50 Years of ABBA - "Ring Ring" at Melodifestivalen 1973 | ABBA History 4K

Today, we’re celebrating 50 years since ABBA performed "Ring Ring" at Sweden’s pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Despite promising chances, it became an unexpected flop - and a crucial turning point. Let’s take a look at the long road leading to this historic evening, and explore the importance of failure.
0:00 Intro
1:11 ABBA’s Ambition - Going International
3:04 ABBA’s Long Road to Melodifestivalen - 1968-1972
5:34 Getting Ready for "Ring Ring" - 1973
7:06 Long Lost Show - A New Hope?
8:41 The Fate of Failure - ABBA’s Hope & Triumph
11:19 Next time…
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Listen to ABBA’s performance of "Ring Ring" at Melodifestivalen 1973 here: • ABBA Ring Ring Melodif...
Explore ABBA’s Road to Melodifestivalen & ESC-Breakthrough on this playlist here: • ABBA's Road to ESC Bre...
The playlist collects all songs and compositions - rejected or accepted - that ABBA and their individual members submitted to Melodifestivalen over the years.
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Written, narrated, recorded & edited by Bobby’s Brother.
Bobby's Brother on Instagram: / bobbysbrother72
#abba #ringring #eurovision

[@5334235]

My father who was watching Melodifestivalen that evening with some friends said that all were very surprised when ABBA did not win. It should have won. Too bad home video system wasn’t available in 1973 📼

[@jaxb]

Ring Ring has always been in my top five ABBA tracks. I find it incredibly difficult to understand how it was rejected. 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@eduardooscar309]

The history of ABBA until reaching the colossal worldwide success was never easy, there were always difficulties to overcome, and this one from Melodiefestivalen 1973 was one of them. but as they say, there is a popular saying or proverb that says "what does not kill you, strengthens you" Although I think that "Ring Ring" was a very good song, I also think that it was not enough to eventually win Eurovision and the fact of Agnetha's advanced pregnancy would have made it difficult not only for her to participate in the final, but also in subsequent promotional tasks and television presentations. In fact, after her maternity, there is only one trip to Denmark with the four future ABBA, until who enter the studio and start recording the new album Instead, "Waterloo" was an irresistible melody, with Agnetha and Frida doing vocal wonders and a memorable performance, and an indelible chorus. all the planets aligned, in Sweden for the Melodiefestivalen, but also in the Eurovision final (now in the UK, with greater television significance on the BBC) but even after the colossal victory in Brighton, and the #1 for Waterloo in half of Europe, #ABBA was still looked at with suspicion for a year and a half, probably because of the prejudice against its Swedish origin far from the English-speaking world sometimes I think that they treat #ABBA by asking Them to sing his 'one wonder hit' "Waterloo", like Burt was asked (in The Simpsons) to say his famous phrase 'I wasn't' when he was Krosty the clown's TV assistant (curiously "Waterloo" is the only ABBA melody that appears in The Simpsons) Fortunately ABBA worked even harder, they continued the official videos, which caused a furor in Australia and gave them three consecutive #1, and finally in Europe they embraced them with "S.O.S." and everything was even much more than what they themselves dreamed It's beautiful as always to see your videos about ABBA It is very important to give space to this very special anniversary, when a partial defeat is at the same time the initial seed of a future sweeping victory. and we await with the same passion the future video for the anniversary of the Ring Ring album, the first of our much loved and future ABBA thank so much, dear friend my best regards from Buenos Aires, Argentina South America

[@michaelrochester48]

I recently wrote to Neil Sedaka for an autograph mentioning especially how grateful I am that he jumpstarted the career of ABBA with ring ring

[@booh12469]

"Ring Ring" is still one of my early ABBA favourites, with its irresistible driving guitar rhythm. It charted very high in the Top 5 in South Africa and became one of the Top 20 best selling singles for late-1973/ early 1974, along with its successor "Waterloo". They were a smash virtually straight out of the starting blocks here in S.A when they debuted internationally. Thanks Bobby's B - for another fascinating review!

[@supertrouper2550]

I am continually amazed by your ABBA knowledge. You are some historian! ABBA should hire you!!!

