Mr. Blue Sky

"Mr. Blue Sky"
Single by Electric Light Orchestra
from the album Out of the Blue
B-side	"One Summer Dream"
Released	January 1978
Format	7"
Recorded	1977 Musicland Studios, Munich
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	5:06 3:45 (Japanese 7")
Label	Jet
Writer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Producer	Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology
"Turn To Stone" (1977) "Mr. Blue Sky" (1978) "Wild West Hero" (1978)
Music sample "Mr. Blue Sky"

"Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by English rock group Electric Light Orchestra, featured on the band's seventh studio album Out of the Blue (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite, on side three of the original double LP. "Mr. Blue Sky" was the second Billboard Hot 100 top-40 single to be taken from Out of the Blue, peaking at number 35 in the United States. The single also reached number six on the UK Singles Chart. The song was played as a wake-up call to astronaut Christopher Ferguson on Day 3 of STS-135, the final mission of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

Inspiration

In a BBC Radio interview, Lynne talked about writing "Mr. Blue Sky" after locking himself away in a Swiss chalet and attempting to write ELO's follow-up to A New World Record:

“

It was dark and misty for 2 weeks, and I didn't come up with a thing. Suddenly the sun shone and it was, 'Wow, look at those beautiful Alps.' I wrote Mr. Blue Sky and 13 other songs in the next 2 weeks.

”

The song's arrangement has been called "Beatlesque",^[1] bearing similarities to Beatles songs "Martha My Dear and "A Day in the Life".^[2][3]

Vocoded sections

The song features a heavily vocoded voice singing the phrase "Mr. Blue Sky", (from 2:23 to 2:39, or from 2:20 to 2:34 on the 30th anniversary CD). Although a second vocoded segment at the end of the song (4:50-4:55) was often also interpreted as "Mister Blue Sky-yi", it is actually "Please turn me over" as it is the end of side three, and the listener is being instructed to flip the LP over. This was confirmed by original keyboardist Richard Tandy, who did confirm the actual lyric to members of the Showdown ELO fan list.^{[citation needed]}

Chart performance

Chart (1978)	Peak Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	87
Dutch Top 40	11
German Media Control Singles Chart	27
UK Singles Chart[4]	6
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	35
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 Singles	27
U.S. Record World Singles	33

Cover versions

• Mayer Hawthorne released a cover on his Impressions - The Covers EP in 2011.
• Lily Allen released it as a single in December 2007.

External links

• Electric Light Orchestra: Mr. Blue Sky at Discogs (list of releases)
• "Mr. Blue Sky" promo video at YouTube
• "Mr. Blue Sky" song review at Allmusic

References

1. ^ http://toponehitwonders.com/rock/mr-blue-sky-electric-light-orchestra-elo/
2. ^ http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3255
3. ^ http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=114137
4. ^ "Chart Stats - Electric Light Orchestra". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=2340. Retrieved 2010-08-05.