit worried”: Interview by Tim Lott, Record Mirror, 15 October 1977.
35
“I always tried to avoid that” and “It’s such a bad recording”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 262:
“It was an experiment”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“We had a girl employed” and all other Gert Lengstrand quotes: Author interview, 26 August 2002.
Page 263:
“We all went to dinner” and all other Gert Lengstrand quotes: Author interview, 26 August 2002.
“It was ABBA”: Interview by Jan Gradvall, DI Weekend, 14 June 2013.
“Of course”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
Page 265:
“never wrote a lyric in his life”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 266:
“The bit where the phrase ‘move on’ would eventually end up”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 267:
“It is pretty majestic”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 268:
“I begged them”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 272:
“The pressure to have the record ready”: Vecko-Revyn #50, 14 December 1977.
36
Page 273:
“Admittedly, our lyrics were once written”: Record Mirror, 15 October 1977.
“I can understand it”: Interview by Jonas Frick, Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
“a cry for help”: Interview in A Non Smoking Generation Magazin, April 1981.
Page 274:
“If [the live recordings are] good enough”: Interview in The ABBA Story, radio programme broadcast 1977.
“likely that a live album will be released”: Report by Graeme Read, ABBA Appreciation Club Newsletter #8, June/July 1977.
Time to breathe and time to live: 1978
Page 277:
“It would be fun”: Interview by Lars Weck, Dagens Nyheter, 24 December 1977.
Page 278:
“I had to call them something”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“There was a short period” and “Benny was playing the piano”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
Page 281:
“We wanted to construct”: Author interview, 7 November 2016.
Page 282:
“This will be our dream studio”: Interview by Håkan Jaensson, Aftonbladet, 19 January 1978.
“During a visit to New York”: Studio Sound And Broadcast Engineering #13, December 1979.
Page 283:
37
“I answered an ad”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“Stig says”: Interview in Vecko-Revyn #46, 10 November 1976.
“We simply made a list”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“We wanted a gadget”: Author interview, 6 July 1993.
“full 360° vision”: Studio Sound And Broadcast Engineering #13, December 1979.
Page 284:
“This was something new”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“almost sounds just as good”: unidentified source.
“I was contacted” and “I could not comply with their one request”: Email to author, 21 November 2016.
“I was contracted by [Polar]”: Letter to the editor in Recording Engineer/Producer #6, December 1979.
“I imagined”: Email to author, 26 May 2016.
Page 285:
“We put all the pieces together” and “We called Yamaha”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
Page 286:
“It turned out the alarm was triggered”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“It’s a joy”: Interview by Jonas Frick, Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
“has made a tremendous difference”: Interview by Charlie Bates, ABBA Magazine #27, August 1980.
Page 288:
“the pulse of the seventies”: ABBA Gold – The Complete Story by John Tobler, Century 22, Iver 1993, p74.
38
“standing still”: Interview by Per-Eric Nordquist, Gomorron, radio programme broadcast circa 6 September 1978.
“with one eye on the Bee Gees”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 289:
“The doorbell rang”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
Page 290:
“I had applied something”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 291:
“seven days”: Interview by Peter Himmelstrand, Expressen, 10 December 1978.
“three or four”: Hi-Fi & Musik #2, February 1979.
Page 292:
“I remember that I had a bad cold” and “When we were done”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
Page 293:
“In the end you get fed up”: Interview by Gregory Allan Fitzpatrick, Schlager #6/7, December 1980.
“It was a typical example”: Interview by Barry Barnes for promotional audio, video and print, December 1998.
Page 294:
“Benny had bought”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“lovely song”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“‘Just start with a straight beat’”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
Page 295:
39
“Benny was doing some keyboard overdubs”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 296:
“We thought the melody was really good”: Author interview, 26 May 1993.
Page 297:
“The tempo increases”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“Sooner or later”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“We tried every way imaginable”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 298:
“I remember that Michael and I”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“it will sound on the forthcoming album”: Skivspegeln Special, radio programme broadcast 11 November 1978.
“The girls go over a vocal phrase”: Report by Charlie Bates, ABBA Magazine #8, 1978.
