Slipping Through My Fingers

**Slipping Through My Fingers** was a 1981 song, released on the album The Visitors, in 1981, by popular band ABBA. This song is marginally less well known, but since being featured on 2008 movie Mamma Mia!, it has gained a lot of fame.

**WARNING: MAMMA MIA! SPOILERS DOWN THE PAGE!**

## Lyrics

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 I'm losing her forever,

And without really entering her world.

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter -

That funny little girl.

*Chorus:*

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 what's in her mind?

Each time I think I'm 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 she's gone,

There's that odd melancholy feeling,

And a sense of guilt,

I can't 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 didn't.

And why, I just don't know.

*Chorus*

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture,

And save it from the funny tricks of time,

Slipping through my fingers...

Schoolbag in hand,

She leaves home in the early morning.

Waving goodbye,

With an absent-minded smile...

### Lyrics:

**Donna:**

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 I'm losing her forever,

And without really entering her world.

I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter -

That funny little girl.

*Chorus:*

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 what's in her mind?

Each time I think I'm 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 she's gone,

There's that odd melancholy feeling,

And a sense of guilt,

I can't 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 didn't.

And why, I just don't know.

*Chorus*

**Sophie:** *Do you think I'm letting you down?*

**Donna:** *Why would you even think that?*

**Sophie:** *Because... of what you've done - the Dynamos, raising a kid, and running a business all on your own.*

**Donna:** *Well honey, I didn't have a choice. I couldn't go home! You know, when I got pregnant, my mother told me not to bother coming back. And I wouldn't have had it any other way. My God, look at what we've had!*

**Sophie:** *Will you give me away?*

**Donna:** ...Yeah!

**Sophie and Donna:**

Sometimes I wish that I could freeze the picture,

And save it from the funny tricks of time,

Slipping through my fingers...

*Instrumental*

**Donna:**

Schoolbag in hand,

She leaves home in the early morning.

Waving goodbye,

With an absent-minded smile...

### Context:

This song is based directly before The Winner Takes It All and reflects Donna's feelings about her daughter growing up and getting married. This also reflects the song's original inspiration, which was the daughter of two of the ABBA members. In the middle, Sophie asks Donna to give her away, and they elatedly sing together afterwards. Donna finishes the song on a more sombre note as the adrenaline catches up with her and she waves the bridal party away to walk on her own, until she is intercepted by Sam.