happy birthday, agnetha!

the original abba girl.

Agnetha Åse Fältskog
born 05 apr. 1950

"not a man's toy"

every now and then, i like to remember my namesake.

"that's me" -- abba

also, see my old post, "origins: the birth of abbagirl," for an understanding of why i chose the name.

yeah, it's been a rather slow day. have no updates or any interesting news to share. alas! that's the life of an unemployed person. :-T

hopefully tomorrow brings more excitement. ;)

origins: the birth of abbagirl

a brief biography

abbagirl did not emerge from the womb as an instantaneous lover of all things abba.

in fact, for much of her early life, abbagirl was actually rather blase about abba. she wouldn't have known who abba was if abba came and bit her on the heinie or knocked her out with a disco ball.

thus, horrifically enough, abbagirl could have easily been dubbed diamondgirl instead, since she has always been an avid neil diamond fan:

the super diamond himself, feeling the passion of his own music!

or gypsygirl in homage to stevie nicks:

the early days before fleetwood mac -- long live buckingham nicks!!

or jettheadgirl because, for a time, she was seriously infatuated with joan jett:

however, the fates have simply decreed abbagirl it must be. for abbagirl, the title simply feels quite right and natural.

for abbagirl, abba is more than a band that, for a short time in music history, brought bubbly, positive, and effervescent music to the public.

the first time that abbagirl had the good fortune of listening to abba was when she was perhaps twelve or thirteen years old. in those days, her parents were finally hitting their stride as wage-earners and had begun escaping from the rather poor financial situation they had found themselves in after becoming refugees to the united states. it was now fifteen years that they had been in the united states. and at last, they had stable jobs, one as a state employee and the other as a federal employee, and they had gradually sought promotion after promotion until finally making a space for themselves in the relaxing comforts of middle-class america.

one of the ways they celebrated the new glorious powers that come from having disposable income was by purchasing a time share at a resort at lake tahoe. it became quite a boon to these parents and their three daughters to go escape to the middle of a forest and enjoy quality time at the beautiful lake.

the family would go mostly once a year, sometimes twice. this newfound retreat proved to be of such a particular delight to abbagirl. her sisters were rather disinterested in the new sights that tahoe offered, but to abbagirl, the area appealed to her rather romantic outlook on the world and on nature. she grew to be quite interested with tahoe lore, particularly that of tahoe tessie, a creature comparable to that of the loch ness monster that is said to dwell deep within the virtually bottomless lake. she also liked to take long walks, either by herself or with anyone else who cared to join her, along the shores of the lake and let the cool water envelop her feet and feel her toes mash into the wet sand.

up until and during this time of her life, abbagirl had a childhood that was fairly memorable -- both in good ways and in bad ways. by this time, of age twelve or thirteen, she had honed her skills as an appeaser, skills that she still continues to utilize successfully to this very day. she learned quite well how to read people, their facial expressions, and their tones of voice to anticipate what their next words or actions would be. by honing her skills in that area, she developed the ability to make sure that only smiles were ever shown her way, not frowns, and to diffuse any negative situations before they erupted. and she was mostly successful on that front.

nonetheless, in addition, she had also learned that the best way to get on in the world was mostly by being quiet. by an early age, it had been instilled in her the importance of staying out of other people's way. so even at the age of six or seven, she had learned to find company and much needed solace in books. in fact, her greatest memory regarding books was the day, when she was about ten years, that her favorite uncle in the world put an agatha christie mystery novel in her hand.

however, perhaps that's a story for another time.

anyhow, when abbagirl wasn't reading her books, she merely quietly observed the people around her. and it was only when she was among a few trusted people, like her mother, her older sister, or her youngest aunt, that abbagirl could give in to her innately sly and quirky sense of humor and cause people (and herself) to laugh uproariously.

in any case, although it was generally great fun for abbagirl and her family to retreat on vacation every once in a while, these vacations tended to be rather hit-or-miss. depending on the personalities and moods of certain members of her family, the trip could be an extremely fun and pleasant one or dark and uncomfortable.

but there is one particular trip to tahoe that stands out most in abbagirl's mind as being the most pleasant and most memorable. this was a time when, for the full two-and-a-half hours that the family trekked from their home in norcal to their timeshare resort in tahoe, the whole family was laughing together, making jokes, and just having a great time. even then, abbagirl marveled at it all and knew how special that time was. and as she looked out the window at all the passing bright green conifers and listened to the sound of light laughter and teasing around her, she thought to herself, smilingly, "this is exactly how a family should be." within the family car at that time, all was right in the world. there were no extraneous worries, woes, or angst to cast a shadow over the family's mood.

and what CD was playing non-stop in the car the whole time?

well, actually, there were two CDs on repeat during their journey through the mountains.

this one played while the family was still making their way out of the city:

but this is the one that played while they wound their way up i-80 and that abbagirl associates with that brief but happy time in her life:

"fernando" -- abba
the favorite abba song of abbagirl's mom

here's to the losers

have you ever felt like a loser? not just a loser, but a loser standing small?

if so, this song's for you:

"the winner takes it all" -- abba

i've always thought this a rather sad song, but watching this music video and seeing the seemingly real pain in beautiful agnetha's eyes makes me feel even more strongly the pangs of woe that she sings about. this song was written after her marriage to björn (the blonde dude in abba) fell apart. it is just a beautiful song, and she has such a beautiful voice.

and i seriously am digging her eyeshadow in the video -- it looks awesome!

i just can't get over how amazing this song is. i never tire of listening to it. because despite the hurt, agnetha is trying to be strong and sensible about her relationship coming to an end, and the lyrics show her matter-of-fact attempt to reason away her pain: the winner takes it all, and the loser has to fall. it's simple, and it's plain -- so why should she complain?

not to be all cheesy, but when i listen to this song -- like really listen to the words and her voice -- i get caught up in it. and i have to pull a kleenex out to dab unobtrusively at my eyes.

what i like most of all about the song, though, is the fact that, as much as she sings about being a loser, agnetha is anything but. you hear the lyrics, and you just want to kick the guy who threw her to the curb right in the nards. she sings about the winner taking it all, and you see how resigned she is to having lost her man. in the video, when you see her looking all vulnerable, sad, and alone, you just want to reach out and hug her.

but at the same time, a loser wouldn't be saying these kinds of things and finding ways to remain strong.

so i feel ya, agnetha. as losers standing small, we will let the judges decide -- and the likes of us will abide. but in a way, we're winners, too.

(seriously. no one can be more abba-solutely abbagirl than moi.)

i've changed my mind.

i'm not leaving blogger after all.

it's a long story as to why my departure from blogger has been so short.

but to sum it up, i just need blogger.

as a token of my intent to stay, i'm posting here my favorite abba music videos.

"take a chance on me"



"knowing me, knowing you"



and finally, "dancing queen"



i hope you enjoy the vids as much as i do.





-- abbagirl