Title: “Cry wolf”
Format: Single
Written by: Magne Furuholmen and Pal Waaktaar-Savoy
Performed by: a-ha
Genre: Pop
Taken from: Scoundrel Days
Year: 1986
Acclaim: Top five hit in the UK, top 10 most other territories. Most successful single from the album in the US.
I've made no secret of my love for a-ha. This I must initially attribute to my lovely sister, who was a huge fan (and not, I hasten to add, as many were, just because Morten was “gawjuz!”) and pushed me to get their first album. While I wasn't exactly blown away by it, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just a vehicle built around their smash hit “Take on me”, and had some great tracks. Then they released
Scoundrel Days, their second album, and my whole attitude towards them changed. I've reviewed the album in my main journal, but suffice to say I believe it is one of their best, if not the best. There are better songs on it, certainly, than this, and it's a little too bright and poppy for my liking, as some of their songs (“Manhattan skyline”, “I've been losing you”, the title track) are darker and more mature, but it's a fun little song.
Driven mostly on Mags's bouncy keyboard runs, it opens dramatically enough, with a dark synth line and the sound of wind, powerful but sort of sparse percussion, Morten Harkett muttering the opening line, apparently credited to the woman Pal would later marry, Lauren Savoy, “The night I left the city I dreamed of a wolf”, then there's a sharp hit on the synth, percussion pounds in properly and off the song goes. Once it gets going it's pretty much a dancy pop song, with a very catchy hook in the chorus, and a line I used to mishear as
”Cry wolf, try not to worry” when it is in fact
Cry wolf, time to worry.” Something of a difference in meaning, eh?
Anyway, there's a nice low dark synthy line in the midsection, as Morten goes sort of back to the darker, nearly muttered vocal of the beginning, then it bounces back and heads off into a fade. But it's a good song. I can see how it did well in the clubs, and Morten is as ever on top form. Perhaps a little misrepresentative of what this versatile band could do, but hey, it put money in the bank accounts!
Things I like about this :
1. Atmospheric, dark opening
2. Bouncy keyboards
3. Morten's vocal throughout
4. Midsection
Things I don't like about this:
1. It's a little poppy and not quite vacuous but basic for my tastes, given what I know of this band.
Rating: 