Picture by Jakob

Paul is a guest on the latest episode (#301) of the long-running American music podcast Song Exploder, in connection with the 40th anniversary of “Take On Me”.

In conversation with podcast host Hrishikesh Hirway, he talks about the origins of the song and the many different versions of “Take On Me” that lead up to the final version that hit #1 in October 1985. To break down the structure of the song, listeners are able to hear individual stems from the master tape.

The podcast episode can be found on songexploder.net and in your preferred podcast app. There is also a PDF transcript of the episode.

The Song Exploder website also has a slideshow of pictures from some of Paul’s notebooks from 1981, 1982, 1983 and 1984. The pictures include original lyrics for early songs such as “Miss Eerie”, “Nå Blåser Det På Jorden” and “She’s Humming a Tune”.