Katie went with a couple of friends this week and boogied in the aisles at the cinema showing of the latest film hit “Mamma Mia.” I don’t know if it is my usual preferred choice of films including space ships, sword fighting, or serial killers that meant I was not included on the invite list, but they went as a girls night…
It was like a cleaner, more moral version of the Rocky Horror show by all accounts… Everyone up dancing to their favourite camp songs from 70s and 80s. Bless them all.
I don’t mind a bit of Abba… Many a minute of my life has been spent twirling and arms aloft on a dancefloor when “Dancing Queen” comes on… I even know all the words… I seem to have no problem remembering them, even though the occasions were not that special and were often punctuated with a couple too many beers.
So you’d maybe allow yourself a little surprise to find out that Bjorn (one of the B’s in ABBA along with Benny) cannot recall much of his sensational pop career, let alone the lyrics… He has enlisted hypnotherapy services…
This story is all over the media right now, here is what this article in The Telegraph states:
Abba star Bjorn Ulvaeus has revealed that he is suffering from long-term memory loss and cannot even remember the band’s breakthrough triumph at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest.
Ulvaeus, 58, has tried everything to cure his condition, including hypnosis, but nothing has helped him recover his lost memories.
The father of four composed the music for the Mamma Mia! stage music, the recently released film version of which has enjoyed the biggest film opening for a musical in the UK and been credited with generating an ABBA revival.
But for Ulvaeus, it will be as though seeing the band’s popularity for the first time.
His condition has even made him forget their Eurovision victory in Brighton with their best-known song Waterloo — a victory that was instrumental in propelling them onto the world stage and making them one of the world’s best selling bands, shifting almost 400 million records in total.
“It is like I was not even there,” he said.
The singer, who divorced his fellow bandmate Agnetha Faltskog in 1980 and is now married to Swedish music journalist Lena Kallersjo, spends hours studying old photographs and video to try to piece his old life back together.
He appears briefly but uncredited in the Mamma Mia! film, which also stars Meryl Streep, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth and has been billed by Daily Telegraph critic Charles Spencer as “the feelgood hit of the summer”.
You might think that some of those costumes needed forgetting… Maybe it has been caused by all those flashing lights and sequin sparkles…
You know what, my Mum was born in Norway (I know, it s not Sweden!), I have Scandinavian roots…I know all the words to Dancing Queen and can handle myself on the dance floor… Count me in… I’ll take his place if you want to reform… and with my hypnosis skills, I’ll make sure no-one ever forgets our greatest moments again…
On a serious note, I hope Bjorn relocates those memories, because there must be some truly remarkable experiences he went through that he’d love to remember and re-experience. Best wishes to him and I wish you all a wonderful weekend.
