Judy Craymer, the producer and visionary behind Mamma Mia! (1999), wrote a guest column for the Denver Center of Performing Arts in which she details the inspiration for the creation of the musical and later adapted it into a film. In the column, a primary source, she reveals that she was inspired by ABBA’s song “The Winner Takes It All,” writing that the song “first suggested to me the potential of an original musical using their compositions. The lyrics revealed a roller-coaster story of love and loss that struck me as extraordinarily theatrical” (Craymer 2017). When presenting the idea of a musical to Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, songwriters in ABBA, Craymer presented the story as an original musical, not a retelling of the story of the band (Craymer 2017). They were not convinced and required further percussion dependent on the story being further fleshed out and a highly competent writer joining the team (Craymer 2017). Cue Catherine Johnson joining the project.
Video: ABBA’s music video for “Dancing Queen.”
(ABBA 2009, “Abba – Dancing Queen (Official Music Video Remastered)”)
The “Dancing Queen” music video appeals to a young audience because it has a faster tempo that can be used for dancing. This couples with lyrics about a young girl dancing and living in the moment to create a young song. Additionally, the visuals of the music video are reflective of the music and the lyrics because they depict young people dancing in a nightclub. This depiction helps to show ABBA’s original intent of having “Dancing Queen” be a song that is meant to be carefree and appeal to young people. Part of the appeal derives from the popularity of disco at the release of the song in 1976. A large portion of disco was the ability to dance to the music and “Dancing Queen” fed into that appeal. When the song was later used in Mamma Mia! (1999), it was able to still appeal to a young audience because the fast tempo fit with the pop music of the time. However, it was also able to appeal to an older audience by appealing to the nostalgia that they would have felt for the original release of the song and disco in general. This helps to feed into the multi-generational story that is told through ABBA’s music in the musical, and later the film.
Video: ABBA’s music video for “The Winner Takes It All.”
(ABBA 2009, “Abba – The Winner Takes It All (Official Music Video)”)
While “Dancing Queen” appeals to older audiences when utilized in the musical and subsequent film through nostalgia, “The Winner Takes It All” is also used to appeal to an older audience in the multi-generational story. The musical took on a multigenerational story with Craymer and Johnson noting that “Dancing Queen” appeals to a younger audience while “The Winner Takes It All” holds a more mature sound (Craymer 2017). The song has a slower tempo than “Dancing Queen” which conveys a sense of maturity by physically making the listener slow down to listen to the song and its lyrics. The song then has storied lyrics that tell the tale of failed love by describing a break-up where the ex has moved on. Since these lyrics take more life experience to relate to than the lyrics in “Dancing Queen,” they are meant to appeal to an older audience with more lived experiences. The music video helps to visually depict the appeal to an older audience by featuring images and videos that flashback to the relationship in question, much like how a person who has lived a similar experience would have memories of their past heartache.
The original meanings of the song and the multigenerational story that they create are what drew Craymer to ABBA as the basis of the musical (Craymer 2017). While keeping the same lyrics, Craymer was able to mold the songs into a show that tells the story of female relationships across generations. As such, a new story that dominates both stage and screen to introduce ABBA to new listeners.