name	Take on Me
cover	Take On Me cover.jpg
artist	A-ha
from album	Hunting High and Low
released	16 September 1985
b-side	"Love Is Reason"
format	7", 12"
recorded	1984-1985
genre	Synthpop
length	3:10 (Original 1984 version)3:46 (1985 version)
label	Warner Bros.
writer	Magne FuruholmenMorten HarketPål Waaktaar
producer	Alan Tarney
certification	Gold (BPI)
this single	"Take on Me"(1985)
next single	"Love Is Reason"(1985) }}

"Take on Me" is a song by the Norwegian pop band A-ha. Written by the band members, the song was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's first studio album ''Hunting High and Low'', released in 1985. The song combines synthpop with a varied instrumentation, which includes acoustic guitars, keyboards, drums and synthesizers.

The original "Take on Me" was recorded in 1984, and took three releases to chart in the United Kingdom, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart in November 1985. In the United States the song reached the top position of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in October 1985, due in no small part to the wide exposure of its memorable and cutting-edge music video on MTV, directed by Steve Barron. The video features the band in a pencil-sketch animation called rotoscoping combined with live-action. The video won six awards, and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.

Background

Pål Waaktaar and Magne Furuholmen began their music careers playing in a band called Bridges, together with Viggo Bondi and Øystein Jevanord. In 1981 the band produced ''Fakkeltog'' (Torch-light parade), an LP for which all of the music was composed by the group themselves, most of it being written by Waaktaar. Soon after, Bridges disbanded. Waaktaar and Furuholmen relocated to London to try their hand in the music industry there, but after six months of disappointment they returned to Norway. The duo decided to try to get Morten Harket to join them as lead singer. At the time, Harket was singing in a band called Souldier Blue, but he felt that his band was stagnating, and decided to join Waaktaar and Furuholmen. They stayed together for six months, writing some songs and working on demo tapes, including "Lesson One," the song that eventually became "Take on Me." In January 1983 the trio returned to London in search of recording a contract.

Recording and production

The band moved into a flat in London and began calling on record companies and publishing houses. After a few meetings with various A&R; personnel, the band signed with a publishing house called Lionheart. A-ha then returned to Norway to earn some money. When they returned to London, they left Lionheart out of frustration. They decided to record new demos, and chose the studio of musician and producer John Ratcliff, intending to re-record five songs. The band signed with Ratcliff, who in return introduced them to his manager, Terry Slater. With this encouragement, the band managed to complete some songs, including "Take on Me." After a few meetings, Slater signed them with Warner Bros. Records.

The band met with Tony Mansfield, an expert in the use of computerized synthesizers, who mixed the demos with electronic instrumentation. The sound was not what A-ha had hoped to achieve, and the album was remixed again. The band rushed to release "Take on Me" as a single in the United Kingdom but failed to make an impact. After this, Warner Brothers' main office in the United States decided to invest in the band, and gave them the opportunity to re-record the song. Terry Slater convinced Alan Tarney to produce the new version. The song was soon completed and re-released in the United Kingdom, but the record label's office in London gave them little support, and the single flopped for the second time.

In the United States, Warner Brothers put the group on high priority, and made the move to invest serious money in a revolutionary video for "Take on Me" using the version produced by Tarney. The single was released in the United States a month after the music video, and immediately appeared in the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Magne played the main melody on a Roland Juno-60 "MIDI'd up" to a Yamaha DX7, but it was a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 which the entire melody was played on in the final studio edit, along with a Linn LM-1 drum machine. The drum machine used on the second and third releases (cartoon video version) was a Linn drum machine - Paul overdubbed real cymbals and hi-hat using this drum machine. Morten sang "Take on Me" using a Neumann U47 microphone as well as a Neve microphone pre-amp and Neve equaliser.

