In March of 1995, I was dying to see an Australian movie I'd read a lot about: Muriel's Wedding. It was just opening in the US that spring and I went to see it at Kendall Town & Country with my mom. I seem to remember that this was a point in time where we'd all go the movies almost weekly. Aside from igniting my deep, unwavering love for actress Toni Collette, it also triggered a memory for me. A memory of my youth. A memory of a song. A memory... of disco.
After being busted at a friend's wedding wearing a stolen dress, Muriel Heslop is accompanied home by a pair of cops. Her father, an ambitious politician, butters the boys up with beers and smooths things over. While he does that, Muriel goes to her bedroom (bypassing her sister's "Muriel, you're terrible"), sits down, and presses play on her tape recorder. She is in a daze as almost angelic voices being to sing "ahhh" and then in sync with the singers, Muriel sings, "You can dance, you can jive/having the time of your life..." I found myself lip-syncing along, too. As the movie progressed and more ABBA songs played, I realized that I knew this music. And kind of well. I remembered that my mom had an ABBA cassette that we'd listen to in the car years ago. I probably hadn't heard ABBA for years before the movie, but it was all so familiar to me.
I went out and bought the recently released ABBA collection called Thank You For The Music. I listened to "Dancing queen" and "Fernando" and "I do I do I do I do I do" over and over. I loved the band's final single, "Under attack" and mourned the dissolution of ABBA, 13 years before I truly discovered them. I bought every ABBA album there was. I loved their harmonies, the pure cheesy pop goodness of it all. I still don't have any idea what a "Super trouper" is or why they wore the outfits that they wore. I know I should be ashamed to admit it, but no: I love ABBA.
next time: i believe this is heaven to no one else but me
No comments:
Post a Comment