This episode of Ranking Highs and Lows is part 1 of our ranking of the 50 best songs by a-ha guitarist and songwriter Pål Waaktaar-Savoy from his projects outside of a-ha.

We're very pleased to announce that we've had the opportunity to ask Pål about some of the songs on our ranking. He was very kind to answer some questions we e-mailed to him, and it's probably safe to say that his answers were better than our questions. However, because of this we'll finally learn where Morten's tour sound technicians are recruited from. So thanks a lot to Pål for contributing to our little hobby project!

In this episode we also once again realize that timing the podcast releases is not our greatest strength, Jesper gets a very early (or late) Christmas present from JP, and we learn that Peter the Producer prefers both Sade and Darth Vader over techno. And does Jesper have a secret mission of ruining songs for JP by presenting misheard lyrics?

We also discuss Pål's housekeeping skills and stumble across a business idea, JP tries his luck with a joke, and Jesper tries to beat his own record of mentioning The Beatles while also being crowned our self-proclaimed indie music king. JP also tries to argue that self-pity and laziness is an undervalued combination, and an expected big disagreement about a song doesn't amount to much. And is it even possible to play a whole TV documentary on guitar?

We touch upon salt in burgers, JP shares his dislike of Sundays, Jesper revisits his favourite chords, and we question our own ranking of a song. Tennis becomes a recurring topic, Peter impresses with his knowledge of the a-ha timeline, while Jesper ponders if Pål has any office work experience. And how deep a hole did JP dig for himself when he was a kid?

And among all of this you'll hear 25 great songs from Pål in various constellations outside of a-ha. Maybe you know all of them, maybe you don't know any of them, or maybe you're somewhere inbetween. Whatever your starting point we hope that you’ll enjoy this part one of our top 50!

And please swing by our Facebook page and share your thoughts, comments and reactions. And as always: If you like what you hear - or if you don't like it and want others to share the pain - then please recommend the podcast to other fans of Pål/Savoy or a-ha. We know there are a lot of keen fans of Pål and Savoy out there but they may not all have found our Facebook page or podcast yet. So if you’re a member of a Facebook or Instagram group that shares our love for Pål/Savoy then please share the info about this episode as well if you feel that’s appropriate.

Thanks for listening!