Composition

"Take on Me" is a synthpop song, written in the key of A major, and includes instrumentation from acoustic guitars, keyboards, and synthesizers. Like the majority of pop music, the song is set in common time. It moves at a very quick tempo of 170 beats per minute. The lyrics are a plea for love, and are constructed in a verse-chorus form with a bridge before the third and final chorus. In the song, Harket demonstrates a vocal range of over two and a half octaves. He sings the lowest pitch in the song, A₂, at the beginning of the chorus, on the first syllable of the phrase "Take on me." As the chorus progresses, Harket's voice hits ever higher notes, reaching a falsetto and hitting the song's highest note (E₅) at the end (note values specified in this article using scientific pitch notation). One should also note the temporary change of markings in the drum pattern in the chorus, where for two bars the drums play in half time, only to pick up the same rhythm as before for the climax of the vocal line. A mix of drums, acoustic guitars and electronic instrumentation serves as the song's backing track.

Music video

Two videos were made for the song. The first release of "Take on Me" in 1984 includes a completely different recording, and was featured in the first video, which shows the band singing with a blue background. The second video was directed by Steve Barron, and filmed at Kim's Café and on a sound stage in London, in 1985. The video used a pencil-sketch animation / live-action combination called rotoscoping, in which the live-action footage is traced-over frame by frame to give the characters realistic movements. Approximately 3,000 frames were rotoscoped, which took 16 weeks to complete.

The video's main theme is a romantic fantasy narrative. It begins with a young woman, played by Bunty Bailey (Harket's girlfriend at the time), drinking coffee and reading a comic book in a coffee shop. The comic is about motorcycle racing in which the hero played by Morten Harket is pursued by two opponents. As the girl reads, the waitress brings her the bill. The hero, after winning the race, seemingly winks at the girl from the page. His pencil-drawn hand reaches out of the comic book, inviting the girl into it. Once inside, she too appears in the pencil-drawn form, as he sings to her and introduces her to his black and white world.

Meanwhile in the restaurant the waitress returns and believes the girl skipped the bill. Angrily, she crumples and throws the girl's comic-book into a trash-bin. This makes the hero's two opposing drivers reappear, armed with a large wrench and apparently aggressive. Harket punches one of the thugs and retreats with the girl into a maze of paper. Arriving at a dead end, Harket tears a hole in the paper wall so that the girl can escape as he faces the two thugs as one brings the wrench down on him. The girl, now found lying beside the trash-bin to the surprise of restaurant guests and staff, grabs the comic-book from the bin and runs home, where she attempts to smooth out the creases to learn what happens next.

The next panel shows Harket lying seemingly lifeless, and she begins to cry. But he wakes up and attempts to break out of his comic-book frames. At the same time, his image appears in the girl's hallway, seemingly torn between real and comic form as he maintains the effort to break his barriers. He escapes from the comic book by becoming human and stands up. Smiling, the girl walks towards him and he embraces her. This final scene is based on the 1980 movie ''Altered States''.

At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for "Take on Me" won six awards—Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, and Viewer's Choice—and was nominated for two others, Best Group Video and Video of the Year. It was also nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Video at the 13th American Music Awards in 1986.

Director: Steve Barron Production Company: Limelight Productions, London Producer: Simon Fields Cinematographer: Oliver Stapleton Editor: Richard Simpson @ Rushes Film Editing, London Animation: Michael Patterson & Candace Reckinger

Chart performance

"Take on Me" was originally released in 1984, and was mixed by Tony Mansfield, but failed to make an impact in the United Kingdom. The group re-recorded the song with the help of producer Alan Tarney, releasing the new version in late 1984: this release peaked at number three in Norway but failed to reach audiences abroad.

In the United States, Warner Bros. invested in the revolutionary second video for "Take on Me," which used Tarney's version of the song. The new video was released to dance clubs and television a month before the record was available in stores or played on the radio. Wide exposure on MTV made the song quickly soar to the top position of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 19 October 1985. It remained on the chart for twenty-three weeks, and ended up at the tenth position of the 1985 year-end chart.

