Episode 27: Ranking the song swaps

“I came upon this feeling / That someone's ranking / Covered by sycamore leaves”

Dear a-ha friends,What better feeling is there than giving someone a carefully considered gift? Simple answer: receiving a carefully considered gift, of course.

However, when we’re talking about a-ha and the three band members it’s fortunate that they have both given and received more or less carefully wrapped musical presents over the years, because that means we have something to rank!

So, in this episode we rank the songs that have been recorded both by a-ha AND one of the band members’ solo or side projects. We’re talking songs like Velvet by Savoy and a-ha, and Dragonfly by Magne and a-ha. So: which ones are the better versions? Listen to the podcast and find out!

Apart from the ranking, in this episode you’ll also hear chirping birds, roaring engines, some planes coming in on the quiet, and perhaps a dog - we’re not sure about that, though. You’ll also hear how Jesper spent most of an audition for the role as lead singer in an indie band trying to convince the band that a-ha are awesome, and JP reveals that he’s most happy when Jesper is happy. Peter is mostly happy when we keep it short, so he’s basically not very happy.

We also reassess some songs we were too harsh on in previous episodes - it turns out Peter was right all along - and we say the word “Glockenspiel” more often than we can defend. And there’s a song that feels a lot like sitting on a plane with a child in the row behind you kicking your seat repeatedly.

So, as always, there’s a lot going on between the rankings, but at least the birds seemed happy and sang along to both a-ha and solo versions of the songs, so why don’t you also give it a listen? If you enjoy the podcast, please help us spread the word:

• 👉 Subscribe wherever you listen (and rate the podcast)
• 👉 Like and follow us on Facebook and Instagram
• 👉 Share the episode with other a-ha fans

It all helps us get the show out to other fans who might not have discovered it yet.

Thank you for all the interaction, the generous downloads, the encouragement, and all the general support. We’ll be back - and probably much sooner than you think

!All the best,

JP, Jesper and Peter the Producer

“We have ranked so many times / Our attempts in steep decline”