"Thanks for ALLERS" said Agnetha with a bare stomach and makes songs that become hits

By Jan Gabrielsson


Agnetha Fältskog is one of the big ones in the folk parks. Agnetha is engaged to Björn Ulvaeus.
Agnetha writes songs that become hits and sings songs that get on Svensktoppen.
She gets the inspiration from the Allers-novels. Agnetha has a sharp mind, takes the day as it comes,
doesn’t like washing dishes and Björn’s temper in the mornings, but she’s otherwise very happy.
But she sings with heartache in her voice: Hur kan en saga så vacker som vår, plötsligt ta slut efter så många år...

“I’m so lucky to have the novels in Allers” it said in large letters in Aftonbladet.
It was an unusually good headline. Finally, I thought, finally an artist who is absolutely honest!
Who dares to say she’s not carrying Mao’s little red one in a rosary around her neck underneath the shirt. But instead reads Allers.

Agnetha Fältskog is the name of the brave girl. Who has been on Svensktoppen with ”Om tårar vore guld” which she wrote herself.
Who caused a ruckus with a gypsy song (lyrics: Bengt Haslum) since it was released when the deportation of gypsies was in the news,
even though the song was written long before that. Who entered at number 3 on Svensktoppen with her debut in 1967,
also then with a schlager written by herself. Who recently got engaged to Björn Ulvaeus. Who…

“On my way to and from the (folk) parks I read Allers novels, and I’m not ashamed to admit that,
miss Fältskog said in Aftonbladet’s interview.

I have to meet this girl, I thought. And then  I wasn’t mainly thinking of her cute little stomach.
You see, in her show in the folk parks together with Bert-Åke Varg and Rolf Carvenius’ orchestra,
miss Fältskog wears according to the press “a sexy, pink jumpsuit with a heart shaped opening on her belly.
When she wore it the temperature of the male audience rose…”.

My temperature was completely normal (36.9 degrees) when I rang the doorbell at Agnetha Fältskog’s on Lilla Essingen.
On the door it says among other things “AB Viking Songs”. It seemed promising. The girl who opened the door
met my boldest expectations of an Amazon from the Viking days: tall and slender, lots of beautiful teeth,
skin like a peach. And long hair like two frozen waterfalls.

We almost talked more about Björn (Ulvaeus, her fiancé who wasn’t present) than about Agnetha.
He was recording a new album with his fellow alumnis from Västervik, Hootenanny Singers.
It is Björn who is the Viking in Viking Songs.

-Look how things turned out, said Agnetha and her eyes sparkle. When I went to school back home in Jönköping,
me and my friends were in love with Hootenanny Singers. All the others thought that Björn was the cutest.
“Noo”, I said, “I like Johan (Carlberg) much more!”. But that’s just what I said. Just to answer back.
Deep inside I was already most fond of Björn. And now we’re engaged…

Then there’s a moment of silence, like the ones you read about in Allers’ novels. I didn’t say a word.
But Agnetha still answered my question that I didn’t ask:

-Yes, he’s as nice as I thought five, six years ago. But he has quite a bad temper in the mornings…

In the old days budding love was found in sawdust dust at the circus or in the theaters’ fragile side-scenes
or possibly in the film studios’ hot spotlights. These days love can begin during a TV-taping.
Agnetha and Björn met each other and fell in love when they both appeared in a program with Jules Sylvain-melodies.

Jules Sylvain and young miss Fältskog don’t have a lot in common. However, you can compare Agnetha with another,
quite good composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It’s been said that Mozart began composing when he was 4 years old.
Agnetha Fältskog was five years old when she walked up the stairs to her neighbor back home in Jönköping,
talking them into letting her use their piano and created her first composition: ”Två små troll”.

So far she’s made 10 singles. That is 20 songs. Out of those she has written both lyrics and music for 8.
In her drawers she has lots of unfinished songs and ideas.

-Maybe I’m not very intelligent, and I take the day as it comes, I don’t think much about the future.
But I understand this much, that the day when the audience gets tired of hearing me sing,
then I will solely spend my time composing songs!

Right then the radio plays the Svensktoppen melody “Om tårar vore guld”.
My question is obvious: What is it like listening to Agnetha Fältskog?

-It’s fun. I get happy each time I hear one of my records on the radio.
Not that I sit and enjoy and adore myself – I do hear what I’m doing wrong, what is good and what isn’t.

On the radio Miss Fältskog complains ”Hur kan en saga så vacker som vår plötsligt ta slut efter så många år?”.
Miss Fältskog on the couch on Lilla Essingen was recently engaged (her 20th birthday is on April 5).  
She’s not unhappy, but her songs are often heart breaking and sad. She explains:

-I mostly tend to write slow songs. And then melancholy lyrics are close at hand.
Furthermore I’m not a very happy-go-lucky person.

It would be possible to write a charming novel for Allers about Agnetha Fältskog’s own young life and short career.

Summarized it would go like this:

After she had graduated life was waiting for Agnetha. She began working as a switchboard operator at home in Jönköping.
But while she transferred people’s calls, she dreamt of a shining future in the schlager world.
She had already taken her first faltering steps of her career: she was a vocalist in a local dance orchestra.
It was wonderful but strenuous: back home after the gig in the wide forests of Småland at five-six AM on Monday morning.
At 8 AM she had to be at work.

It was a crash, of course. Bang. Then a sensible person – Agnetha’s nice mom – said that “now, my girl you have to choose: work or singing”.
It wasn’t a difficult choice.

One beautiful day Agnetha and the orchestra recorded a tape. Among the songs was one that Agnetha had made herself
and it was called “Jag var så kär”. The tape was sent to a record company.
And the guys in the band said: If we now get to make a record you have to understand,
Agnetha, that we’ll need a professional vocalist. Just so you know!”.
That evening Agnetha cried herself to sleep. Not even Allers’ novels could console her,
or rather: Allers’ pocket novels which she used to buy at the newsstand.

Another and even more beautiful day a producer from the record company called.
And he said he wanted to make a record with – Agnetha! He wasn’t interested in the orchestra at all!!!

And Agnetha made her first record (her dad was there in the studio holding her hand).
And it entered on Svensktoppen. And then everything happened: TV and Germany and the folk parks and more records. And Björn...

You have to agree that the reality is even more wonderful than a novel in Allers!