| A-Ha – Dark Is The Night For All Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| The song’s meaning is plain and simple for those who understand the dark underbelly of the music industry. The song is about the band’s members (and any other artist for that matter) unable to break free from the overwhelming control and domination to which they’re being subjected by the industry’s higher ups, with them feeling utterly trapped and helpless. In fact, the disturbing video of the song makes it clear that this control seems to take the form of severe torture (mk ultra) to bring about total dissociation of the band’s personalities (it even can’t get any more obvious in the video: Morten’s core personality is shown trying to tear at / break free from his artificial “musician” persona/artificially created ego); torture is also shown in the form of spinning orbits (known to induce hypnosis), feeling drugged (core personality is shown collapsing to the floor) and perception of distorted reality (not knowing what’s real or not, individual is shown seeing half his body clear while the rest blurred and in different proportions; think Alice in Wonderland when she sees herself bigger than her surroundings), and helplessly tied to other band members who are also blindfolded from head to toe and trying to break free aimlessly. The video ends with the image of the tortured man/core personality (tied to sticks and crying out in pain) finally splitting and now “awoke” to a new world (new persona created). This song is about every musician who sells his soul to the industry and that’s why A-ha sang this particular song in an award ceremony attended by countless artists that night. In fact, the majority of A-ha’s songs narrate the aftermath of them selling their souls to the industry, and revolve around the themes of their regret, torture, helplessness, rebellion, etc.). | |
| A-Ha – I've Been Losing You Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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I do interpret the song in a very different way - in fact, I do not think this song is referring to another person at all but rather to a 'persona' of the same person. To me, the lyrics appear to describe a man facing a mirror, who no longer recognizes the person he's seeing in that mirror (he sees his reflection lifeless - all color washed out from his eyes) and appears to be living a textbook case of identity dissociation, where the voices in his head (his different personas or alters) are tormenting him, driving him mad, and tearing his mind apart to the point where he contemplates committing suicide (reaching for the gun to shoot himself) to end it all/free himself from this pain but, in a moment of hope, decides against it. I think the lyrics is him reaching out to his "true" self/persona ("Talk to me / How can I stop now / Is there nothing I can do?" in a last desperate attempt to "run away" from this torment - revealing that he's been losing his way in the music world, he's been losing his true self and giving way to other personas/alters battling in his head and wreaking havoc with his mind ("I can still hear our screams competing /You're hissing your s's like a snake / Now in the mirror stands /Half a man /I thought no one could break") - these verses describe the mental torment that dissociation evokes in an individual where the different personas tend to argue with one another, thus heard as several voices. Dissociation rules in the music industry, possibly more conspicuous nowadays than it ever was in the 80s/90s, with every artist nowadays showing increasingly alarming signs of dissociation or what they so fancily like to term as "alter egos". In my view, this song is nothing more than a narration of a musician's disturbing journey in the industry - with dissociation, torment, and helplessness being the underlying common themes. There's always been an eerily disturbing, melancholic, and a "there's-something-more-to-it" feeling to A-ha's songs and, in my opinion, rarely did their lyrics refer to a mere human beloved, take "Velvet" for instance. Possibly the reason why Morten oftentimes expressed his frustration that very few seemed to care what the lyrics actually meant. |
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| Morten Harket – Half in Love Half in Hate Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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Considering the entire spiritual upheaval that Morten had undergone during the early 90's (roughly around the time this album was in the works/released), this album strikes me as Morten's open denunciation of the Christian God of the Bible and initiation into paganism and the occult (no different that most/all other artists in the music industry who eventually end up on that route). In one interview in 1999 with a Christian journalist, he stated that he had to start from scratch, throw everything away, including his Christian faith/beliefs, and reflect unto his life. The album's title "Wild Seed" is an explicit reference to the Bible's seed parable with a twist as Morten chooses the term "wild" to refer to the fact that he shall no longer obey God's word, and it's a core notion that echoes throughout the album. While many believe "Half in Love, Half in Hate" is just a song about a girl, I am of the opinion that this song is Morten addressing