"A Kind of Christmas Card" is the debut solo single by Norwegian singer

Morten Harket Morten Harket () (born September 14, 1959) is a Norwegian vocalist and songwriter, who is the lead singer of the synthpop/rock band A-ha. A-ha has released 10 studio albums to date, and topped the charts internationally after their breakthrough ...

, released in August 1995 from his second album '' Wild Seed'' (1995). The song was written by Håvard Rem and Harket, and produced by

Christopher Neil Christopher Neil (born 1948) is an Irish-born British record producer, songwriter, singer, and actor. He has produced records for A-ha, Amazulu, Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Cher, Dollar, Edyta Górniak, Gerry Rafferty, Jennifer Rush, José Car ...

. "A Kind of Christmas Card" reached 1 in Norway, No. 9 in Iceland, and No. 53 in the United Kingdom. Harket received the

Spellemannprisen Spellemannprisen, often referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards in English, is a Norwegian music award presented to Norwegian musicians. The award was established by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), an organizati ...

"Song of the Year" award for "A Kind of Christmas Card". A music video was filmed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

to promote the single. It was directed by Mark Neal and features Harket's wife, Camilla. In Germany, the song was re-titled to "Burning Out Again (A Kind of Christmas Card)".

Background

The lyrics of "A Kind of Christmas Card" were written by the Norwegian poet Håvard Rem. During a visit to Los Angeles with Harket, they met a friend of Harket's, who told them the true story of a Norwegian girl who had moved to Los Angeles to become a film star, but became involved in pornography and drugs. Speaking to

Robert Sandall Robert Paul Sandall (9 June 1952 – 20 July 2010)
- accessed December 2010 was a British musician,

VH1, Harket said, "She told Håvard quite a typical story about a young Norwegian girl who came to Los Angeles to become a film star – that was her dream. And very quickly hestarted doing X-rated movies, porno films, and got deeply involved in drugs. When my friend realised what was happening to her, she contacted the Norwegian consulate and got her put on a plane back to Norway – hopefully in time. This prompted Håvard to write the lyrics."

Critical reception

British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave "A Kind of Christmas Card" three out of five, adding, "A stately song with great strings on which Harket sounds about 60, so throaty and world-weary is his vocal. Not at all what you'd expect from the

A-ha A-ha (usually stylised as ''a-''h''a''; ) is a Norwegian synth-pop band formed in Oslo in 1982. Founded by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy (guitars and vocals), Magne Furuholmen (keyboards, guitars and vocals), and Morten Harket (lead vocals), the band ...

man, it bodes well for his first solo album despite the ill-timed winter angle."

Track listings

CD single # "A Kind of Christmas Card" – 3:50 # "A Change Is Gonna Come" – 5:57 # "Lay Me Down Tonight" – 2:18 Cassette single (UK release) # "A Kind of Christmas Card" – 3:50 # "Lay Me Down Tonight" – 2:18

Personnel

– vocals *

– producer * Bjørn Nessjø – engineer * Simon Hurrell – mixing * Barry Hammond, Kai Robøle – engineers on "Lay Me Down Tonight"

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kind of Christmas Card, A 1995 songs 1995 debut singles Morten Harket songs Song recordings produced by Christopher Neil Songs written by Morten Harket Warner Records singles