You gotta hand it to ABBA. They wrote some pretty amazing songs back in the 1970s, songs that we still listen to – and love – here in 2009. I was listening to Mamma Mia this morning, thinking about this, and how Björn and Benny tapped into something universally human pool of emotions that still resonates with us.

And as I tapped my left foot to the rhythm of the bass drum, I thought it was neat that their songs, upbeat, mostly happy and positive pieces of music had become so popular – over 370 million records sold – and that some day I would go through the #1 singles since, say, 1965, and see whether the upbeat and happy songs make it more often than the sad and aggressive songs.

That’s when I heard a boy’s voice, saying something about a “Rish mans woed”. That was Son, bored with Mamma Mia – his favorite, but only five times in a row – wanting to switch to Money, Money, Money.

We may be getting closer to a major shift in the family. We just may be approaching the day when I won’t be whistling children’s songs in public anymore. We’re not there yet, and I’m not in a hurry, either. Pippi Longstocking’s theme is just fine with me, because I know that the phase where we all like the same music will also most likely pass quickly. Maybe.

I bought my first record when I was about ten, it was Elvis Presley’s The Rocking Days. Those were the times when the Fifites were back in style. The music, the hair grease (is the word!), the shoes, the style. Up until that point, I had listened to children’s music, the Finnish version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, and whatever my parents had on their reel tape recorder: Harry Belafonte, Edith Piaf, and Irwin.

I didn’t think my parents were very cool in the rocking way. Then one day, we got to listen to pop songs at school, and the one that got most votes from the kids in the class was this song that was an oldie even then, but revived by a new disco version that had been released around the time we were listening to this at school:

And later, too much later, I found the single in my parents’ collection. Now, they only owned maybe two singles, and that was one of them? Maybe they had been cool all along?

Here’s hoping to see a big Bryan Adams revival by the time Son is a teenager.