"Take on Me" was released for the third time in the United Kingdom in September 1985. The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number fifty-five, peaked at number two for three weeks, and received a gold certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In Norway, A-ha's native country, "Take on Me" reentered the VG-lista singles chart, reaching a new peak of number one, a year after it was first released. The single was largely successful across the rest of Europe, reaching the top of the Eurochart Hot 100 for nine weeks, topping the singles charts in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, and reaching the top three in France and Ireland.

Formats and track listing

7" Original single (1984)

#"Take on Me" (Original version) – 3:10 #"And You Tell Me" – 1:48

12" Original single (1984)

#"Take on Me" (Long version) – 3:44 #"And You Tell Me" – 1:48 #"Stop! And Make Your Mind Up" – 2:57 (Pål Waaktaar) (On this record, Pål Waaktaar is miscredited as Päl Waktaar)

7" Single (1985)

#"Take on Me" – 3:46 #"Love Is Reason" – 3:04

7" Single (1985)

#"Take on Me" (LP version) – 3:46 #"The Sun Always Shines on TV" (LP version) – 4:30

12" Maxi-Single (1985)

# "Take on Me" (Extended version) – 4:45 # "Love Is Reason" (LP version) – 3:01 # "Take on Me" (Single version) – 3:31

Personnel

Morten Harket – lead vocals

Magne Furuholmen – keyboards, vocals

Pål Waaktaar – guitar, vocals

Neill King – engineering

Alan Tarney – production

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

{|class="wikitable sortable" !|Chart (1984) !|Peakposition |- |Norwegian Singles Chart (original release) |align="center"|3 |- !|Chart (1985) !|Peakposition |- |Australian Kent Music Report |align="center"|1 |- |Austrian Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |Belgian VRT Top 30 |align="center"|1 |- |Canadian ''RPM'' Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |Dutch Top 40 |align="center"|1 |- |French SNEP Singles Chart |align="center"|3 |- |German Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |Irish Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |Italian Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart |align="center"|7 |- |Norwegian Singles Chart (re-release) |align="center"|1 |- |Swedish Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |Swiss Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |UK Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 |align="center"|1 |- |U.S. ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary |align="center"|4 |- |}

Certifications

Country	Provider	Certification	Sales/shipments
	align="center"

|- |- |-

Reel Big Fish version

Name	Take on Me
Cover	Take On Me Reel Big Fish.jpg
Artist	Reel Big Fish
From album	BASEketball
Released	1999
Format	CD single
Genre	Ska punk
Length	3:14
Label	Mojo Records
Artist	Reel Big Fish
Last single	"Sell Out"(1997)
This single	"Take on Me"(1999)
Next single	"Talkin' 'bout a Revolution"(2005) }}

In 1999, ska punk band Reel Big Fish covered "Take on Me" for the film ''BASEketball''. The song was later released on the ''BASEketball'' soundtrack and the international version of their album ''Why Do They Rock So Hard?''. The band also performed the song at concerts. Reel Big Fish released a video clip for "Take On Me", directed by Jeff Moore, and features the band playing the song while walking down an aisle in the stadium, and playing a game of BASEketball interlaced with clips from the film. An alternative video for the song's international release that contained only the stadium aisle footage was also released. Reel Big Fish also included a live version of the song in their live album ''Our Live Album Is Better than Your Live Album'' and live DVD's ''You're All In This Together'' and ''Reel Big Fish Live! In Concert!''.

