A-ha’s TAKE ON ME -their sketchy video, their sketchy translations, their wrestling, their employment interview techniques, insect life cycles, and shying (shiny?) alien shape-shifting body-snatchers

Lyrics of the Lost

1984 - Apple’s first Macintosh computer is launched (priced at $2,500). Michael Jackson is rushed to hospital with second degree burns from fireworks while filming a Pepsi commercial. The first untethered spacewalk is made by Astronauts. The mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, is released. Torvill and Dean win the first perfect-score gold medal for ice skating. Comedian Tommy Cooper dies live on TV, suffering a massive heart attack, which is mistaken as part of his act. Princess Diana gives birth to Harry. Happy Days is cancelled after 11 seasons. Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends is first broadcast, narrated by Ringo Starr. 36 pop musicians from across Britain and Ireland form Band Aid and record Do They Know It’s Christmas to raise money for Ethiopian famine victims.
... and Norwegian synth-pop band, A-ha, knock up their first version of TAKE ON ME, though it will take two more versions, another year, and a new video clip before it becomes a hit.

What does it have to say? What interpretations have fallen between its translation from Norwegian to English? Is Falsetto a language of its own? Are Norwegians predominantly dark, sad, or wet?

To explore this, we discuss: Job interviews; herring sortation and safety; stalking or romance (again); prayers on your death-bed; Norwegian courtship rituals, alien shape-shifters; narcissism; regulation unitards; sperm donation; issues of consent; the Kama Sutra; kids' obsession with Minecraft; insect life cycles; Frankenstein; Yoda (again); motorcycle racing as a metaphor for sex; Altered States; George Costanza; Invasion of the Body Snatchers; The Thing; the Norwegian for "touch me" or "toe me"; enchanted flutes; Lego cakes; Weezer; Real Big Fish; Toto's Africa (again); Nelson Mandela; Car Alarms and bamboo socks.

Take on our regular segments: Misheard Lyrics, Internet Theories, Listener Comments, and more.

Would you like to appear (well, vocally) on the show? Do you have a pop song or ear-worm from the SMOOTH FM genre that’s infested your mind and needs to be investigated? Visit this page https://speakpipe.com/lyrics to record us your own voicemail hot-take on your specific smooth song of suckiness. You could be on a future episode! (you can always email sound files or text your thoughts to [email protected] if that's easier). Cheers!

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