Foot of the Mountain (song)

"Foot of the Mountain" is the first single from the A-ha album of the same name. It was used as the official anthem of the 2009 World Championships in Athletics held in Berlin.[1] The single reached #3 in Germany, and is the highest charting single of the band in that country since Take On Me in 1985.[2]

"Foot of the Mountain"
Single by A-ha
from the album Foot of the Mountain
ReleasedMay 5, 2009 (Europe)
July 27, 2009 (UK)
RecordedMay 2009
GenreSynthpop, new wave
Length3:57 (album version)
3:44 (radio edit)
LabelUniversal Music, We Love Music
Songwriter(s)Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen, Martin Terefe
Producer(s)Roland Spremberg
A-ha singles chronology
"Cosy Prisons"
(2006)		 "Foot of the Mountain"
(2009)		 "Nothing Is Keeping You Here"
(2009)
Music video
"Foot of the Mountain" on YouTube

Release

"Foot of the Mountain", was released exclusively as a download single in selected territories of Mainland Europe.[3] In Germany, a physical 2-track CD Single was released. In the UK, a so-called digital bundle was released.

Promotion

May 2009 saw the band performing the song on the show Germany's Next Top Model[4] hosted by Heidi Klum and on The Dome (dubbed "Europe's biggest music show") together with fellow Norwegian Alexander Rybak. On 11 June 2009 at 8:13 CEST the music video premiered simultaneously on four major German networks, namely ProSieben, Sat.1, kabel eins and N24. It was also made available for streaming on the major German website Myvideo.de, a page with 228 million monthly hits.[2]

Track listings

German 2-track physical single

  1. "Foot of the Mountain" (Radio Edit) - 3:44
  2. "Foot of the Mountain" (Album Version) - 3:57 [5]

UK Digital Bundle

  1. "Foot of the Mountain" (Radio Edit)
  2. "Foot of the Mountain" (Album Edit)
  3. "Foot of the Mountain" (Bohème7 Remix)
  4. "Foot of the Mountain" (Erik Ljunggren Remix)
  5. "Foot of the Mountain" (Video)

Chart positions
  • #1 (Poland)
  • #3 (Germany)
  • #8 (Norway)
  • #16 (Lithuania)
  • #28 (Austria)
  • #33 (Switzerland)
  • #59 (Europe)
  • #66 (UK)

Year-End Charts (2009)
Country Position
Germany [6] 40

Single performance on Norwegian radio 2009

A-ha's "Foot of the Mountain" was the most played song on Norwegian radio in 2009, with 122:32:39 of playing time ( Hours, minutes, seconds ), beating Donkeyboy "Ambitions", 122:02:18, Beyoncé Knowles "Halo", 118:03:28, Taylor Swift "Love Story", 115:23:19, Röyksopp "The Girl And The Robot", 113:26:57, The Killers "Human", 112:45:13, Katy Perry "Hot 'n' Cold", 111:32:53, Eric Hutchinson "Rock & Roll", 110:12:42, Paperboys "Lonesome Traveller", 109:48:39 and Lady Gaga "Poker Face", 109:27:11. First time a Norwegian artist has been on top of the list.[7]

Music video

The music video for the track, co-directed by Olaf Heine and Mik Rahner, was shot in Berlin, Hamburg and along the Baltic coast of Pomerania. The video concentrates on singer Morten Harket with only small cameos being made by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Magne Furuholmen. In a documentary entitled 'A-ha - The Success Story', songwriter Paul Waaktaar-Savoy stated that although he loved living in New York he "often wondered whether I would be happier out in the open, by the foot of the mountain," when asked about the song's chorus. In the same interview, co-writer Magne Furuholmen said his contribution to the song, the verses, were about "urban clutter."[8] In the video, these angles are made a point of as Harket moves from a claustrophobic Berlin to the open landscapes of Pomerania. The video was made commercially available in Germany on a special edition of the Foot of the Mountain album.[1]

References
  1. Videos | The Official Website of A-ha Archived 2011-04-09 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Morten harket - - Det har vært helt fantastisk! - SEHER.NO : Norske
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2010-03-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "The Swing Of Things » Blog Archive » A-ha appeared on german Top Model Finale". Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  5. "A-ha - discography - Foot of the Mountain". Archived from the original on 2012-07-30. Retrieved 2011-01-19.
  6. :: MTV | Single Jahrescharts 2009 | charts Archived January 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Dobbeltseier til A-ha - kultur - Dagbladet.no
  8. YouTube - A-ha - The Success Story - Part 1 (HD)
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