Is there anyone out that won’t admit that a-ha‘s Take on Me is a great pop song? Or that the video is one of the best pop music videos ever produced? I’ll bet even the most die-hard punks or metalheads will admit they’ve tapped their toe to it once or twice.
Here’s a great series of videos I found that document the making of the hit version of the song (some versions were flops) and the video that was made famous because of its extensive use of rotoscoping:
Here’s the music video, which Rolling Stone declared as one of the best music videos of all time:
If the original pop version is too catchy for you, here’s the unplugged version:
When searching for other versions of the song I came across Weezer’s version, which I admit I hadn’t heard before and had never seen the music video. It was nice to see that it also had parts of it rotoscoped, and it was even nicer to see an Apple ][ at the end (yes, I’m a geek).
I also found a swing version which I’m not a fan of, but I’ll include it for completeness:
And one more, this time by Andie Case.
If you’re a ska fan:
…or a metal fan:
And another metal version, this time by the amazing multi-instrumentalist Leo Moracchioli (also check out Leo’s Sultans of Swing cover):
Any dixieland fans?
And we’ll end with a rock version (I wonder if the Michael Jackson poster in the background diminishes the band’s street-cred at all):
There are other versions out there as well, including an extremely bad one (NSFW), Jimmy Fallon’s classroom instruments version, a ukulele version, an acoustic guitar version, and of course many live versions.
Any fans of this song? Do you remember when the video came out, and did it have an impact on you? Do you prefer any of the cover versions more than the original? Please let me know in the comments below!
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