The Sun Always Shines on TV

A very good, and sadly overlooked song from the 80s.

I think this song is more of a breakup song or dealing with someone's disillusion after a breakup of a relationship. "The sun always shines on TV" is more a reference to how this is not a perfect world and life doesn't turn out how you always want it, leading to feelings of emptiness and disappointment.

There is definitely a wish for escapism and that something is missing from life. Much like the rest of the Hunting High and Low album, there is a somber mood in spite of the synth-pop sound.

And as an aside, I should have kept my promise to myself to marry the first woman I found who knew this was the follow-up single to Take on Me. But that's not really here nor there or really has anything to do with song.

I cannot believe that the follow-up to “Take On Me”—“The Sun Always Shines On TV”—has no comments. For shame, for shame.

The song, I think, surpasses “Take On Me” in many ways, and it’s a-ha at their best.

I believe that this song is fully immersive only when one has seen the music video. In it, you see the true conclusion to the glorificent video of “Take On Me”, and should not be missed. If you’re a hopeless romantic like me, you may feel downhearted and even disconsolate. If their storybook love could fail, what chance do we mere mortals have? I highly recommend the downloading of the video(s).

The rest of the video is great, too, featuring a host of mannequins positioned in a way that makes them seem as if they were the orchestra of the song (and yet we all know it’s Mags’ handiwork). Also, it boasts a great performance by a-ha, as well as a mystery musician on the drums.

Now, the song. I think that the verses are pretty self-explanatory: it’s about inner conflict and the strife to find some form of resolution; it’s about the search for a place where past ailments will be gone. Self-doubt and fear of what one has become pulsates from this song.

The remedy? A significant other to wash away the pain, to silently hold him as he bides his time before realizing that everything’s all right. The term “the sun always shines on TV”—that’s something of a puzzling thing, isn’t it? I always took it like this: on television, happy endings abound, but in real life, darkness occurs, as well as reckless acts of happenstance that end in sorrow. But, in the song, Morten is reaching that almost fantasy-like state of euphoria, and all he needs is his better half to caress him, to promise her love to him, even if he doesn’t really understand the magic behind it (“how can it be?”).

Wow. I didn’t even know I could analyze the song like that. Kudos for me!

Five stars from my iPod, okeday?

The song expresses feelings of loneliness, emptiness, and longing for love and connection. The singer finds solace in the memories of the past and the hope of finding love again. The song also touches on themes of self-discovery and the search for meaning and purpose in life.

The singer also appears to be struggling with feeling unfulfilled, and they are searching for a way to keep their troubles distant. The song's title, "The Sun Always Shines On TV," may suggest that the person sees the idea of love and connection as something that is only accessible on TV and not in real life.

I picked up this on songfacts.com: "Phil Waaktaar, a-ha's guitarist and writer of this song is quoted in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh as saying: The Sun Always Shines On TV was written on one of those down days. Me and Mags (Furuholmen, keyboards) were in a hotel watching English television on a rainy day and the guy announcing the program says, 'It's a rainy day but, as always, the sun always shines on TV.' The song is about the power of television and the way television presents life."

Great Song BTW....

Seems it's about someone who is hoping for a better tomorrow, yet finds only darkness and despair. Nothing within will shine, yet the sun always rises in dreams.

Only one comment on this awesome song?? In my opinion, this song is MUCH better than "Take on me". It has more power in it!

I like the comment about the sun shining on the screen and stopping some kid seeing the cartoons, but I always thought it meant that - especially in the 80s - everything on TV was sunny and happy and perfect with its happy endings, like how we sometimes just gloss over all the troubles in our lives and the world.

Most of what has been said already seems spot on. More a case of a person looking for shiny sunny days in his life (as seen on tv) but is mostly assailed by greyer days and times. He wants a significant other who may be real or a fantasy (porn?) who might make him happier like on tv.

How good is this song? I'll tell you: it's not only better than "Take on Me," which isn't actually that hard to achieve, but also better than "Manhattan Skyline" and "Stay on These Roads," which is.

A mostly lost classic that no fan of '80s synth should be without.

To me this song represents suffering from Anxiety

"I reached inside myself and found Nothing there to ease the Pressure of my ever worrying mind All my powers waste away I fear the crazed and lonely Looks the mirror's sending me these days"

The Sun always shines on tv is someone who is so anxious and depressed they stay in with only the TV on.