Oh Mamma Mia! My first blog post.
So it is only fitting that my first post is about the masters of music – the ones we have to thank for the music. Whatever you may think of those Swedes, their music has the ability to make grannies dance and your mother sing at the top of her voice.
But for some months, my my, I was a troubled soul.
On one hand it warmed my heart that my girls (6 & 4) couldn’t get enough of Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia. I loved that they put the disco light on (yes, we have a disco light, don’t you?) and pranced around the dining room with them on repeat play. I loved that they were desperately trying to learn the words. I loved the fact that I was doing EXACTLY the same thing when I was 6.
However, I didn’t love that they were doing it to the Mamma Mia film soundtrack.
Before you gasp, hold your horses… Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen the show and clapped and cheered. I saw the film at the cinema and SOBBED my heart out to Slipping Through My Fingers. I bought the DVD. But to me those songs are all about Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida and it troubled me that my girls thought, ‘Abba who?’ (Now you can gasp.)
I remember Christmas 1980, standing 6 inches in front of the TV watching Super Trouper on the Top of the Pops Christmas Special. I remember wearing my ballet unitards with scarves tucked in the belt with a silver pen with string attached, (think Wogan) acting as a mic. I remember getting my 1982 ABBA Annual and stop-starting my cassette player to take down the words, ‘I was sick and tired of everything, when I called you last night from Tesco…’ There are few songs I don’t know the words to, or at least my version of them. My favourite wedding present was a signed, framed ABBA album. I even sang Super Trouper unplugged on stage at the Charlotte Street festival and my secret dream (seriously) is to be in an ABBA tribute band. What a way to earn a living…
I genuinely found it hard hearing the songs sung with slightly tweaked words at the stage show. I knew I had to get over it and move on. And Meryl Streep was marvellous in the film, but in the meantime, I was a mission to make sure my girls knew about the real Mamma Mia girls, the ones with the blue eye shadow and nice jumpers. It didn’t take long to convert them. I started putting ABBA Gold on in the car instead of the movie sound track and showed them videos on You Tube. ‘She looks nice,’ said my 4 year old in admiration of a lip-glossed Agnetha. Before I knew it, she was asking for the ‘girl version’ of SOS.
And so my work is done. My girls know and like ABBA and now prefer their versions of those timeless tracks. Thank goodness for that.
There is only one SOS. So, sorry Pierce.
This first post is dedicated to my fellow Super Trouper, Becca Mountain, who always shines like the sun xx