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Bjorn:
My name is Bjorn Ulvaeus. You may not know me, but you probably know a couple of songs that I have written. I am one of the members of ABBA.

Interviewer:
[SINGING] Bring the noise.

Bjorn:
My very earliest memory must be probably my father playing the mandolin, and singing some old Swedish song. He knew a couple.

Bjorn:
I was given a small guitar when I was 11 for Christmas. But, that guitar is actually in this museum. It has come back. It's a miracle, but somebody kept it somewhere. And, and we got a letter all of a sudden. "Uh, is this your old guitar?" And, there was a picture of it. And, I said, "Probably is." And then, I saw it, and it was. Fantastic.

Bjorn:
No, when I started hearing people playing the guitar, I like that. I love that sound. And, that was quite early. I, I couldn't have been more than nine or ten. So, that would probably have been my favourite sound.

Bjorn:
Just imagine taking all the music in the world away. Oh, it would be a, a terrible world to live in. That's how important it is. I've been so incredibly privileged, you know, in being able to be part of this. You know, every day someone comes up to me saying how much, um, the music that I have co-written has meant to people in their lives. And, I can see that they're actually,uh, you know, honest. And, and it's real. And, that's amazing. It's so humbling.

Bjorn:
What people mean, and, and I have heard it so many times that it actually, it helps them when they're in bad mood. They put on a song and, and somehow it helps. But, if you ask me what the ingredients are, how that happened, I wouldn't be able to answer. Cause I don't know. We just wrote from instinct, and we recorded it as, as best as we could. That was it.

Bjorn:
I think it's important for young children to learn to play something and, and to sing. For their parents to sing with them from a very early age. And, that they stick to playing and singing as they grow up, and as they go older, because they will be eternally grateful, at some point, that they do that. Because they, they have that. They play and sing, and that is so liberating. I even think it'sgood for your health to do that.

Bjorn:
To play music and to sing helps your intelligence. You get more intelligent by doing that, in some strange way. Usually, um, musical people are also good at maths, for instance. And, uh, I think musical people are equally good at, at, uh, languages. Very often. It's good for your soul. It's good for everything. It's good for your children when you grow up.

Bjorn:
It's a big responsibility for a teacher to bring music to a child, and to make a, a child understand that he or she could play an instrument, and, and, could sing. Whatever it takes. I mean, you can ask the child what she or he likes, and you can play that. Uh, as a teacher, I think you should be bold and you, you should stick to trying again and again. Even if the child says it's notmusical, or doesn't show any signs of being musical. Still, um, every child deserves to have a teacher who tries to teach them music.

Bjorn:
Oh, it's wonderful to be, you know, sitting together with other people and bouncing ideas off each other. And, and hearing the sound of other voices blending with yours. And, oh, it's exhilarating. It is the best. I, I tried to go solo at one point, but I thought that was so boring. Uh, much better to be in a group, I think.

Interviewer:
[SINGING] Bring the noise.