Track listing

CD Single

#"Take on Me" – 3:02 #"Alternative Baby" – 2:56 #"Why Do All the Girls Think They're Fat?" – 2:22

Personnel

Aaron Barrett – celesta, guitar, lead vocals, synthesizer

Grant Barry – trombone

Andrew Gonzales – drums

Scott Klopfenstein – celesta, keyboards, trumpet, vocals

Dan Regan – screams, trombone

Tavis Werts – flügelhorn, trumpet

Matt Wong – bass guitar, vocals

A1 version

name	Take on Me
cover	Take on Me a1.jpg
artist	A1
from album	The A List
released	14 August 2000
b-side	"I Got Sunshine"
format	CD single, 7"
recorded	2000
genre	Dance-pop
length	3:46
label	Epic
certification	Silver (BPI)
last single	"Like a Rose"(1999)
this single	"Take on Me"(2000)
next single	"Same Old Brand New You"(2000) }}

In August 2000, British-Norwegian boyband A1 released a cover of "Take on Me" for their second studio album ''The A List''. Despite being panned by music critics, who called it a "lame cover version", and a "note for note copy" that seems like "a re-release of the original"; it was commercially successful, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and Norway, where it was certified silver by the BPI.

Music video

The cover's music video was directed by Stuart Gosling. It features A1 entering the computer world by putting on virtual reality glasses after finding out about a deadly computer virus. After flying for a distance, they find the virus and destroy it, saving the world. The video was inspired by the 1982 science fiction film ''TRON''.

Formats and track listings

CD, Maxi-Single, Enhanced, CD1

#"Take on Me" – 3:31 #"Beatles Medley (I Feel Fine / She Loves You)" – 3:20 #"I Got Sunshine" – 3:41

CD, Maxi-Single, Enhanced, Limited Edition, CD2

#"Take on Me" (U.K. 2K Mix) – 3:25 #"Take on Me" (Metro Extended Club Mix) – 6:02 #"Take on Me" (D-Bop Saturday Night Mix) – 7:52

Charts

{|class="wikitable sortable" !|Chart (2000) !|Peakposition |- |Australian ARIA Singles Chart |align="center"|46 |- |align="left"|Danish Singles Chart |align="center"|2 |- |Dutch Mega Single Top 100 |align="center"|47 |- |German Singles Chart |align="center"|61 |- |Irish Singles Chart |align="center"|12 |- |Norwegian Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |Swedish Singles Chart |align="center"|9 |- |UK Singles Chart |align="center"|1 |- |}

Certifications

{|class="wikitable" !|Country !|Provider !|Certification !|Sales/shipments |- |align="center"|Norway |align="center"|IFPI |align="center"|Gold |align="center"|5,000+ |- |align="center"|United Kingdom |align="center"|BPI |align="center"|Silver |align="center"|200,000+ |- |}

{{s-ttl| title = UK Singles Chart number-one single | years = 3 September 2000 }} {{s-ttl| title = Norwegian VG-lista number-one single | years = 5 October 2000 – 19 October 2000 }}

Other cover versions

Despite being notoriously difficult to sing, the song has inspired many cover versions, including the following: American band Cap'n Jazz cover the song for their two-disc set ''Analphabetapolothology''. German eurodance duo Captain Jack covered the song for their first album ''The Mission''.

Belgian punk band Janez Detd. covered the song for their first major label release "Janez Detd." (2000).

A cover recording was used in the episode "Asspen" (2002) of the TV series ''South Park''.

German rock band Emil Bulls covered the song for their studio album ''Angel Delivery Service''. American duo Letters Lost released a version of the song on its album ''You Are My Biggest Fan''. Spanish folk metal band Mägo de Oz made a cover of the song, which was included in their compilation album ''The Best Oz''. Argentinian electro pop band Miranda! included a cover of the song in their 2005 live album ''En Vivo Sin Restricciones''. Christian pop punk band MxPx included this song on their album of covers, ''On the Cover''. Finnish symphonic metal cover group Northern Kings remade the song, for their album, ''Rethroned''. Italian progressive power metal Vision Divine has covered the song in their album ''Send Me an Angel''. Japanese American singer Hikaru Utada covered the song on her Bohemian Summer 2000 Tour: it was released on the Bohemian Summer 2000 DVD. Dustin McLean's literal version cover of "Take on Me" was the first-known example of the "literal music video" meme.

American R&B; duo Zo! and Tigallo (Phonte, formerly of Little Brother) recorded a cover of "Take On Me" for their EP entitled "Zo! & Tigallo Love the 80's".

