Random ABBA Facts

"My Mama Said" had the working title "Turn Out The Light".

The lyrics of "Eagle" were inspired by the Richard Bach novel "Jonathan Livingston Seagull".

The distinctive descending piano chords in the intro and chorus of "Dancing Queen" were only added to the recording at a late stage during the mixing.

Five of ABBA's song titles contain a female first name.

ABBA's first appearance on German television took place without Agnetha, who had to stay home due to her pregnancy. Frida's friend Inger Brundin acted as a stand-in during the group's lip-sync performance of "People Need Love".

The setlist of ABBA's 1977 tour contained the mini musical "The Girl With The Golden Hair". Agnetha and Frida shared the title role, wearing identical costumes and wigs.

One of the working titles of "Knowing Me, Knowing You" was "Number One, Number One".

The backing track of the song "Voulez-Vous" was recorded in Miami. It is the only instance that parts of an ABBA song were recorded outside of Sweden (live recordings aside).

Benny performed "When All Is Said And Done" together with Kylie Minogue at a concert in 2009.

ABBA's choreographer Graham Tainton had already been Frida's dance teacher in the 1960s.

The director of "The Last Video", Calle Åstrand, is the son of Björn's bandmate in the Hootenanny Singers, Hansi Schwarz.

"Cassandra" had the working title "El Paso".

"Waterloo" was recorded in four languages: Swedish, English, German and French.

Björn and Benny wrote the song "Upp till kamp" (Swedish for "Into the battle") for the World Equestrian Games in Stockholm in 1990.

"Fernando" and "Head Over Heels" both had the working title "Tango".

"Suzy-Hang-Around" is the only ABBA song with lead vocals by Benny.

Portishead released a cover version of "SOS" in 2016.

The wrong font was used for the ABBA logo on the original edition of "ABBA Gold" and on most ABBA releases during the 1990s.

"Lovers (Live A Little Longer)" had the working title "Horn Per".

The man in the Napoleon costume on the album and single cover of "Waterloo" is bass player Mike Watson. He did not play the bass on this song though.

Björn has noted that he regrets setting the lyrics for "Happy New Year" so clearly in the year 1979 with the line: "what lies waiting down the line / in the end of 89".

Frida played a minor role in the Swedish movie "Gå på vattnet om du kan" ("Walk On Water If You Can") in 1979.

A German version of Benny's song "Klinga mina klockor", with decidedly Christmas-themed lyrics, was released by Schlager singers Roland Kaiser and Maite Kelly in 2019.

"I Have A Dream" had the working title "I Wrote A Song".

Although "Under Attack" was the last ABBA single released, "The Day Before You Came" was actually the last song recorded (before the band's 39 year hiatus, that is).

Benny has compared the songwriting process to sitting in front of a cave, patiently waiting for the dragon to come out. You know it is eventually going to come, but you don't know when, and it certainly will if you stand up and go home...

ABBA's backing band on their first European tour in 1974/75 was called "Beatmakers".

ABBA's sound engineer Michael B. Tretow had worked with Agnetha, Björn and Frida during the late 1960s, thus knowing them individually before they even met each other.

One of the working titles of "Me And I" was "Piccolino".

ABBA recorded a demo called "Free As A Bumble Bee" in 1978. Parts of it were released in 1994 as part of the "ABBA Undeleted" medley. It is no way connected to the song "Bumblebee" on the "Voyage" album.