They incorporated the sounds of string ensembles, vocoders and dub echos into rock songs, thereby creating a very sophisticated studio version of rock. The musical content of ELO songs often went far beyond usual chord structures, mixing pop songwriting with classical romanticism and synthesized sounds. The band claim that their music "picks up where The Beatles' 1967 song I Am the Walrus left off."
Formed in 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of the 1960s rock group The Move). The band used cellos, violin, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound. This was an idea Roy Wood initially had while with The Move, to take rock music in a new direction. In 1970 when Carl Wayne left the The Move, Jeff Lynne, front man with fellow Brum band Idle Race, responded to Wood's second invitation to join the line-up, with the lure of starting the new band. To help finance the fledgling project, two more Move albums were released during the recording of their eponymous first album in 1971 which produced the UK hit 10538 Overture. In the US this album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer, due to a mix-up with an uncompleted telephone call to the American label and subsequent secretarial message.
However, tensions soon surfaced between Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. With most of the media attention focused on Roy Wood, differences in musical direction, and a disastrous first live outing, it was no surprise when the band went through the first of its many line-up changes as Wood took Hugh McDowell and Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard. Despite the music press's predictions that the band would fold without Wood, Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan remaining on drums, bassist Richard Tandy switching to moog synthesizer, Michael d'Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards, Colin Walker (cello) and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. They released ELO 2 in 1973, from which came their first U.S. chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic Roll Over Beethoven. After their second album, violinist Gibson was dismissed and replaced by Mik Kaminski. They also released On The Third Day in 1973, with Mike Edwards playing all the cello parts due to Colin Walker leaving the band. Later that same year saw the return of Hugh McDowell, who had jumped ship the year previous, to replace cellist Colin Walker.
In 1974 Lynne hired a thirty-piece orchestra, choir and Louis Clark, then began work on the next LP Eldorado, A Symphony, a concept album about dreams, scoring their first U.S. Top Ten hit with Can't Get It Out Of My Head in 1975. Eldorado would become ELO's first gold album.
After the release of Eldorado, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale joined, replacing de Albuquerque and Edwards respectively.
The band split in 1983. In 1985, Lynne, Tandy and Bevan reunited and recorded the album "Balance of Power". This reunion was short lived and the band split once more in 1986. Bev Bevan and Louis Clark, with the consent of Lynne, toured and recorded as ELO Part II from 1988 until Bevan's retirement in 1999. In 2000, Lynne and Tandy reformed Electric Light Orchestra and released a new record, "Zoom". "Zoom" proved to be a commercial failure, and the duo split once more in 2001.
In 2014, following support from BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, Lynne and Tandy reunited as a part of BBC Radio 2's "Festival in a Day" to perform under the new billing, "Jeff Lynne's ELO", a name Lynne devised as a response to ELO tributes, imitation bands, and offshoots who used ELO to promote their own tours.
In February 2015, Jeff Lynne's ELO performed at the Grammy Awards with Ed Sheeran, and in September of that year they announced a new album would be released under Columbia Records. Jeff Lynne's ELO - Alone in the Universe was released on November 13, 2015, and was ELO’s first album of new material in almost 15 years.
The second album under Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Jeff Lynne's ELO - From Out of Nowhere, was released on November 1, 2019.
There is more than one artist with the name "ELO". The vast majority of scrobbles to "Electric Light Orchestra" are for the rock band from England.
ELO, is a South Korean singer, who debuted with the album, 8 Femmes, on August 26, 2016.
Mission
Electric Light Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To reach a place they call the planet Earth,
There was to be a celebration,
On the mission of the sacred heart
The planet Earth from way up there is beautiful and blue
And floating softly through a rainbow,
But when you touch down things look different here,
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
(Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth)
On a dirty worn-out sidewalk, sits a mother with a baby,
In her vale of tears she sees no rainbow
And someone's singing from a window
In the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
(Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth)
And when the stars above,
Lay hazy fingers down on me
(Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth)
There's a building on a corner, in a city, in a land,
On a place they call the planet Earth,
My orders are to sit here and watch the world go by,
From the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
What is it worth?
The song "Mission" by Electric Light Orchestra is a beautiful depiction of an extraterrestrial's journey to planet Earth. The lyrics suggest that they have traveled a great distance to attend a celebration, possibly indicating that they are beings of peace and love. The planet Earth appears stunningly beautiful, with vibrant colors and an ethereal quality. However, upon landing, the extraterrestrial realizes that the planet is not perfect and has its woes. The mention of a "dirty worn-out sidewalk" and a mother in tears suggest that the world is not always kind to its inhabitants, although there is still hope in the form of music from a nearby window. The extraterrestrial is watching from a building, and it's unclear what their purpose is on this mission.
The lyrics also contain a repeated refrain, "Watching all the days roll by, who are you and who am I? How's life on Earth? Living on the Earth." This reflective passage speaks to the idea that we are all connected as fellow inhabitants of Earth, and the extraterrestrial might be pondering what it means to exist on this planet. The final line, "What is it worth?" leaves us wondering about what value we assign to our time on Earth and the impact we make during our lives.