Latvian instrumental cello rock trio Melo-M included a cover version in their 2007 album ''Singalongs''. German singer-songwriter Graziella Schazad has released in August 2010 cover of this song. South Korean pop singer Seo In Gook covered and released the song on 22 November 2010 in South Korea as a single. The verses of the song were re-written into Korean while the chorus kept the original English lyrics. The song was re-titled as "Take".

Christian Pop punk band Eleventyseven covered the song and released it as a single, and then released it on their 2011 EP "Quota".

Spanish artist Anni B Sweet made an acoustic cover version of the song in 2009.

Spanish surf rock band Los Tiki Phantoms included an instrumental cover renamed "Tiki On Me" on their 2007 EP ''Se Van De Marcha''.

The New Pornographers member Carl Newman recorded a cover of the song on the 2009 Starbucks-sponsored compliation album "Sweetheart: Our Favorite Artists Sing Their Favorite Love Songs"

French band Crumble Lane covered a punk rock version of the song on their 3rd album "Six Years A Wink" in 2007

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

External links

A-ha Official website

"Take on Me" lyrics

30 "Take on Me" covers

Category:1985 singles Category:2000 singles Category:A-ha songs Category:A1 songs Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Category:Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Category:European Hot 100 Singles number-one singles Category:Number-one debut singles Category:Number-one singles in Australia Category:Number-one singles in Austria Category:Number-one singles in Belgium Category:Number-one singles in Germany Category:Number-one singles in Italy Category:Number-one singles in Norway Category:Number-one singles in Sweden Category:Number-one singles in Switzerland Category:Synthpop songs Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles Category:Songs written by Magne Furuholmen Category:Songs written by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy Category:1985 songs Category:1999 singles Category:Warner Bros. Records singles Category:Epic Records singles Category:Songs written by Morten Harket

de:Take on Me es:Take on Me (primera versión) fr:Take on Me it:Take on Me nl:Take on Me ja:テイク・オン・ミー no:Take on Me pl:Take on Me pt:Take on Me ru:Take on Me simple:Take on Me fi:Take on Me sv:Take on Me uk:Take on Me

name	Carl Newman
background	solo_singer
birth name	Allan Carl Newman
alias	A.C. Newman
birth date	April 14, 1968
origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
instrument	Bass guitar, guitar, mandolin, percussion, piano, vocals, Wurlitzer
genre	Power pop
occupation	Musician, producer
years active
label	Matador
associated acts	Zumpano, Superconductor, The New Pornographers
website
notable instruments	}}

Allan Carl Newman (born April 14, 1968) is a Canadian musician and songwriter. He was a member of the indie rock bands Superconductor and Zumpano in the 1990s. Following the breakup of those bands, he reemerged as the leader of The New Pornographers in 2000.

In 2004, Newman launched his solo career, performing as A.C. Newman. He has stated he chose "A.C." for his solo career because he liked the way that it sounded.

Superconductor and Zumpano

Carl Newman began his musical career in the 1990s as a member of the grunge/pop group Superconductor. After a brief stay, he joined the Vancouver-based pop group Zumpano. Together they released two albums in the mid-1990s, ''Look What the Rookie Did'' and ''Goin' Through Changes'', both of which received positive reviews. Zumpano did not officially break up, but did not record any more albums.

The New Pornographers

Newman is a founding member of the successful Vancouver-based pop supergroup The New Pornographers. The band has released five full length albums since 2000, all of which received favorable reviews. In 2007, ''Blender'' ranked the group's debut album, ''Mass Romantic'', the 24th best indie album of all time. Newman is the band's main songwriter and vocalist, and is generally regarded as the band's leader.

Solo career

After years of gaining success as the musical savant behind the songs of his bands, in 2004 Newman debuted as A.C. Newman the solo artist. ''The Slow Wonder'', his first album, was well-received. His musical sensibilities as a solo musician have been compared to those of Ray Davies, Harry Nilsson, and Ben Folds.

