Rediscovering the 'Me' in 'Mumeeeeeee'

'I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than a housewife’s badly-cooked dinners and untidy ways'. (Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861)

February 15, 2011

Music I want my children to listen to - ABBA!


Voulez vous....a-ha......

Oh, the memories, the blue eyeshadow, the alarmingly tight bodysuit Bjorn was wearing! I was there. I saw it all. Yes, I was one of the very, VERY lucky children to see ABBA live at Wembley Arena on 10th November 1979.

I was 8 and a half. My sister had just celebrated her 11th birthday and her present was tickets to this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime event. I know - my parents were the coolest parents in the world at that particular moment.

We lived in a small village in Yorkshire - a LONG way from Wembley. There is an entire book waiting to be written about the journey from our house to the dizzying excitement of London - let alone the concert itself, which was utterly brilliant.

I vividly remember peering through my dads binoculars (don't ask) to get a closer look. I could actually see Anna's bright blue eyeshadow and the slinky cats which adorned the silky capes they all wore, before ripping them off to reveal the dreadful bodysuits underneath. Yikes! It was an amazing experience and I can still hardly believe we were there!

So, as you can probably tell I am a huge ABBA fan and this is why I want my children to listen to their music. It is, surely, a great musical place to start for any child. My boys have been listening to ABBA Gold since they were tiny tots and we still listen to ABBA regularly in the car. The music is undeniably brilliant and they sing along - probably because they can actually hear the words being sung (unlike popular musical artists these days who just mumble and mutter - moan, moan, grumble, grumble, reaches for zimmer frame).

There have been some great posts written as part of the 'Music I want my children to listen to' series - Ghost Writer Mummy and The Alexander Residence to name but two (apologies if there are others).

So, there's my addition to the mix and I will happily have a heated debate with anyone who dares to suggest that ABBA is not, simply, a musical essential.

In their own words, 'Thank you for the music'.

Grab the badge, and join in.

Share/Save/Bookmark

9 comments:

  1. Ok I am not a big fan of Abba. Pretty much indifferent to be honest. But isn't it just funny the way we have some songs etc that we want our children to listen to? Last night, while giving the girls a bath, I brought my laptop up and we listened to some of 'my' music, music that I want them to learn to appreciate. We all had a great time, dancing and singing to it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mini-me is always singing "Mama Mia" most of the words are unidentifiable but she sounds adorable x

    ReplyDelete
  3. I bought their GOLD album about 12 years ago so my kids knew the words before Mamma Mia came out. Now they are as enthusiastic as me!
    Can't remember who Tweeted this about her niece singing in the back of the car, but it's priceless:
    "I was sick and tired of everything,
    When I called you last night from Asda".
    Bless!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I loooove Abba! It really gets me in great form. Last Saturday myself and my 8 yr old we were looking through the 'my music' on the hard drive as I wanted to upload music onto my ipod. I played Abba Gold, Madonna, Take That (from the old days) to name but a few. 8 yr old asks "who's Madonna?", is she another one from the vault Mam? and rolled his eyes! This from a Jedward/Justin Bieber fan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. And this is why I bought a new ipod immediately after the Princess was born and loaded it with lots of Donny Osmond and The BeeGees.

    ReplyDelete
  6. My mum used to play Abba in the car to keep me and my little brother quiet. Thank you for the reminder, must invest and I have no doubt it will live in the car!

    ReplyDelete
  7. ABBA is one of my favourites, too! Along with Fleetwood Mac, I think my kids could name any of their songs after hearing the first one or two notes. Yes, I played the albums, moved on to cassettes, and now have them on cd. I love that my kids have grown up with these bands, too, in a sense. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Abba are officially recognised as music geniuses.

    I keep trying to get my boys to watch Mamma Mia with me - I feel they need to embrace their inner Abba. They are resisting but I will win int he end

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes!! Love ABBA! Will get out the CD and listen with Little Bee as soon as she gets up from her nap! Loving the post ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Blog Widget by LinkWithin