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.