Mr. Blue Sky


"Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra, featured on the band's seventh studio album Out of the Blue. 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 album. "Mr. Blue Sky" was the second single to be taken from Out of the Blue, peaking at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and number 35 on the US [Billboard Hot 100|Billboard Hot 100].
Promotional copies were released on blue vinyl, like the album from which the single was issued. Due to its popularity and frequent use in multiple television shows and films, it has sometimes been described as the band's signature song.

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:
Lynne also said:
The song's arrangement has been called "Beatlesque", bearing similarities to Beatles songs "Martha My Dear" and "A Day in the Life" while harmonically it shares its unusual first four chords and harmonic rhythm with "Yesterday". The song's piano and drum intro is borrowed from the Kinks' 1968 song "Do You Remember Walter".
An alternate account of the song's composition was suggested by bassist Kelly Groucutt's 1983 lawsuit against Lynne, in which Groucutt alleged that he had written the song's middle section, but had not been officially credited in this capacity.

Arrangement

The arrangement makes prominent use of a cowbell-like sound, which is credited on the album, to percussionist Bev Bevan, as that of a fire extinguisher.
Describing the song for the BBC, Dominic King said:

Lots of Gibb Brothers' vocal inflexions and Beatles' arrangement quotes. 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.

The song features a heavily vocoded voice singing the phrase "Mr. Blue Sky", as well as the phrase "please turn me over" at the end, instructing the listener to flip the LP.

Critical reception

'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". Guarisco also pointed out other references to the Beatles, such as "the staccato bassline the chorus of 'Hello Goodbye' and pounding piano lines and panting background vocals the midsection of 'A Day in the Life. Music critic Nick DeRiso identified several references to Beatles' songs, including "Hello, Goodbye", "I Am the Walrus", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "A Day in the Life".
Billboard described the beat as "catchy" and said that the song builds from a "thumping intro" to a "harmonic operatic" ending. Cash Box said that the song "features a characteristically full sound and effective use of breaks" and that "fast pace, airy singing and strings provide musical dramatics." Record World said that "this up-tempo tune guarantees Lynne's legend as both writer and producer and shows off ELO's unique sound."
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Michael Gallucci rated it ELO's best song. Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated it as ELO's 2nd best song, highlighting the "bouncing piano groove at the beginning of the song that is one of the coolest rock and pop licks you have ever heard." Stereogum contributor Ryan Reed also rated it as ELO's 2nd best song, saying that although it was released on the album as part of "Concerto for a Rainy Day", it actually "functions best as a stand-alone art-pop epic, a sort of engorged 'Penny Lane' – built on stomping pianos, manic cowbell...and an octave-spanning choral vocal arrangement."
In 2022, Lynne listed it as one of his nine favorite ELO songs.

Personnel

Additional personnel

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart Peak
position
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Chart Peak
position
US Rock Digital Song Sales 11

Year-end charts

Chart Position
US Hot Rock Songs 71

Jeff Lynne version

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

Music video

A music video was released in late 2012 via the official ELO website and YouTube, a colourful animation directed by Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger with animation sequences designed and animated by University of Southern California students.

Personnel