Page 301:
“It’s better for Agnetha” and all other quotes in this paragraph: Report by Jannike Åhlund, Dagens Nyheter, 8 October 1978.
Page 302:
“We thought the song was quite fun” and “The only really good section”: Author interview, 16 December 2008.
Page 303:
“The prospects are not good”: Interview by Tomas Sjöman, Aftonbladet, 28 September 1978.
“For the first time”: Interview by Ann-Katrin Ljung, Göteborgs-Tidningen, 11 November 1978.
“a trifle underwhelmed”: Record Business, 30 October 1978.
40
“I remember that we worked a lot”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 304:
“Those lyrics were written”: Interview by Anki Partridge, Vecko-Revyn, circa May 1979.
“I’m sure it was something”: Author interview, 17 December 2008.
“Even with sad lyrics”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p41.
“As I remember it”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“It’s ‘back to the Sixties’”: Author interview, 16 December 2008.
Page 305:
“We seldom used brass”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 307:
“information about this single”: Polar Music press release by Görel Johnsen, 1 November 1978.
Page 311:
“I felt”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“It’s another simple-sounding song” and “the verse is [very nearly] the same as the chorus.”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p68.
“a fourth [higher] in pitch”: ABBA: Let The Music Speak – An Armchair Guide To The Musical Soundscape Of The Swedish Supergroup by Christopher Patrick, Fairfield Gardens 2009, p254.
Givin’ out a spark: 1979
Page 313:
“We wrote”: Interview by Lasse Hallgren, Aftonbladet, 22 April 1979.
Page 314:
41
“Ahmet asked us” and “The entire project”: Author interview, 10 June 2016.
“I think they wanted”: Author interview, 24 May 2016.
Page 315:
“My wife said”: The Record Producers by John Tobler and Stuart Grundy, BBC Books, London 1982, p45.
“Tom came over”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p74.
“Björn and Benny called me”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 316:
“It was kind of interesting”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“It was a slightly more anonymous process”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p75.
“They had roots in being great”: Author interview, 24 May 2016.
“Music is such a universal language”: Author interview, 1 July 2016.
Page 317:
“It didn’t turn out too well”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“Benny and Björn were total professionals”: Author interview, 25 May 2016.
“It was a very pleasant experience”: Author interview, 10 June 2016.
“Björn and Benny didn’t throw off”: Author interview, 8 June 2016.
Page 318:
“Recording with ABBA”: Author interview, 24 May 2016.
“Björn was singing”: Interview by Richard Skinner, ABBA, radio programme broadcast 7 May 1979.
“We had seen Rod Stewart”: Author interview, 30 May 1993.
42
Page 320:
“It became Björn’s song”: Fax to author, August 1993.
“a bit charming”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p78.
“It was most likely”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p76.
Page 322:
“It’s not a favourite”: Interview by Håkan Engström, Sydsvenska Dagbladet, 29 December 2002.
Page 323:
“We felt this was a real song” and “I think that just the slightest feeling”: Author interview, 16 December 2008.
“He told me to come on over” and “Then I knew”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 324:
“I tried a thousand things”: Interview by Anki Partridge, Vecko-Revyn, circa May 1979.
“What I had in mind”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p82.
“Lasse had told Björn and Benny”: Author interview, 22 June 2016.
“Benny had heard us”: Author interview, 29 June 2016.
“The backing track”: Author interview, 22 June 2016.
Page 325:
“I had played my tenor sax”: Author interview, 22 June 2016.
“That riff we’re playing” and “In 1979”: Author interview, 29 June 2016.
Page 326:
“They came down with a test pressing”: Author interview, 15 May 2009.
“Björn was the person”: Author interview, 22 June 2016.
43
“We all screamed”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
“I was a huge ABBA fan”: Author interview, 30 November 2016.
“I recall being a total teenager”: Email to author, 23 September 2016.
Page 327:
“There was a private bus”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
“I thought the studio was so beautiful”: Author interview, 30 November 2016.
“Just to be in a real sound studio”: Email to author, 23 September 2016.
“Björn was the most active”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
“Frida was very friendly”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
Page 328:
“I was a little nervous”: Email to author, 26 September 2016.
“We had to do it”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
“Some kids were out of tune”: Email to author, 22 August 2016.
“I have been telling people”: Email to author, 28 November 2016.
“I thought” and “They called it an organ”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
Page 329:
“There was a panel” and “I created my first sound”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“I said”: Interview by Ingrid Carlberg, Dagens Nyheter, 22 August 2004.
“I had a GX-1”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“There were always problems” and “This wizard engineer”: Author interview, 29 March 2016.
Page 331:
“We’ve been writing songs”: Vecko-Revyn, circa May 1979.
44
“It has been very frustrating”: Interview by John Shearlaw, Record Mirror, 3 March 1979.
Page 332:
“We couldn’t go through all that stress again”: Interview by John Shearlaw, Record Mirror, 15 December 1979.
“A lot of things happen”: Interview by Lasse Hallgren, Aftonbladet, 27 May 1979.
“It was naturally a difficult time”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p84.
“Of course, there were many”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 333:
“I have to say”: Author interview, 16 December 2008.
“An electric guitar lead”: Author interview, 24 May 2016.
“One of the girls”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
Page 334:
“We became friends”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 335:
“People say that I know”: Interview by Mats Olsson, Expressen, 21 September 1979.
Page 340:
“‘Been And Gone And Done It’ is an old British expression”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 343:
“A good song”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 346:
“What with all that had been going on”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
45
“We thought it would be a nice way”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
The game is on again: 1980
Page 348:
“It was a really nice house”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“It was nice to be there”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“We felt”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 349:
“What happened was magia”: Author interview, 1 May 2014.
Page 350:
“No two mixes will be exactly the same”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“It was something of a challenge”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
“it’s quite easy”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 351:
“It’s all right”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 352:
“The lyrics deal with the fear”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“We thought it would be a good framework”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 353:
“I feel that one of the biggest problems”: Interview by Pat & Pete Luboff, Songwriter, July/August 1981.
“It was so unnecessary”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
“‘On And On And On’ is fairly close”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
46
Page 354:
“The lyrics are pure nonsense”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I do write about things”: Interview by Gunilla Tengvall, Dagens Nyheter, 27 September 1981.
Page 358:
“I was playing guitar”: Interview by Pete Paphides, the Guardian, 8 June 2002.
“Whichever way we treat this song”: Interview by Jens Peterson, Schlager #98, 30 October 1984.
“It was much too stiff”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“We played the backing track”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 359:
“melancholy memory”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“We had not been romantically involved”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p104.
Page 360:
“[She] was mad at me”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p104.
“We wanted a certain ‘pull’”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I tried to get it” and “When we finally used”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 361:
“All of a sudden”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“That never works”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
47
“He sang it”: Interview in ABBA – Words And Music, TV programme broadcast 17 April 1981.
“When she got the lyrics”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
Page 362:
“Of course, the theme of a divorce”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
“the best of all ABBA songs”: Agnetha Fältskog, Som jag är. Livsbilder berättade för Brita Åhman, Norstedts, Stockholm 1996, p134.
“Of course not”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
“There are almost no parts in it”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“I listen to it”: Interview by Jan Gradvall, DI Weekend, 14 June 2013.
“There are a few songs”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 363:
“I thought, ‘What will people say?’”: Author interview, 1 November 2016.
Page 365:
“I must admit”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“There is a Spanish flavour”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
Page 366:
“I felt that this was”: Author interview, 18 May 1993.
“I tried to sound”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Page 367:
“We had some problems”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“never came out”: Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You?, p110.
“small homage”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
48
Page 368:
“I’m surprised myself” and “I think we felt”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
Page 370:
“We said”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“It didn’t take too long”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“We had a drum machine”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“From a musical point of view”: Author interview, 24 May 1993.
Page 371:
“Playing the glockenspiel”: Author interview, 1 November 2016.
“to write about”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“The previous year”: Author interview, 18 May 2010.
“It’s a decent tune”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
Page 372:
“It’s a pretty nice song”: Author interview, 20 May 2010.
“The live version”: ABBA – Words And Music, broadcast 17 April 1981.
