Top Ten Songs by Abba

I'm not ashamed to admit it. Despite the fact that I am way too young to place any value whatsoever on 70s music, despite the fact that I can never extricate frightening images of white spandex from their music, and despite the fact that my husband threatens to pierce his eardrums whenever the beat gets going, I love Abba. Let me say it again. I love Abba.

Maybe it's the fact that it provides the soundtrack for the strangely haunting performance of Toni Collette in Muriel's Wedding. Maybe it's because they made a very popular musical by fusing an assortment of non-related songs into a (slightly) coherent story. Or maybe it's because the songs are translated into Spanish that were routinely played during my high school foreign language class. Whatever the reason, once the beat gets going and those Swedes start rocking, I'm a goner. Although I would never say that any of their songs are bad (gasp!), here is a list of my top ten personal favorites.

10) Money Money Money - Like Sheryl Crow's Soak Up the Sun, there is something absolutely maddening about a successful musical performer singing about the tedium of poverty. But if you ignore the fact that Abba is lamenting the solemnity of an empty wallet while rolling in piles of krona, it's pretty fun to sing along.

9) Waterloo - I have yet to find any song about Hitler, Mussolini, or Castro that fills me with such giddy excitement as this playful number about Napoleon's famous defeat. Someone probably should have told Abba that there is something slightly perverse about comparing oneself to a battle in which 47,000 men died with an upbeat, catchy tune. Still, I always sing along.

8) Gimme Gimme Gimme - For years, I was absolutely certain that the words to this song were Gimme gimme gimme a man of commitment (it's actually a man after midnight). Funny how having a man after midnight - lovingly referred to by many as a "booty call" - and having a man of commitment are the exact opposite ways of having a man. I never noticed any problems fusing my lyrics in. You should try it.