The Sounds of ABBA

Today I am grateful for phone conversations and text messages with people I care about. I am also grateful for the music of ABBA.

What's not to like about ABBA's music? They are the kind of songs that just beg you to sing along, that just energize you by listening to them. We caught one of their many hits on the radio when we were driving yesterday. It was "The Winner Takes It All."  I have many favorites among their songs, but if I could only pick one I guess it would have to be "Waterloo." 

I have some memories stemming from a couple other ABBA tunes. "Dancing Queen" was from 1976 I think. That was the era of the skating party back in my little Iowa town. With less than 1,000 people, the skating rink on the east edge of town was a draw. We would go to skating parties throughout our upper elementary days. You could bring your own 45's to play and my sister Ruth had purchased "Dancing Queen." (If you don't know what 45's were, figure it out or ask someone who is over forty years old.) It was a favorite tune at many skating parties. (My favorite 45 was a green one of ELO's "Telephone Line" that I got for my 12th birthday.)

In December of 2001, I was nearly 8 months pregnant with our son Sam. We were trying to take in some activities we knew we wouldn't be able to after he was born (due to time, energy, and affordability factors.) We treated ourselves to a production of the musical "Mamma Mia" at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. It was fantastic. And I will always remember that Sam really liked it too, because he was kicking away. The title track was just one of the many ABBA songs we enjoyed that evening, and in the later movie "Mamma Mia" starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried.

I am just plain fond of ABBA music and some of the pleasant memories tied to their songs.

I am grateful to Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny, and Anni-Frid for the wonderful sound and energy they created through their song-writing and singing.

I am fortunate to have a working hearing system myself, so I can enjoy this music.

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