[@79BlackRose]

I have always loved Ring, Ring and find it incomprehensible that it was rejected by "experts" at the time. I found your perspective on the importance of failure fascinating. I was unaware how many previous attempts different members of ABBA had made to break through. Their persistence demonstrates their self-belief and we are eternally grateful they kept driving on! 06:55 was hilarious!

[@toby9999]

Nina Pretty Ballerina brings back so many memories of the early 70's. I was hooked the first time I heard that song. In spite of their dissapointment, their songs were quickly becoming popular in New zealand. Ring Ring also and NZ is about as far away from Sweden as you can get.

[@iangrice329]

I love ring ring, I have had the Swedish version as my ring tone for years.

[@kingmarshmusic]

Another thorough look into ABBA’s formation years. Fascinating collection of facts and archives. Outstanding work, BB!

[@crazywonder7197]

I sure hope you continue to make videos following Abba's journey at 50 years ago to now following their journey from the 1970s, 1980s and beyond.

[@michaelsnaidero1671]

Right from the beginning their journey with the love of their music and passion to create wonderful and exciting music and then to give the world their gift was arduous and hard.Rejection and biased opinions hindered the journey and in another way may have been the inspiration to always persevere and always strive for perfection in every composition Bjorn and Benny created and every song Agnetha and Annifrid sang and this would ultimately lead to the phenomenon they became and still are to this very day.

[@joycehennequin8469]

Thankyou for sharing,ANYTHING about abba is always welcome uk England 💞

[@dknhochis8003]

Very nice to see you again personally and especially about this pre ABBA story, especially through today's happenings and entire world decisions, thank you! Very pretty to see today a person to explore an ABBA story after all of those dramatic events in Ukraine and all of those to happen about it right now. From absolutely die hard ABBA fan from Israel, love you, boy!

[@carlosgarjon8340]

Wow! Very interesting, Bobby's Brother! Where did they find those "experts"? They should be working in a factory after that failure. I don't know if Ring Ring was edited in my country, we knew it after, when ABBA was a success. I love it and I often play it at home or in my car. By the way, what a beautiful picture of Frida in minute 3'21". Thank you for your video.

[@pammc2783]

Thank you again for all the background information. Their music is like a great work of art: It's so beautiful, but until you dig, you don't realize all the work behind it. And it is so interesting to hear about all the work and determination they had back in those early days. Thanks again for all the digging you do and for sharing it. Looking forward to the next one!!

[@johnlargan6045]

Bobby's Brother, you've given us here yet another informative and well-researched look into that fascinating "before" era of our dear ABBA. I had no idea of the extent of all their efforts to get to Eurovision, even before Ring, Ring! And you've backed it up with concrete information - such as does video exist! That's exactly what the fans want! Very well done! Thank you again!

[@TRguy64]

It was good and proper fate that ABBA had not won with Ring Ring, it truly served to make them all that much more determined and all that much better!!

[@joegoodman9232]

Thanks again BB for a wonderful , exciting and interesting review of our beloved ABBA. These stories are fascinating and about how they kept driving on to eventually great success. I an 79 experienced a lifetime of music, but never was more impressed being introduced to ABBA. This great Mega talented group has it sll. They just capture your senses with awesome delight and joy!!👍❤️🎶

[@WhitneyHouston4eva1]

I bet Swedish TV are kicking themselves now for deleting the performance from 1973.

[@erikafreebird6449]

Excellent information in all of your ABBA videos. Thank you!!!💖

[@davidmarshall5596]

Hey Bobby's Brother! The age old saying 'everything happens for me a reason' 🤔Ring Ring has always been what a would describe as the 'ABBA' sound..the music & the harmony of the song laid foundations for what was to come. Another excellent vlog education us fans as always..looking forward to the follow up regarding the song 🎵 till then BB keep up the excellent channel 💯 👌

[@alexandraegorova1629]

Обожаю смотреть ваш канал, каждое видео, я открываю что-то новое. Большая благодарность!

[@FelipeLopez-sv7bt]

Thank you so much for sharing your love and passion for ABBA🧡🧡🧡

[@fredyinfante2998]

absolutely great the history, thanks Bobby for sharing with us. ABBA forever

[@abbascots]

Ahh BB it’s been a fascinating journey hasn’t it 🙏🤗 Thankyou for all your insights and historical knowledge ❤

[@Katka1979]

I love Ring Ring 👍

[@matthewloades3617]

Hope ABBA release an official lyric video for the 50th anniversary of Ring Ring x also a 30th anniversary edition of More ABBA Gold x

[@williampaganucci1084]

Interesting as always BB. Now they should get rid of the so called experts for the Grammy Awards voting.

