Rapport

Filmed: Saturday 6 April 1974

Location: The Dome, Brighton, West Sussex, England

Broadcast: Sunday 7 April 1974, SVT, Sweden

Release status: See below

Duration: 2.5 mins

Shown in: Sweden

Additional information

Frida and Stig were interviewed by Ulf Gudmundson after ABBA's Eurovision win.

This is the interview where Stig was famously asked, "How can you sing a song about a place were thousands of people died?".

This interview has been officially released on the Melodifestivalen - The Winners DVD (Melodifestivalen 50 År - Vinnarna & Favoriter) and also released on the Frida Box Set.

Ulf Gudmunsson: "Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Was this unexpected?"

Anni-Frid Lyngstad: "I would have to say yes. I hardly dared to hope for it."

UG: "But did you feel that this song would hit home with the European audience?"

AL: "Yes, I felt that we stood a fair chance. But I never thought we would win."

UG: "What was it about this song that you thought would appeal to people?"

AL: "I think the title, to a great extent. Waterloo.

UG: "Stikkan Anderson. You wrote this song. Why does one write a schlager about waterloo?"

Stikkan Anderson: "When you write a Eurovision schlager…you don’t write a schlager for Sweden but for Europe and the rest of the world. The first thing you do is to take title that you think will be understood by everybody. Last year’s song was similar. It was called Ring Ring. That title was the same in all other languages. Last year you did a schlager about telephoning each other."

UG: "This year you did a schlager about how 40,000 people died. Cynically put…"

SA: "Yes, that was very cynically put. That was not our intention. Waterloo is a famous concept all over the world. It represents something that has happened in history. It doesn’t have anything to do with people dying. Nice angle, I must say."

UG: "What does it mean for Sweden and Swedish schlager production to win this event?"

SA: "To start with, I think it means a lot to Sweden as a tourist country. Sweden has been doing this for 19 years and entered the Eurovision, and now we finally won it. So, next year, journalists from all over the world will come to Stockholm."

Thanks to Sam Shervz

Thanks to Robin Andersson, Malin Westerberg c/o ABBAMAIL (no longer online) and Jozsef, Paul Russell and Sam Shervz
YouTube link c/o virgisa

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