and questioning the God of the Bible, that to him HE is a God not only of love but also of hate (in direct contrast to Christian beliefs that God is good and there is no darkness in HIM), even to the point of calling HIM a liar ("Tell me just another lie / Tell me there is no other") where "other" I believe refers to the "other life" as Christians believe in life after death with Jesus Christ (resurrection and judgement). Interestingly, in many of Morten's photos around that time, he was always photographed wearing the "Ankh", a pagan symbol worn in ancient mystical religions (Egyptians, Babylonians, etc.) who believe in reincarnation (i.e. no ascension and judgement and thus again in direct contrast to Christian beliefs). Many of the album's songs are just Morten being plainly thankful for "seeing the light" (induction into the occult), in such songs as "Tell me what you see", "Wild seed", "Lord", etc. and it couldn't get any more obvious in a less known single that Morten had sung, "Gospel from a Heathen", which is not contained in this album. |
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| Morten Harket – Brother Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| While I absolutely love Morten's incredibly emotive voice, I can't help but sense that the entire album is one lengthy dive into the occult - from the album's title, to the album's cover, to the profound and ambivalent lyrics with an astute use of imagery. I can wager that, in most of the album's songs, what you see is not really what you get. | |
| A-Ha – Scoundrel Days Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[sarge331:24395] I agree it's deeply haunting though I think the lyrics are rather more literal than metaphorical. The lyrics mingle past and present through trauma flashbacks (I've got blood in my hair/Their hands touch my body From everywhere) vs. the existing shattered psychological state of the person (waking up from nightmares, willfully or unwillfully contemplating suicide to escape the pain). The only metaphors I've deduced are when he compares his psychological death and rebirth as a shattered individual to the image of houses burning, death, and the rise of a new morning. In my interpretation, I had indicated that his trauma could've stemmed from abuse in the industry but, on second thoughts, I believe it may equally apply to trauma that he might have encountered long before that (possibly in his childhood/adolescence - depends on how one interprets the term "lives" in "As our lives are in the making") - i.e (childhood/adolescence vs. professional musical career debut). Either way, the lyrics reveal a very troubled individual who's constantly haunted by his trauma and is forced to feign a very different public persona of himself as an artist to an unforgiving audience. | |
| A-Ha – Scoundrel Days Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[AlpqlA:24393] I think it combines both - abuse, trauma, and suicide (price to pay as an artist for fame). I've covered that in my interpretation below and interestingly, the same verses piqued our interest. This is possibly the darkest song of A-ha and the least understood by many. | |
| A-Ha – Scoundrel Days Lyrics | 8 years ago |
| @[maqsimillion:24392] Spot on and I think the song can be literally interpreted; the hefty physical, emotional, and psychological price and trauma an artist has to pay and endure for fame. | |
| A-Ha – Scoundrel Days Lyrics | 8 years ago |
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This is an incredibly dark song. I believe it’s meant to cryptically describe the disturbing trappings of fame, what really goes on behind the scenes in the music industry, and the physical and psychological abuse a relatively innocent newbie artist has to endure, at the start of his musical career ("as our lives are in the making"), to ‘make it’ in the industry; an industry that is full of “lies and hating." To me, the lyrics clearly reveal the trauma and deeply troubled and shattered psyche of someone who’s endured trauma, most probably through physical abuse/violent rituals, by others in the industry as he was making his debut in the musical scene (hence "I've got blood in my hair/Their hands touch my body"/ "And I'm close to calling out their names".) This individual's psyche is completely shattered (hence, having nightmares, screams, cold sweats, running dazed "run the wind round", and possibly contemplating suicide "as the only escape route to regain his freedom at all levels). Through this trauma, this individual’s undergone profound psychological transformation (hence, “I dream pictures of houses burning”, which I believe is metaphorically used to signify death to his old innocent self and the rebirth and emergence of a psychologically shattered but famous artist whose pride prevents him from naming the names of people who’ve broken him, and who is aware that should he choose to come forth with this revelation, the public and his fans will never look at him the same again (hence, “They forgive anything but greatness”). An artist is more or less a slave in the industry, and if you listen closely to Morten’s interviews, you can see he’s dispassionate about the industry and not very fond of his memories of rising to fame; the industry’s underbelly is after all quite dark and obnoxious. |
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