Besides the teeny-bopper songs that helped make ABBA the most popular rock group in the world, in the group's later years Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson also wrote the music for the Broadway musical Chess and several other very heavy, very grown-up songs.
I have found these songs very touching. I think you will too. It certainly will give some of you a different idea of this Swedish supergroup.
The first offered here is from ABBA's 1981 album, The Visitors. It's called "Slipping Through My Fingers" with the lead vocals performed (as was usual with ABBA) by Agnetha Fältskog. The song is about a mother's regret at how quickly her daughter is growing up and it's a sad admission too of the lack of time they've spent together. Most believe the inspiration for the song came Ulvaeus' and Fältskog's 5-year old daughter, Linda.
The personal lives of the band members are also reflected in the next two songs, both dealing with the heartbreak when lovers split from one another. The first is "My Love, My Life", a poignant cry from the one who has been left alone, her love still strong but now unrequited. And the third is, I believe, one of the most sorrowful songs ever made as it describes the intense pain and damage to the soul created by a divorce. In fact, on more than one occasion I've urged husbands who are considering ending their marriages to listen to this song and ask themselves if they really want to inflict this kind of destruction on their wives. The song is called "The Winner Takes It All."
These aren't exactly the kind of light-hearted clips I usually feature for the Wednesday tea breaks, but they are prime examples of the emotional power which can come from the musical arts...even when the artists involved are pop stars like ABBA.
