Songfacts®:

• This was the title track and lead single from Norwegian pop band a-ha's ninth studio album. It was released on Norwegian radio on April 24, 2009, having only been completed the night before.
• The song is based upon the track "The Longest Night" by a-ha guitarist/keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, which was released on his 2008 solo album A Dot of Black In The Blue Of Your Bliss.
• The song entered the official German Top 100 single chart at #3, the highest single entry in Germany for a-ha since "Take On Me" in 1985.
• The song's music video was filmed in two German locations, the city of Berlin and on the Baltic Sea coast of Western Pomerania.
• Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman is credited as one of the photographers in Foot of the Mountain's booklet. Berryman took the picture of the mountain that the front cover is based on, whilst on a trek across the Norwegian national park with Furuholmen.
• Guitarist and principal songwriter Paul Waaktaar-Savoy explained in publicity materials that that the song is about the buzz of New York City versus the beauty and isolation of Norway. He said: "It's the dilemma of loving a city life, yet secretly wondering if we'd be happier being surrounded by open fields and sweeping mountains."