[@marikesl]

What a fascinating story! I can only imagine the stress Agnetha must have been under - thank God she had Frida by her side! What a lovely detail, already showcasing their "sisterhood", as Frida said, so early on! And what happiness was in store, only weeks after the failure - "Ring Ring" loved by the public and Agnetha and Björn welcoming Linda! I am baffled that the song was rejected by those so-called "experts" - I love it, it's so energetic and fun! But to be honest, I am kind of "glad" the failure made them try again one year later, because as a fan of almost 20 years, I cannot imagine the story of our four heroes and friends without "Waterloo" and its historic performance in those legendary outfits! Thanks for this video and the playlist, BB, looking forward to next time! Until then, hejdå!

[@davorlekenik9563]

ABBA ❤❤❤❤

[@melaniamonicacraciun9900]

Keep calm fans & love spreading good vibes because only music is our salvation

[@LapsangTe]

The reason why Melodifestivalen 1973 was erased was that the video tapes that were used in those days were very expensive, so they had to be recycled. Only programs that were considered worth reprising were kept. Nobody back in 1973 thought that anyone would be interested in watching this program in the future. My hope is that it will turn up somewhere. A few years ago a TV performance by Jimi Hendrix in Stockholm, that according to the records was erased, was found in SVT:s archive. Someone who didn't want to erase it had hidden it in a storage room.

[@alexioverdo5225]

Fingers crossed.

[@johnadam5179]

A WOW vdeo, BB! What a beautiful and thorough job you did with this one. I hung on to every word! Thank you for this.

[@karlhaddad2561]

Thank you for this... you have the most amazing ability to tell a story - any story - and make it sound interesting (and even exciting).

[@alexioverdo5225]

You are such an impressive researcher B'sb!You are so precious to us Abba fans,old and new ones.

[@aaronmula8319]

What a great song. It's too bad we don't yet have any video footage of the performance, but at least we get to hear the audio from this night!

[@takaprawda6049]

It is a pity that ABBA in 1973 did not advance to Eurovision, or maybe it was meant to be because history showed that their promotion in 1974 was deserved and historic for the future of this band. It's very possible that the song Ring Ring wasn't really suitable for winning the Swedish qualifiers, but that's my opinion.

[@Baliverna]

I came across the CD of the album “Ring ring” in Vienna a few years ago. I had never seen it before, because you didn’t usually see it on the selves of the shops. I said to myself: this is the first album they made. If they had such a big success, it must be very good. Otherwise, they would have stopped after it”. And I bought it. I was really impressed by that music. I kept listening to it again and again, and I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. I still think it is a masterpiece. Despite many other unforgettable songs they wrote afterwards, this one, as an album, is their best album in my opinion.

[@podacre]

Wonderful episode, as always. Thanks so much.

[@hovergrl]

ABBA’s story never stops to amaze me. It’s a story of 4 very talented people who, with hard work and persistence, achieved greatness. Love your analysis videos. It’s been quite interesting to discover all these little facts about the band and their music. Also, I don’t know if it’s me but I can’t seem to find your review of “I Can Be That Woman” from their recent album Voyage. Keep up the good work! 👍🏼

[@Kissozzymadman]

Wow, thank you for oll the onformation!

[@TheFridaFan]

I wonder if someone can answer this question for me! I have ABBA Gold the deluxe addition, and on CD 1 there are two versions of Ring, Ring. There's definitely a difference between the two, as one sounds lower pitched. Is it possible one of the versions could be live?

[@Lisa-M]

Is one of them a slower version with saxophone? If I remember correctly this version was made for the US market and the other faster one without saxophone was for the European market. The official video of Ring Ring is the US version.

[@TheFridaFan]

@@Lisa-M That might be it! I have to listen to it again when I'm driving

[@chantelbriody1418]

Thankyou for posting the ring ring review. I was only 4 going into 5 years of age.

[@bobbysbrother137]

Thank you. On Tuesday, the "Ring Ring" single celebrates 50 years. I will bring a new video for that, concentrating on the making and recording of the song.

