ABBA Fans Blog: March 2020

Ian Cole who’s book “Abba Song By Song” was published recently was kind enough to answer a few questions for me about writing the book and his love of Abba...

OK so lets start from the beginning - when were you first aware of Abba and can you remember the first single or album track you heard ?

I heard Waterloo on the radio in 1974, but it didn’t grab me. I think it was around September 1975 I heard Mamma Mia at a party, when the hostess kept playing side 1 of the ABBA LP over and over. By the end of the night I was obsessed with Mamma Mia, and in the car on the way home, I asked my parents for the album for Christmas – not the single, I wanted the whole album.

What inspired you to write your new book “Abba Song By Song” ?

The publisher, Fonthill Media, put out word to some high-profile ABBA fans that they wanted an ABBA book for a new series of Song by Song books they were launching. I’d had in the back of my head to write something like this, so I responded that I was interested, submitted a couple of test song entries for their consideration, and they accepted me to write the book. One of those test entries appears pretty much as first written in the final book.

Can you tell us a little about the process you went through in terms of the researching information for the book ?

There’s a lot of stuff in my head from 45 years of immersing myself in ABBA. We’ve also had a lot of brilliant research in books and CD liner notes by Carl Magnus Palm over the past 25 years, plus some other excellent books published in recent years with a lot of information. I also went back to the first books published about ABBA in the late 70s, plus the original ABBA Magazines, andnewspaper and magazine cuttings. Some recent articles on pop culture websites have also been enlightening and made their mark. And fan knowledge, as shared through pen-pal letters in the 70s, meeting fans at events in the 80s and beyond, and having been on internet forums since the mid-90s, a lot of information has been shared over the years.

In the course of preparing for the book were there any new piece of information you discovered which surprised you in particular ?

There were a few little things that I found in old books and news reports that don’t seem to have been widely remembered. There was some information that came to light just as I was finishing the book about the probable inspirations for one particular song. It came about when someone mentioned a particular fact on an ABBA forum, which led to a conversation with Carl Magnus Palm who found some enlightening evidence from contemporary news sources. So that’s something which is published for the first time in this book. I’ll leave that to readers to find (one reader already has).

There are many Abba bootlegs available, mostly unofficial, of tracks which Abba started and didn’t finish - are there any which you feel you would have liked the group to complete so that you could have included them in the book ?

I wish they’d release Just Like That, just so people would stop asking for it almost weekly! The book does cover a lot of unreleased material, from concerts, TV, or radio appearances. Of course it also includes all the archival material that’s been released since 1982 – ABBA Undeleted, Put On Your White Sombrero, I Am The City, etc. I’d love to have heard the new songs, so they could have been included. The two new songs are in the book, but information is based on the 2018 announcement and a few things that Björn and Benny have mentioned in interviews. I’d originally aimed to finish the book just as they were released, but with all the delays, we’re still waiting.

Do you have particular favorite Abba album or period ?

My favourite period is 1975-77, from the ABBA album, through Arrival, up to the 1977 tour. ABBA had just broken through after the post-Eurovision slump. They created some of the biggest and most loved hits during that period. They were still young, energetic, on a journey forward to establish their own sound and place in the world, which peaked with Arrival. After the tour, things changed, everything became more serious and adult.

If you were to have included one solo track each from Agnetha or Frida’s which would you have chosen and why ?

None, because it’s an ABBA book. Their solo careers deserve to be treated separately, not lumped in with ABBA. Though a couple of songs are mentioned in passing, such as Frida’s I Know There’s Something Going On, because it came between ABBA sessions.

Are you planning to write any more books about Abba or any other artists ?

I don’t know yet. There are a couple of ideas for ABBA books, but it’s a lot of work. I’m not really interested in writing about any other artists – the only other act that I have any particular knowledge on is The Beatles, and there are thousands of books out there, there’s nothing I could add.

If you had a fantasy book-reading party attended by Agnetha, Bjorn, Bennny and Frida which sections of the book would you select to read and why ?

I’d maybe read about some of the earlier songs that they like to disparage, which actually are pretty great. Songs like King Kong Song, What About Livingstone, Dum Dum Diddle, etc. I ask the question in the book “one wonders about the inspiration for Watch Out”, so maybe I’d put that question to them. But I’d probably put them to sleep, droning on and on and on…

Lastly, what are your hopes for the two new Abba tracks which should, all being well, be released later this year ?

I’m hoping that they’re at least as good as some of the recent poppier songs written by Benny and Björn for BAO. Mitt hjärta klappar för dig from 2016 is very ABBA-esque. I’m hoping they will be a success, but it’s hard to guess what the general reaction will be, beyond ABBA fan circles.