ABBA - Waterloo - Live at the Eurovision Song Contest, Brighton, England (1974)

ABBA - Waterloo
Written by Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson, & Björn Ulvaeus
Filmed: Saturday 6 April 1974
Location: The Dome, Brighton, West Sussex, England
Broadcast: Saturday 6 April 1974 (see below for more info)
Shown in: Europe

The event that changed everything for ABBA. There were two performances of Waterloo - the first performance and then the winning performance at the end. Both were sung with live vocals over playback.

ABBA were the 8th act to perform. Olivia Newton-John was on 2nd for UK; Mouth and McNeal were the biggest threat. Prior to each country's performance, a mini-film was shown firstly of some scenes from that country followed by the performers in and around Brighton. ABBA were shown posing together and then one by one appearing from behind a plant. Björn would go on to lend his pink jacket to Benny for The Tommy Cooper Hour later in the year.

The programme was hosted by Katie Boyle. ABBA's orchestra conductor was Sven-Olof Walldoff who came on dressed as Napoleon. Sven-Olof Walldoff died on 7 June 2011. Katie Boyle died 20 March 2018.
The intermission was a film of The Wombles messing about in Brighton to Remember You're A Womble! Mike Batt dressed as Orinoco Womble came on stage after the film was shown carrying a sign which said 'Vote for the Wombles!'.

During the scoring, ABBA are seen twice in the "green room" watching the points coming in. ABBA won with 24 points. The UK did not give Sweden any points!

Björn was famously refused permission to collect a writer's prize for the winning song and you see a bemused Stig looking awkward while Benny tries to explain to someone that Björn is also a composer of the song. Notice the way Benny always touches his hair when he's flustered!

Stig's speech was "Thank you" in as many languages as he could think of! Stig and Benny were presented their winners medals by Sir Charles Curran, Director General of the BBC and President of the EBU.

The UK show was commentated by David Vine (not Terry Wogan who did the radio commentary that year). David Vine got Benny and Björn mixed up when announcing the line-up. David Vine died on 11 January 2009.

Programme was produced by Michael Hurll who died in September 2012.

It's easy to tell the difference between the two performances - the first one has Frida and Agnetha running onto to the stage from the back, whereas the winning performance has them already in positions having been announced as the winners. The winning performance is also a lot more lively.

Broadcast info:
21:50-23:30 (20:50-22:30 in the UK) LIVE to Europe although NOT LIVE to France (because their President (Georges Pompidou) was buried on the day of the contest. Because of that, the French entry was withdrawn and France didn't participate in the contest). France did get the competition broadcast - they had footage in B/W and a shortened broadcast on 9 April 1974 and again on Eurovision Top A on 8 June 1974 (only the ABBA Waterloo excerpt). There was no Katie Boyle commentary, but a French voiceover.

The first performance has been officially released on ABBA - The Video Biography 1974-1982 on video and VCD and on the 30th Anniversary Edition of ABBA's Waterloo album.
ABBA can also be seen on the CMC Entertainment's 2 DVD set, The Very Best of the Eurovision Song Contest on disc 1 - 1956-1980.

Lyrics:

My, my, at Waterloo Napoleon did surrender
oh yeah, and I have met my destiny
in quite a similar way
the history-book on the shelf
is always repeating itself

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - promise to love you forever more
Waterloo - couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Wa-wa-wa-wa-Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo

My, my I tried to hold you back
but you were stronger
oh yeah, and now it seems my only chance
is givin' up the fight
and how could I ever refuse
I feel like I win when I lose

Waterloo - I was defeated, you won the war
Waterloo - promise to love you forever more
Waterloo - couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Wa-wa-wa-wa-Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo

So how could I ever refuse I feel like I win when I lose
Waterloo - couldn't escape if I wanted to
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Wa-wa-wa-wa-Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo
Waterloo - knowing my fate is to be with you
Wa-wa-wa-wa-Waterloo - finally facing my Waterloo...

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