"Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)" is a song by

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 ...

, and their final recording before their second splitting on 4 December 2010. The song was sold digitally in Norway from July 5. It is included on '' 25'', a compilation album released on July 19. Its world premiere was on June 14, 2010. The single entered the Norwegian single chart at #13 and reached #6 on the airplay chart soon after. It also charted at #66 in the World singles official top 100.

Music video

Much like many of A-ha's early music videos (including that of "

Take On Me "Take On Me" is a song by the Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha. The original version, recorded in 1984 and released in October of that same year, was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. The 1985 international hit version was p ...

"), the music video for "Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah)" was directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He is best known for directing the music videos for the songs "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Summer of '69" and " Run to You" by Bryan Adams, " Money for Nothing" by Dire Stra ...

, and features

stop-frame animation Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

by student animator Stefan Ramirez. The video shows the band playing under a bridge (shot on location in

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on the ...

) amidst clips from previous music videos for ''

'', '' The Sun Always Shines on T.V.'', ''

Manhattan Skyline Manhattan Skyline is a Norwegian mathcore band based in Oslo, Norway. They are influenced by metal, hardcore, contemporary music, jazz, fusion and electronica. After their performance at the 2005 Bodø Hardcore festival, The Faceless Masses ...

'' and '' Cry Wolf'' (all directed by Barron) intercut and projected onto the concrete pillars. The video ends with the band embracing one last time before leaping into the air, transforming into butterflies and flying away. Barron said, of his involvement: : "It was really nice to work with A-ha again, especially as I had not made a music video for such a long time... I wanted to create a really emotional film to accompany the sentiments of the track. To hopefully bring a tear to the eye from, especially, the fans... I asked Morten, Pal and Mags to embrace, get close, almost uncomfortable and then silently say goodbye. It was certainly very powerful on the day. It seemed to sum up how much they had been through together and still stayed as one."

Track list

UK/Germany/French CD Single

# Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) (Single Edit) # Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) (Steve Osborne Version)

iTunes Digital EP (Germany)

# Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) (Album Version) # Butterfly, Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) (Steve Osborne Version) #

The Sun Always Shines On TV "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." is a song by Norwegian band A-ha, released as the third single from their debut studio album, ''Hunting High and Low'' (1985). The song was written by guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Pål Waaktaar. In some commerci ...

(Album Version) #

Hunting High And Low ''Hunting High and Low'' is the debut studio album by Norwegian new wave band A-ha, released on 1 June 1985 in the United States and 28 October 1985 in the United Kingdom by Warner Bros. Records. The album was a huge commercial success, reachin ...

(Album Version) #

Stay On These Roads ''Stay on These Roads'' is the third studio album by Norwegian band A-ha, released on 3 May 1988 by Warner Bros. Records. Six singles were released from the album. Recording A Synclavier, Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Yamaha DX-7, Roland D-50, a ...

(Video)Butterfly Butterfly (The Last Hurrah) for Number One
/ref> *The single was available as a digital download, and also a physical single in Germany, France and the UK. The single was released in the UK on Monday 20 September 2010.

Charts

References

{{authority control A-ha songs 2010 singles Music videos directed by Steve Barron Warner Music Group singles Songs written by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy 2010 songs