Page 374:
“I think it stands up”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 375:
“I had felt” and “a useful experience”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
Wistful sounds seduce me: 1981
Page 378:
49
“I was watching Linda”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“true”: Interview by Charlie Bates, International ABBA Magazine #5, April 1982.
“It was so sad”: From When All Is Said And Done, essay included in vinyl singles box set ABBA The Singles, 2014.
“But”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“All my sadness”: Fax to author, August 1993.
Page 379:
“The starting point”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“‘When All Is Said And Done’ meant a lot to me”: Interview by Ira Wehner, Brisant, TV programme broadcast 22 October 2007.
“it was not always easy”: Interview by Tim Jonze, the Guardian, 10 April 2014.
“It’s a nice song”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“had really high hopes”: When All Is Said And Done, ABBA The Singles, 2014.
“That song evolved over time”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“Again, the idea for the lyrics”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 380:
“I was a bit reluctant”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 381:
“and a few others” and “I was skiing”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 385:
“The reply we got”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“What we got”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“The music now sounded exactly the same”: Author interview, 30 May 2016.
“When we recorded the Super Trouper album”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
50
Page 386:
“In the studio”: Interview by Björn Vinberg, Expressen, 8 June 1981.
“We thought it was a very good song”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 387:
“They had got stuck”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 388:
“There’s such an enormous calm there”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“I put a microphone”: Email to author, 4 January 2017.
Page 390:
“about girls that I’ve met”: Interview on British Forces Broadcasting Service, circa December 1981.
“It was a general reflection”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“It doesn’t quite get there”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I like the melody”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 391:
“There’s a strong sense”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“with very distant miking” and “very similar to a theatre stage recording”: Recording Engineer/Producer #4, August 1983.
“It’s a song about itself”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“It’s like it consists”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 392:
“Björn and Benny explained to me”: Author interview, 24 May 1993.
51
“You don’t even think of it”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“It was hard”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
“I was talking about people”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 393:
“I guess all the record companies”: Interview by Charlie Bates, ABBA Magazine #40, October 1981.
“This is one of my absolute favourites”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 394:
“At least it was catchy”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“During the recording sessions”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“That was just a stupid name”: Interview by Charlie Bates, International ABBA Magazine #4, March 1982.
“very funny and cheeky”: Interview in Popcorn #12, 30 November 1981.
Page 395:
“By the recording of the last album”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“I had a clear vision”; “I felt it would be more interesting” and “I thought of the song”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“It’s a pretty good recording”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 396:
“It didn’t work out”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 397:
“We wanted to avoid the mistake”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
“When we finally hit on the arrangement”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“It was very difficult”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
52
Page 398:
“It had so many depths in it”: Interview by Christopher Green, Like An Angel Passing Through My Room, radio programme broadcast 16 February 2011.
“This is one of our best songs”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“I think it is a strange number”: International ABBA Magazine #5.
“damn good”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 399:
“I think that the next album”: Interview by Pat & Pete Luboff, Songwriter, July/August 1981.
Page 400:
“the recording of almost every track”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“one of the best things we did”: ABBA The Official Photo Book by Jan Gradvall, Petter Karlsson, Bengt Wanselius & Jeppe Wikström; Bokförlaget Max Ström, Stockholm 2014, p346.
“another step forward”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“a little heavy”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
“It’s not really tip-top”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“I felt that the lyrics”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“I think we’d already started” and “Too many heavy ballads”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“When you’ve gone through a separation”: Author interview, 13 August 1993.
Turning out the light: 1982
Page 403:
“going to go on the album”: ABBA – The Music Still Goes On, by Paul Snaith; Castle Communications, Chessington 1994, p146.
53
“I asked Benny and Björn”: Interview by Mary Campbell (syndicated Associated Press feature), Dover Times Reporter, 9 December 1982.
“thought ‘Head Over Heels’”: Interview by Guy Bodescot, International ABBA Magazine #18, May 1983.
Page 404:
“There are no plans”: Polar Music press release by Görel Hanser, 20 October 1981.
“these different activities”: Polar Music press release by Görel Hanser, 8 December 1981.
“a nursery rhyme”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 406:
“It’s a pretty fun recording”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 407:
“We were in the midst of finishing”: Email to author, 18 January 2017.
