Velvet (Savoy song)

"Velvet" is a song by Savoy, a band fronted by Paul Waaktaar-Savoy from their first album, Mary Is Coming. Savoy's version was released as a single in the US, but got very little airplay.

A-ha's version of "Velvet" replaced Savoy's guitars with sitars. Their version, the third single from Minor Earth Major Sky, was released to radio stations in Germany (and in other European countries such as Sweden, Switzerland and Holland) in September 2000 and was released to German record stores on 6 November (one week later in other parts of Europe). Originally, "The Sun Never Shone That Day" was to be released in Norway instead of "Velvet", but it was later decided that "Velvet" would also be released in Norway.

The backing vocals was performed by Simone Larsen of the Norwegian band D'Sound.

• World Sales:300.000

Track listing

1. "Velvet" (Radio Version)
2. "Velvet" (De-Phazz Mix)
3. "Velvet" (Millennia Nova Max)
4. "Velvet" (New York City Mix)
5. "Velvet" (Alabaster Mix)
6. "Velvet" (Stockholm Mix)
7. "Velvet" (Album Version)
8. "Velvet" Bonus Track: Enhanced Video (director's cut - licking version)

• Tracks 1 & 7 mixed by Niven Garland
• Track 2 mixed by Pit Baumgartner
• Track 3 mixed by Millennia Nova
• Track 4 mixed by John Agnello
• Track 5 mixed by Hakan Wollgaard
• Track 6 mixed by Palaar Suna
• Video director Harald Zwart

Velvet video

A-ha's music video for "Velvet" portrays the band as murder victims, opening with Morten Harket as a dead man in a bathtub; it seems that his girlfriend killed him with a hair dryer. Throughout the video he is taken to the morgue, tagged, etc., all while singing. Paul Waaktaar-Savoy plays his guitar while apparently dead from a gunshot to the head, and Magne Furuholmen's body is found in a freezer. Scenes in the morgue controversially suggest necrophilia.^[1] The director of this video was Harald Zwart, who also directs Hollywood movies. Zwart, a fellow Norwegian, chose this song to be a part of his new film at the time, One Night at McCool's.

The so-called "licking version" of this video appears on the international DVD release of One Night at McCool's. The "licking version" got its name because a second version of the video features a lick instead of the kiss from the older nurse seen near the end of the video.

References