Mr. Blue Sky

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.[5]

The song's arrangement has been called "Beatlesque",[6] bearing similarities to Beatles songs "Martha My Dear" and "A Day in the Life"[7][8] while harmonically it shares its unusual first four chords and harmonic rhythm with "Yesterday".[9]

The arrangement makes prominent use of a cowbell-like sound,[10] which is credited on the album, to percussionist Bev Bevan, as that of a "fire extinguisher". When the song is performed live, a drumstick is used to strike the side of a fire extinguisher, which produces the now iconic sound.

Describing the song for the BBC, Dominic King said:

Lots of Gibb Brothers' vocal inflexions and Beatles' arrangement quotes (Penny Lane bell, Pepper panting, Abbey Road arpeggio guitars). But this fabulous madness creates its own wonder – the bendy guitar solo, funky cello stop-chorus, and the most freakatastic vocoder since Sparky's Magic Piano. Plus the musical ambush on "way" at 2.51 still thrills. And that's before the Swingle Singers/RKO Tarzan movie/Rachmaninoff symphonic finale gets underway. Kitsch, yet truly exhilarating.[11]

The song features a heavily vocoded voice singing the phrase "Mr. Blue Sky". A second vocoded segment at the end of the song was often interpreted as "Mr. Blue Sky"; 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.[12] This was confirmed by Jeff Lynne on 3 October 2012 on The One Show.[13]

AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco considered "Mr. Blue Sky" a "miniature pop symphony" and a "multi-layered pop treat that was a pure Beatles pastiche", saying that "the music divides its time between verses that repeat the same two notes to hypnotic effect a la 'I Am the Walrus' and an effervescent, constantly-ascending chorus that recalls". Guarisco also pointed other references to the Beatles such as "the staccato bassline recalls the chorus of 'Hello Goodbye' and pounding piano lines and panting background vocals recall the midsection of 'A Day in the Life'".[14] Billboard Magazine described the beat as "catchy" and said that the song builds from a "thumping intro" to a "harmonic operatic" ending.[15]

The song has been used in the films Megamind, Role Models, The Magic Roundabout, Wild Mussels, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Game Plan, Martian Child, The Invention of Lying, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.[16]

The song was also used in the British television show Doctor Who. It was also featured during the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, the awards ceremony following the 2011 Football League Cup Final, and the closing ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games from the Gold Coast, in a promotion for the 2022 Games, which will be held in Birmingham - with the track used to celebrate ELO's members being from the city.[17]

• Jeff Lynne – lead and backing vocals, lead and rhythm guitars
• Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, backing vocals, fire extinguisher
• Richard Tandy – piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Mellotron, vocoder
• Kelly Groucutt – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mik Kaminski – violin
• Hugh McDowell – cello
• Melvyn Gale – cello

Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song and other ELO tracks in his own home studio in 2012. The resulting album, Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra, was released under the ELO name. A difference that this version has is that it doesn't include the ending orchestral piece.[29]

• Mr. Blue Sky - Nerf Herder (1998)
• Mr. Blue Sky - Lily Allen (2006)
• Mr. Blue Sky - Connie Talbot (2014)[33]
• Mr. Blue Sky - Weezer (2019)

• In-depth Song Analysis at the Jeff Lynne Song Database (Jefflynnesongs.com)
• "Electric Light Orchestra: Mr. Blue Sky" at Discogs (list of releases)
• "Mr. Blue Sky" song review at Allmusic
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics