ABBA performed (mimed) "Waterloo" (English).
It would seem to have been filmed at the same time (give or take a day or so) and the same place as for Melodifestivalen. The set is virtually identical (same round door, same silver arch) but with different lighting. (Agnetha is wearing silver boots in this clip, not black ones as worn for the Melodifestivalen. It also looks like she is not wearing any t-shirt under her blue top. For Melodifestivalen, she's wearing a red top underneath).
See the similarities in the set:
This "Mystery Waterloo"
Melodifestivalen 1974 set
So this was the final rehearsal
(the dress rehearsal) before the competition
Why in English? Probably because if they knew it was being sent
around Europe then, as they
The questions that need answering:
- Was this before or after their Melodifestivalen win?
- If it was before, why was it in English?
- If it was after, what programme/purpose was it recorded for and where was it broadcast?
The case for a REHEARSAL performance FOR Melodifestivalen:
If you take the view that the set wasn't quite finished, This could have been an early rehearsal, when the set
wasn't quite finished and ABBA later changed some details like swapping the
white baby grand piano for the brown upright piano in the actual
Melodifestivalen. (Björn subsequently swapped his acoustic guitar for the
star-shaped guitar in the actual
Eurovision
Song Contest).
I didn't think it could be Melodifestivalen because they sang "Waterloo" in Swedish, not English, like this clip is. But dear Henk made some good points about Eurovision ie. that on the start of the Eurovision song contest, all countries had to sing in their native language. Later it was possible to sing in another language (mostly English it seemed). In 1975, Teach-In had to sing "Ding A Dong" in Dutch for their national finals, but for the Eurovision itself, they were free to choose - and they chose to sing it in English.
So perhaps ABBA HAD to perform "Waterloo" in Swedish for Melodifestivalen, but already had the English version virtually ready and tried it for this rehearsal. It MIGHT have been the first time they had performed it. Remember that Stig and ABBA had planned this whole campaign very carefully! Perhaps after they saw their English performance they were able to review how they looked and how it sounded - ready for their victory in Brighton
Also, the set looks unfinished... in this clip, the door is visible throughout the performance, whereas in the Melodifestivalen, the door disappears behind a silver drop-down screen as soon as Agnetha & Frida have run through it.
The case for it being recorded AFTER their Melodifestivalen win :
If you take the view that the set was finished with before dismantling
...
A fan from Finland also has a good thought: that this clip might have originally been shown in one of those programmes usually shown in the run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest to introduce the songs from the participating countries. One such programme was broadcast on Finnish TV on 30 March 1974 and called Eurovision laulukilpailu (Eurosivion Song Contest) lasting 30 minutes in colour (apparently not all programmes broadcast on Finnish TV in 1974 were in colour) and described in a TV listings magazine as "Preview I: Eurovision presents the participants of the song contest, held in Brighton on April 6th. The first part includes Finland, Great Britain, Spain, Norway, Greece, Israel, Yugoslavia, Sweden and Luxembourg." There was no PROMO until June 1974.
Another fan, "SS", says, "there would, looking at it one way, have been no reason to make a clip of them performing the English version of "Waterloo" if they hadn't have won Melodifestivalen". This point was made by 2-3 fans also. A good point but a bit too negative to fit in with the plans and hopes of Stig, Benny and Björn I think, who you get the impression were determined and very confident of a Eurovision win in 1974. On the set "SS" says, "I also think it may have been AFTER because the set is more staged down, no lighting etc, as if it was a quick decision to record it as the set was being dismantled. I also think that maybe this clip was firstly recorded just for the members of ABBA and Stikkan to see how they looked performing the song in English, for example, if they were confident with the lyrics, etc . I then have a feeling this MAY have been passed out to countries who ran a pre-Eurovision show introducing the songs to viewers."
Dutch fan Henk has, I think, hit on the solution to this mystery, and the answer was found in the Dutch comic book released in 1978. On p.26, about Melodifestivalen it says, "then finally came the last rehearsal; the costume rehearsal. Very important, because it would be taped on video, which would be send to Europe.”
13 seconds of this footage was broadcast in Germany on 28 December 2007 in a programme about German entries to Eurovision. Using our powers of deduction, the fact that footage of Germany's 2007 entry Roger Cicero was included in this programme must mean that it can't be older than April 2007, which must mean that the company ARD still HAS this clip (maybe complete?) in their archives. That of course makes theory two, that the clip is some kind of promotion clip after Melodienfestivalen, more more likely. After all, why should a German TV company own rehearsal footage of a Swedish pre-selection? A clip sent to ARD in order to enable a presentation of the participants of Eurovision 1974 sounds much more plausible. The fact that the Eurovision Song Contest is and was so famous in Germany supports that theory, explaining a possible application for the clip, a possible broadcast, and why it has been archived so well.