Line by Line Meaning
For many days we traveled from a distant place and time,
We've traveled from afar for days and days
To reach a place they call the planet Earth,
To arrive at a place called planet Earth
There was to be a celebration,
A celebration was to be had
On the mission of the sacred heart
For the mission of the sacred heart
The planet Earth from way up there is beautiful and blue
Earth looks beautiful and blue from space
And floating softly through a rainbow,
It looks like it's floating through a rainbow
But when you touch down things look different here,
But when you land, things look different
At the mission of the sacred heart
At the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
(Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth)
Observing time pass us by, questioning our identities, and pondering about life on Earth.
On a dirty worn-out sidewalk, sits a mother with a baby,
There's a mother and baby sitting on a dirty, worn-out sidewalk
In her vale of tears she sees no rainbow
The mother is crying and doesn't see any hope or joy
And someone's singing from a window
In the mission of the sacred heart
Someone's singing from a window at the mission of the sacred heart
And when the stars above,
Lay hazy fingers down on me
(Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth, Living on the Earth)
When the stars cast their glow upon me, reflecting on life on Earth.
There's a building on a corner, in a city, in a land,
On a place they call the planet Earth,
There's a building on a corner on planet Earth
My orders are to sit here and watch the world go by,
From the mission of the sacred heart
I'm supposed to sit here and observe the world from the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
What is it worth?
Continuing to observe time and questioning our identities, while wondering about the value of life on Earth.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JEFF LYNNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@GeeVee1978
This is Yerffej Ennyl calling you from planet Earth
For many days, we travelled from a distant place and time
To reach a place they call the planet Earth
There was to be a celebration
On the mission of the sacred heart
The planet Earth from way up there is beautiful and blue
And floating softly through a rainbow
But when you touch down, things look different here
At the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
(Living on the Earth, living on the Earth
Living on the Earth, living on the Earth)
When all the stars above
Lay icy fingers down on me
(Living on the Earth, living on the Earth
Living on the Earth, living on the Earth)
On a dirty worn-out sidewalk, sits a mother with a baby;
In her vale of tears, she sees no rainbow
And someone's singing from a window
In the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
(Living on the Earth, living on the Earth
Living on the Earth, living on the Earth)
And when the stars above
Lay icy fingers down on me
(Living on the Earth, living on the Earth
Living on the Earth, living on the Earth)
There's a building on a corner, in a city, in a land
On a place they call the planet Earth
My orders are to sit here and watch the world go by
From the mission of the sacred heart
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
Watching all the days roll by
Who are you and who am I?
How's life on Earth?
What is it worth?
@ViktorVonfuling
A lot of people here are talking about when they were in their teens in the mid 70s, and they heard this album for the first time. For me, however, I wasn’t even born until the early 2000s. I fell absolutely in love with the Beatles in mid 2019, and that summer we visited my grandfather, where I discovered that he had a full collection of the Beatles discography on vinyl, that he had bought in his youth. I spent almost more time listening to the records than I spent with him, and when we went home I knew I wanted to collect records of my own. So me and my parents bought a record player, and my mom brought out her old records, amongst which I found this, ‘A New World Record’. This was the first album I ever listened to all the way through on vinyl, and I’m very proud that it is. I love this album, and it’ll always be one of my favorites, and it’s easily up there with the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Pink Floyd that are also in my collection.
@jobama9909
thats awesome. I just listened to mr blue sky and I found myself really encaptured in the ending. it was nothing like I had ever heard before and so I listened to their albums. they're my favorite band of all time and this is easily their best album
@derek6247
Leaves everybody standing especially queen
@ninjacker1497
Mostly how I got into pro rock. I mean it's called pro rock for a reason.
@mickb4255
Check out Roger Waters first 3 solo albums.
@larrylancaster7877
The Electric Light Orchestra was the first band I saw live. Actually, as there were three on the bill, a singer-songwriter named Elliot Murphy w/ his band was the first act. The second supporting act was a band that I had never heard of before and we didn't really know anything about their origins until after hearing them that night. They really made an impression on me and my friends you know I was like, let me see '76, I was 13 years old, and the friends were 3 brothers that were in college and high school. I had "A New World Re- cord" because I played the guitar and well I figured out the song "Do Ya" because it was just a really killer song and it was on the radio you know and I wanted to play popular music so when ELO came to Evansville with the first laser light tour well okay there's a little controversy I think maybe Blue Oyster Cult may have also had lasers in 1976 but I think ELO was actually first. But the reason the second band made such an impression was because there was this a guy in this blue lamé jumpsuit with an afro that must have been about 3 ft. in circumference no kidding and when he would rock his head back and forth this afro would Rock forward and backward like a good two and a half feet I mean it was pretty outrageous. The dude's name was Neal Schon. He and his buddy Greg had just left a band where they played with a gentleman named Carlos.
@NotMarkKnopfler
In 1984 I bought this album with my own pocket money. I remember playing this track in my bedroom on my record player. My dad came into my room. "Where did you get this from?" (He got me into ELO but we didn't have this album).
"I bought it, Dad. It's brilliant."
"That's my boy," he said.
Love you dad. RIP.
@driski90
This is one of my favorite posts anywhere. RIP to your dad.
@NotMarkKnopfler
@@driski90 Bless you. Thank you 😊
@shawl777
This brought a tear to my eye. I miss my Dad too 💔