[@bienveibanez6287]

Muy interesante todo, gracias BB.👍👏

[@dalmatablanco5914]

Sometimes I am shocked about how tv or recording companies "take care" of their archives: SVT deleting historical performances by ABBA, or Universal Group letting thousands and thousands of original mastertapes be destroyed by fire in the infamous disaster, June 1st 2008... those episodes just leave me speechless. And Universal Group even tried to hide the real magnitude of the disaster!!! In the end, they had to accept that they had lost at least 500.000 original singles and a similar amount of original albums by a huge amount of original artists. Sic transit Gloria mundi....

[@alexioverdo5225]

Such a shame.Didn't know this!That's equal to a culture crime.A blashemy or smth.Tragic!

[@dalmatablanco5914]

@@alexioverdo5225 True, my friend. Just google it as "universal fire June 2008", and you can read the whole story. It's appalling!!!

[@alexioverdo5225]

@@dalmatablanco5914 I'll check it out thnx.

[@cedarcam]

@@alexioverdo5225 There is a video about it on here I saw. It only came to be known when an artist requested one of their master tapes and was told it could not be found. Universal had said there was a small fire but it turned out they had stored master tapes and their duplicates in the same building, the fire spread rapidly through the entire building destroying many, mostly American, artists master tapes. What is more saddening is it was not just the music but if you have heard ABBA undeleted it was tapes like that containing out takes and studio chatter that were lost.

[@cedarcam]

@@alexioverdo5225 kzbin.info/www/bejne/mF7Mgq2ieb19n68

[@awiealex5448]

"Ring, Ring" is an underrated album of ABBA!

[@chelseacharger]

Disappointing as it was for them, it was probably a blessing in disguise that they didn't qualify for the ESC in 1973. If they had, there would have been frantic preparations before the final, held in Luxembourg, and Agnetha was very heavily pregnant. Her daughter, Linda, was only five weeks old at the time of the final. And if ABBA had managed to win that too, they would be expected to go on a big promotional drive. It wouldn't have been fair and caused too much stress. A year later, the group were much better prepared, as musicians too.

[@michaelrochester48]

The thing that really really stinks is that the tape is missing of that show. But I believe somewhere, somewhere it is in some archive, even a few seconds of it. I mean they found after 55 years, the missing footage at least a few seconds of it, from the Beatles top of the pop appearance for “paperback writer.”

[@VanRijn1963]

👍

[@patrickhicks9880]

I think ring ring is a good song

[@Kevin-1969]

It should have won and would have won the contest

[@mosesbacke2311]

I think the reason that "Ring, Ring" didn't win the contest was good old misogyni. I think that the jurors thought that Agnetha couldn't go abroad and perform in just over a month when she obviously should have a baby any minute. This of course seems very strange and old fashioned today, but although Sweden was progressive in some ways, the change in the view of women was slow. In 1973 Swedish women still didn't have abortion rights, few married women worked outside the home and the norm was that women/wives took care of the babies. The idea of daycare wasn't new or unheard of, but it was still not very common. Of course "Ring, Ring" was the best song in the competition even though the winner "Sommaren som aldrig säger nej" was a nice enough melody with lyrics that became very controversial. But I actually think that the round belly of Agnetha was more controversial in the minds of many people. In the early 70's I think that a jury in Sweden can have thought that they protected Agnetha and her child by not voting for "Ring, Ring". Some people may actually found it offensive that she entered the competition at all. Pregnancy in the 70's was often treated as it was an illness and I think many in the jury and the audience might have thought that she should be home resting. And they didn't think it right for a mother to go to Luxemburg when she, in their minds, should be home and take care of the little baby. It's of course absurd, especially when everybody knows how protective Agnetha always been about her children. But I really think that's the reason "Ring, Ring" didn't win: the sight of a pregnant mother performing upset many people for different conservative reasons.

[@123billydog]

It shouldnt come as a suprise that Ring Ring only came third, the so called experts, reporters, and media at large were never nice to ABBA (particularly in the UK). They rejected everything that seemed to have a large appeal to the general public. As for Eurovision itself, it would have been interesting to see if it had qualified, how successful Ring Ring would have been on a world platform. Eurovision itself doesn't always get it right. 2022 is a good case in point. Ukraine won on a sympathy vote from the public. Nobel sentiment but the premis of the show is 'song contest' not which country is having a rough time.