My first Guest Blogger Bill Coles tells me his Waterloo story.
“I used to be an avid fan of Top of the Pops and, from the age of just eight years old, assumed that I pretty much knew the entire British pop scene.
Of course I quite enjoyed the bands, but the high point of the show was invariably when Pan’s People came on – so much more evocative a name than Legs & Co.
What happened in 1974, however, was to turn all that completely on its head – because for the first time I was to develop a crush on a genuine pop star.
As it turned out, the first time that I ever saw her was not on Top of the Pops, but on the Eurovision Song Contest – and those were in the days when Eurovision was a huge deal, as opposed to the pap they serve up now.
This group wasn’t just any old group – it was one of the greatest groups of all time.
And this woman, with her skin-tight spangled blue leggings and her sort of crocheted skull cap … well all I can say is that for a long time she was to become my definitive embodiment of femine beauty.
I’m talking, of course, about the gorgeous, the troubled, the ever lovely sex siren that was Agnetha from Abba, clomping around on stage in her spectacular high-heeled white boots. Come to think of it, Waterloo wasn’t a bad song either. Not a bad song? It was terrific!
My ears pricked up as those first fantastic chords drummed out; an aural sensation. Only then did I notice Agnetha twirling around on stage. And as I gaze at her now on Youtube, she does not appear to be overtly sexy, but nonetheless has this intensely powerful allure.
Today, I only have to hear those first thundering notes from “Waterloo”, and the reaction is almost Pavlovian as I am yet again reduced to a quivering bundle of nine-year-old excitement.
But there is yet one more hangover from that glorious evening in 1974 – for I don’t doubt that it’s because of that Eurovision night that I still feel weak at the knees at the sight of a woman in high-heeled white boots …”
Bill Coles, author, blogger, ex-Sun Journo, expert in idleness
The Well-Tempered Clavier published by Legend Press
Youtube promo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7oUrnWiZRk
The website: www.wcoles.com, with Bill’s extremely tasteful blog. Feel free to subscribe.
Filed under: Celebrities, Music, Telly/TV | Tagged: Abba, Bill Coles, Eurovision, Music, pop, Waterloo
This is still the most visited post. I wonder if it’s an Abba thing?