“We thought ‘Baker Street’”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 408:
“Even when everything is working great”: Author interview, 27 August 1993.
“Without actually putting it into words”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“Two new LP-tracks”: Polar Music press release by Görel Hanser, 14 June 1982.
Page 409:
“It’s unfinished”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“not good”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“I talked to Björn and Benny”: Author interview, 20 April 1993.
“I remember it”: Letter to author, 5 September 1993.
Page 410:
54
“mediocre”: Fax to author, August 1993.
Page 411:
“It’s a song I like a lot”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“passable”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“It has a lot of nice little elements”: Interview by Philip Dodd, featured in Mamma Mia! How Can I Resist You? by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus & Judy Craymer; Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London 2006, p122.
Page 412:
“could be frosty sometimes”: ABBA: The Interview (full transcript of 1999 interview by Jim Irvin, originally featured as part of ABBA story in Mojo, May 1999), published on Rock’s Backpages (rocksbackpages.com).
“I don’t think”: Author interview, 12 June 1993.
“I had something”: Author interview, 6 July 1993.
“I played right out of the blue”: Interview by Sturle Scholz-Naerø, Sturles søndag, radio programme broadcast 24 January 1988.
“We used that basic recording”: Author interview, 6 July 1993.
Page 413:
“I thought it was a great song”: Author interview, 1 November 2016.
“Sequencers were becoming more popular”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
“When I started writing the lyrics”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 414:
“the little piece of art”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
“We were drifting”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
“I had an idea”: Interview by Graham Norton, Graham Norton, radio programme broadcast 25 May 2013.
55
“That was a magical and rather sad experience”: Interview by James Hilton, ABBA – A Success That Never Ends, radio programme broadcast circa 1996.
“a little nervous and threatening”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“The tune is narrative” and “It’s not the sound”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
“We could possibly have done it differently”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Page 415:
“last week”: Interview in Skandinavisk musikbar, radio programme broadcast 26 September 1982.
“studio work has just been finished”: Report in Expressen, 8 September 1982.
Page 417:
“I think we were”: Author interview, 16 June 1993.
Page 419:
“I think maybe we found it a little difficult”: Author interview, 27 October 2011.
Memories of our time together: 1983 and beyond
Page 420:
“Agnetha came up to help us”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 421:
“I seem to recall” and “Björn and Benny didn’t care”: Author interview, 23 April 1993.
Page 422:
“We have several songs”: Interview by Jens Peterson, Schlager #98, 30 October 1984.
Page 423:
“Listening to the tapes”: Interview on British Forces Broadcasting Service, circa December 1981.
56
“We’ve been discussing it”: Interview by Tom Svensson, Göteborgs-Tidningen, 5 April 1986.
“didn’t have anything to do with [it]”: ABBA By Micke by Micke Bayart; Instant Book, Stockholm 2011, p111.
Page 424:
“I hate live albums”: Author interview, 9 September 1993.
Page 425:
“a new multi-million seller”: Göteborgs-Tidningen, 5 April 1986.
“a live album”: Interview in Aftonbladet, 7 April 1986.
Page 426:
“There was an agreement made”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 427:
“Listening to it now”: Author interview, 28 May 1993.
Page 429:
“We’ve always been adamant”: From Foreword, included in CD box set Thank You For The Music, 1994.
“I had to fight very hard for that”: Interview by Sara Barnes, ABBA Report #14, spring 1999.
“a few castanets”; “It was like something inexplicable happened” and “There was an inherent weakness”: Author interview, July 1994.
Page 430:
“I can’t keep track of everything he played”: E-mail to author, 19 January 2017.
Page 433:
57
“It was fun to put this thing together”: Author interview, 29 November 2011.
Page 434:
“I did it for me” and “My thought was”: Interview by Craig McLean, telegraph.co.uk, 29 September 2014.
Page 435:
“We played every track”; “I didn’t want to cheat” and “I think it was fun”: Interview by Christopher Toh, todayonline.com, 28 October 2014.
“This is just exactly how it was”: Interview by Daniel Dasey, smh.com.au, 3 October 2014.
“When they talk”: todayonline.com, 28 October 2014.
58