Newman is married to Christy Simpson, formerly the marketing manager at Matador Records, The New Pornographers' label.

Newman's second solo album, titled ''Get Guilty'', was released on Matador Records on January 20, 2009. "Prophets" was featured in the end of the fourth season finale of ''How I Met Your Mother''.

Discography

Albums

''The Slow Wonder'' (2004)

''Get Guilty'' (2009) #99 US

Compilations

''Music from the OC: Mix 4'' (2005 · Warner Bros./Wea)

References

External links

Official site

Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:People from Vancouver Category:Musicians from Vancouver Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian rock guitarists Category:Canadian rock singers Category:Canadian songwriters Category:Canadian indie rock musicians Category:Canadian record producers Category:The New Pornographers members

fr:Carl Newman sv:Carl Newman

name	Seongha Jeong
birth name	정성하
birth date	September 02, 1996
birth place	Seoul, Korea
nationality	South Korean
other names	colloquially: ''Sungha Jung'', ''jwcfree'', ''jungsungha'', ''blueseaJSH''
years active	September 8, 2006–present
known for	Guitar music
website	Official website }}

Title	Korean name
Hangul	정성하
Hanja
Rr	Seongha Jeong
Mr	Sŏngha Jŏng}}

Seongha Jeong (정성하) (colloquially: Sungha Jung) (born 2 September 1996) is a South Korean professional acoustic finger-style guitarist who has risen to fame on YouTube and other sites, mainly through the South Korean audience. As of 2011, his channel had over 14 million views, with his videos getting a total of over 306 million views, and also over 469,000 subscribers.

Seongha typically takes three days to learn and practice a new piece, and video-record it for upload onto YouTube. His genre selection is rather broad, as he learns and plays many pieces that are playable on guitar, therefore consequently spread across numerous genres.

Seongha has won 13 awards on YouTube, including 6 "#1" awards. Also on YouTube, Seongha has 38 videos with over one million views. Seongha's video with the most views is the shows him playing the theme from "Pirates Of The Caribbean", at 21,428,457 views as of 22 August 2011.

Seongha has composed 18 pieces as of February 2011, two of which are featured in his debut album, "Perfect Blue".

In 2011, he performed in the US with Trace Bundy, as well as touring in Scandinavia and Japan.

YouTube awards

''(Ordered highest to lowest)''

''#1'' – Most Subscribed (All Time) – South Korea

''#1'' – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Musicians – South Korea

''#1'' – Most Viewed (This Week) – Musicians – South Korea

''#1'' – Most Viewed (This Month) – Musicians – South Korea

''#1'' – Most Viewed (All Time) – South Korea

''#1'' – Most Viewed (All Time) – Musicians – South Korea

''#6'' – Most Viewed (This Millenium) – South Korea

''#6'' – Most Viewed (This Month) – South Korea

''#13'' – Most Viewed (Today) – Musicians – Zimbabwe

''#21'' – Most Viewed (This Week) – Musicians

''#25'' – Most Subscribed (All Time) – Musicians

''#54'' – Most Viewed (All Time) – Musicians

''#93'' – Most Viewed (This Month) – Musicians

''#93'' – Most Viewed (This Month) - Philippines

See also

Yuto Miyazawa, Seongha's Japanese electric guitar-playing counterpart

Trace Bundy, Fellow acoustic guitarist with whom Seongha collaborates

Ulli Bögershausen, Fellow acoustic guitarist who helped him get his sponsorship with Lakewood Guitars

References

Category:South Korean guitarists Category:Fingerstyle guitarists Category:People from Seoul Category:Video bloggers Category:South Korean Internet personalities Category:1996 births Category:Living people

de:Sungha Jung ko:정성하 it:Sungha Jung pl:Sungha Jung pt:Sungha jung ro:Sungha Jung ru:Чон Сонха sv:Sungha Jung vi:Seongha Jeong