Agnetha and Bjorn: The Love Story

Finally Facing My Waterloo

February 9, 1974

Several months had passed and today was the day that the group would be participating in Melodifestivalen for the second time around. And they were very determined to win this time and make it to the Eurovision finals in Brighton. At this point, Linda's first birthday was approaching and her two parents, and Agnetha especially, couldn't help but feel sentimental about the fact that their daughter's first birthday was coming up. It felt like yesterday that ABBA participated in Melodifestivalen and Agnetha was heavily pregnant with Linda, who was born two weeks later.

Agnetha and Björn, along with Benny and Frida, knew that they couldn't pass up this opportunity. They just had to do it since their ultimate goal was to be world famous. So with that being said, they have decided to record all of their songs in English, which they had already been doing with their previous album. As for the song that they are entering Melodifestivalen with, Björn, Benny, and Stig had a long talk about whether they were going to choose Hasta Mañana or Waterloo and although it seemed like a much riskier choice, they ultimately decided to go ahead with Waterloo, which was a song about the Battle of Waterloo during the Napoleonic Wars back in the early 1800s, hence why one of the very first lines in the doing was My my, at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender.

But going back to the group's ultimate goal to become world famous, they knew that recording their songs in English instead of in their native Swedish would give them more exposure as not only is Swedish not spoken anywhere else in the world but Sweden itself as well as in parts of Finland, but because English is the international language. And as a result, the group wanted to record Waterloo in English like they did with Ring Ring, but due to Melodifestivalen's requirements in which performers have to perform in Swedish, the group recorded a Swedish version of the song for Melodifestivalen and an English version for Eurovision, if they end up making it that far. The group had done the same with Ring Ring the previous year.

Agnetha and Björn left Linda with Aina and Gunnar, who had traveled up to Stockholm for the weekend, while they headed to the STV Television Center, along with Benny and Frida. They were excited and nervous to say the least, but they were also very determined about how everything was going to go tonight. They badly needed the victory to further build their career together as a group and Eurovision would be a good stepping stone for that to happen. As the four friends headed into their dressing rooms, neither of them can hardly contain their excitement.

"Nervous? Or excited?" Björn asked as he turned to his wife and their two friends and they stood in a circle.

"Both," Agnetha replied.

"We better win this time," Benny breathed.

"Agreed," Frida replied. "After all, the audience seemed to love us last year and they were pissed off when we didn't win."

"Exactly," Björn replied. "And that's a part of the reason why we have to win tonight no matter what. Along with more exposure when it comes to the four of us performing together as a group."

"Anyways, we better get changed," Benny said as he looked at his watch. "The show will be starting soon."

Like they did the year before, Frida and Agnetha gave each other pep talks in their changing room, while the guys did the same in their own changing room. This time, the pep talks were still the same as last years, but also a little bit different as Agnetha was no longer pregnant and Linda was about to celebrate her first birthday. As Björn and Benny changed into their outfits, neither of them couldn't hesitate to speak up about how they were truly feeling.

"I can't believe my little girl is almost a year old," Björn said as he changed into his outfit.

"I know," Benny replied. "Time goes by so fast. Next thing you know, she'll be in high school."