Benny Andersson has spoken about Abba’s Eurovision entry at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, talking about how the band almost sent a different song.
In a new Netflix Documentary. ‘This is Pop’ Benny said:
We had a song called “Hasta Mañana” which is a good song, but we said “No, we should have something that would represent what we want to do, not necessarily adjust to what they might like at the Eurovision, which is more of a European traditional schlager.
The story has since been posted onto Abba’s official website, with an article adding:
The song (‘Hasta Mañana’) was so convincing, in fact, that it felt as a suitable contender for the Eurovision Song Contest. By the look of it, ‘Hasta Mañana’ had every chance of becoming a success. With Agnetha at the solo microphone it aligned itself with every Eurovision winner since 1967, all of them a female solo artist, most of whom were performing dramatic ballads. Stig (The band’s manager) arrived back in Stockholm on January 5, just two days before the deadline for submitting entries to the Swedish selection contest. The next day, Björn and Benny arrived at his house to make that crucial decision – which song would they choose?
At first they discussed ’Hasta Mañana’, reasoning that this would perhaps be a better contender for the Eurovision Song Contest. But ultimately, the “solo female ballad” formula went against the image that ABBA wanted to project. ’Waterloo’ was the better choice precisely because it broke with the Eurovision tradition on every conceivable level. Also, the song focused on both Frida and Agnetha as lead vocalists, which meant that the actual performance of the song would work much better.
The band eventually chose ‘Waterloo’ which went on to win both the Melodifestivalen and the Eurovision Song Contest, scoring 24 points at Eurovision.
You can see both songs below:
You can see the full interview in episode 3 of the Netflix series ‘This is Pop- Stockholm Syndrome’.
Which song do you prefer out of the two? Let us know in the comments section below!
