Rediscovering Fältskog

I have been re-assessing the collective works of Agnetha Fältskog, one of ABBA's two lead singers. She was always my number 2, after the Goddess, because Frida always sang the "I'm getting on with my life no matter how much it hurts, so piss off and take your white sombrero with you" songs. But I have come to realise that I have more in common with Agnetha, emotionally speaking. Her songs always did break my heart, but they have even more poignancy now. It is a cathartic experience listening to the angst of "SOS," or the devastation emanating from "The Winner Takes It All," or the timeless ache behind "My Love, My Life. " So too are there golden treasures buried within her solo albums. The emptiness of "Utan Dig" (Without You) from 1967, and the bittersweet "Maybe It Was Magic" from 1987 immediately spring to mind. Her 2004 comeback, My Colouring Book, contains some of the most beautiful and heart-wrenching songs ever written: "What Now, My Love," "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" and "Fool Am I" to name a few. But nowhere is that hollowness, that despair more evident than on a breathtaking ballad brought to life by the Queen of Heartbreak herself:

"Though it may not be right, to give up the fight
I'm sailing away, now I'm on my own, alone
But sometimes when I'm dreaming, and I dream a lot
these days,
I meet someone who understands,
who leads me through the haze..."

Taken from "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming."