Six days earlier than Christmas 1973, ABBA’s Agnetha, Björn, Benny, and Anni-Frid have been in Metronome Studio in Stockholm, Sweden. They have been there to document a music that they hoped may fare considerably higher than their earlier try and develop into Sweden’s entry into the Eurovision Music Contest, to be held in Brighton, England the next April.
In February 1973 their music “Ring Ring,” written by Bjorn and Benny together with Stig Anderson, had completed third within the pre-selection competitors for Eurovision. This new recording would change every thing, because the group met their “Waterloo.”
No give up
In February, the brand new music received Melodifestivalen 1974 to develop into the Swedish entry to the Eurovision finals on 6 April. The music, known as “Honey Pie” when it was first written, is a couple of lady who’s about to give up to romance, as Napoleon needed to give up on the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
Within the voting, “Waterloo” received by six factors from Italy and with no French entry, ABBA’s probabilities weren’t hampered by problems with nationwide pleasure being offended in any manner. “Waterloo” was positioned high by each Finland and Switzerland, however picked up the well-known “nul points” from 5 nations, together with Italy and the UK.
ABBA have been an uncommon Eurovision winner, in that they broke with custom and sang their music in English fairly than their native language. Which will nicely have helped them win the competition and it actually helped them storm the British pop charts. Launched on March 12 within the UK, “Waterloo” entered the bestsellers on April 20. Two weeks later, on Might 4, it rose to No.1, the place it stayed for 2 weeks. Britain’s love affair with the group was beneath manner.
A very worldwide hit
Nor was it simply within the UK that ABBA stormed the charts. The music topped the bestsellers in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, Eire, Norway, South Africa, and Switzerland. It additionally reached the High 3 in Austria, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, and hit No.6 in America.
Hearken to the most effective of ABBA on Apple Music and Spotify.
At house in Sweden, maybe surprisingly, “Waterloo” did not make No.1, both within the Swedish model, which peaked at No.2 and the English model (No.3). But it surely was removed from all dangerous information in their very own nation. ABBA’s Waterloo album topped the Swedish chart, which was a mixed singles and album itemizing on the time. The historical past guide on the shelf now had a web page on ABBA, with many extra to be added.
Purchase or stream “Waterloo” on the album of the identical title.
