Dick Cavett interviewed ABBA in Stockholm in 1981. After the interview, ABBA performed 9 songs in front of a studio audience. "Slipping Through My Fingers" was one of the songs. It is from The Visitors, ABBA's final studio album.

Bjorn wrote "Slipping Through My Fingers" about his daughter Linda. Linda was born in 1973, so by the time "Slipping Through My Fingers" came out in 1981, she was in school. Bjorn, barely awake, has breakfast with his daughter and sees her off to class. He feels sadness, that odd melancholy for which Swedes are famous. He also feels guilt. He has not been the father he wanted to be. And yet, he is grateful for the laughter they were able to share. Kids grow up. They keep changing. No parent can freeze the picture, not even a member of ABBA. Bjorn remarried after divorcing Agnetha and had two daughters by his second wife. The guilt he felt about Linda foreshadowed his divided allegiance.

SLIPPING THROUGH MY FINGERS


Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that Im losing her forever
And without really entering her world
Im glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by
Then when shes gone there's that odd melancholy feeling
And a sense of guilt I cant deny

What happened to the wonderful adventures
The places I had planned for us to go
(slipping through my fingers all the time)
Well, some of that we did but most we didnt
And why I just dont know

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see whats in her mind
Each time I think Im close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture
And save it from the funny tricks of time
Slipping through my fingers...

Slipping through my fingers all the time

Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile...