Abba star: I’d rethink hit single in Metoo era

BJORN ULVAEUS, the Abba singer and songwriter, says he would “hesitate” to write songs such as Does Your Mother Know in the “Me Too” era.

Ulvaeus, who made up the Swedish group with his then wife Agnetha Fältskog, Annifrid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson, said he may have had pause for thought over the lyrics, which refer to a young girl.

However, he added that he has a “clean conscience” over his behaviour throughout his career and he always treated his female bandmates as equals.

In an interview with The Economist podcast, he was asked whether he would be able to write songs like Does Your Mother Know, which featured Ulvaeus on lead vocals and reached number four in the UK charts in 1979, in the 21st century.

“Maybe I’d hesitate today, you’re absolutely right,” he said.

The song’s lyrics include lines such as: “I can read in your face that your feelings are driving you wild / Ah, but girl you’re only a child / Take it easy (take it easy)/ Try to cool it girl/ Take it nice and slow / Does your mother know?”

Describing how the song came about, Ulvaeus said: “There was this young girl I must have met some time during my career who came up to me like that.

“I never went across the limit. As you can see in the song I told her: stay off, take it easy, you’re too young, and so forth. I have a clean conscience.”

Asked whether he would change anything about the dynamics of Abba with the benefit of hindsight, Ulvaeus, 73, suggested the Me Too movement, which has exposed sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, was not relevant to them.

“I don’t think so,” he said. “We had fun. We were equals and there was never any talk about anything else.

“I think the Me Too revolution, especially in Sweden, I find it’s meant so much, it’s incredible. It has changed so much. We’re thinking differently now.

“Then again, our marriages and divorces were completely on equal terms.

“Again, I have a clean conscience. I am a feminist, always have been.”