There aren’t many pop videos which begin with a poem written by a king.
In fact, if you can name any at all, I’ll be impressed. And that’s going to leave you high and dry when that “name a pop video which begins with a poem written by a king” question comes up at the next pub quiz you go to.
Instead then – tell them about this video: Lifelines by a-ha, which is prefaced by a poem written in 1977 by King Olav V of Norway :
When I look back
I see the landscapes
That I have walked through
But it is differentAll the great trees are gone
It seems there are
Remnants of themBut it is the afterglow
Inside of youOf all those you met
Who meant something in your life
And then the video, based on the Norwegian short film A Year Along the Abandoned Road and filmed in the abandoned Norwegian fishing village of Børfjord.
…and presented to you this evening not just to assist with future pub quizzing, but also to mark two months before a-ha’s last ever gig in the UK, which will take place on November 27th at Wembley Arena: one of the venues where I saw them perform on their Lifelines tour (on 12th October 2002).
The 27th November 2010 is, incidentally, also the date that I land in the UK for The Last Hurrah tour.
It all seems to fit.
…and here’s a little known fact.
Mike Sturgis (drummer 1986/7) was my son’s principal drum tutor at the Academy of Contemporary Music.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Sturgis
GaiB > “Little known?”
I didn’t know it at all.
I was at a braai the other day and the people there had never even heard of A-ha. How sad is that?