If you too are a Middle Aged Mama (or Papa), then chances are you also have a file in your memory bank marked “Abba and Me”.
Memories of Abba and Me
Mention the word Abba and the memories come flooding back …
- Playing the game “Popstars” at school, on the undercover walkway that led from the classrooms to the toilet block;
- When my parents bought a new car WITH A TAPE DECK in roughly 1976. I still remember the trip the family made to Kmart to purchase our first ever cassette tape – none other than Abba of course! Amazing now to think that we even found one cassette that everybody in the family enjoyed – mum, dad, and four kids aged from 1 to 9. That’s how popular Abba were!
- Inspired by Abba, my sisters and brother and I decided that we too would one day form a pop group, creating a name from our initials: JAJA
- At my Grade 6 school camp in 1977, we made up a song about the camp director to the tune of “Fernando” … it went a little something like this:
There was something in the air that night
I nearly died of fright
It was Mr Playstead …
In my mind, Abba was just perfect. Beautiful (the girls), spunky (the boys), glamourous, talented, rich, famous … even better, they were “together”, off stage and on. So romantic!
I think every little girl of that era wanted to grow up to be just like Agnetha. For some reason, Frida (sorry Frida!) just didn’t cut it – with the male population either. Maybe it was because Frida looked older, or maybe because of her darker looks – no, it was all about Agnetha.
When she cut her hair, it was a tragedy of epic proportions. (Looking at it now, I actually quite like it. But at the time – terrible!)
Not to mention when she and Bjorn broke up. I think my heart was just as broken as hers
Of course, by the time I hit high school in 1979, it was social suicide to admit that you still liked Abba … something that didn’t change until Muriel’s Wedding was released in 1994.
Fortunately, since then, Abba fans (yes, myself included) no longer have to keep it a secret or hang our heads in shame.
And the reason for all my ramblings about Abba? On Saturday night, the hubster and I are going to see Gold: the Ultimate Abba Show at Redland Performing Arts Centre – and I can’t wait!
What’s your favourite Abba song? Would you be coming too if you lived in my neighbourhood?!