Discovery

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I listened to Discovery twice before writing this post, but I still don't have much to say about it.

"The Diary of Horace Wimp"

Like I've mentioned before, I'm more likely to see Beatles references in ELO songs because of the "pick up where 'I Am the Walrus' left off" quote, even if those references are actually just coincidences.  The list of days in "The Diary of Horace Wimp" might take something from the Beatles' "Lady Madonna" and possibly even Fats Domino's "Blue Monday," which seems to have inspired "Lady Madonna" (and has blue in the title!).

All three songs have a list of days.  "Blue Monday" has the weekdays and Sunday in the verses, and Saturday is in the bridge.  "Lady Madonna" has all of the days in the verses, although it omits Saturday.

"The Diary of Horace Wimp" goes a bit further and has a verse for each day (preceded by the name of the day through a vocoder).  Like "Lady Madonna," Saturday is omitted, probably because it's a syllable longer than the other days of the week, so it would present complications for the choral part at the end ("Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday…").

"Midnight Blue"

An-other (very obvious) instance of Jeff Lynne's use of blue.  Also, the line "But what's the difference 'cause they say, 'What's in a name?'" seems to be a reference to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  In any case, it's a quote of Juliet's lines: "What's in a name?  That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet" (II.ii.43-44).

"On the Run"

At the very end, there are Buddy Holly-like hiccups on the words "around" and "away" ("Woman, I gotta move around / Woman, I gotta get away…").  I'm not certain if Holly was the inspiration here, but that is characteristic of his music.

"Don't Bring Me Down"

During the sections where the only line is "Don't bring me down" (I guess they're choruses?), each of the "down"s is broken into syllables via melismas, and the syllables have a downward trend as far as pitch goes.  So the "down"s are literally going down.

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I also noticed a few things that appear in multiple songs.

I might be making too much of this, but the "standin' (in/at)" that I noted in the Out of the Blue songs makes an appearance here too.  "Last Train to London" has "You were standin' there," and "Midnight Blue" has "I see you standin' there."

"Under(neath) the starry sky" is present in both "Confusion" and "Last Train to London."

"Darling" is a word that seems to be used a lot on the album too.  It's in "Shine a Little Love" and "Confusion" once each, and it starts each of the verses in "Wishing."

Out of the Blue

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Initial notes on Out of the Blue:

"Turn to Stone"

I've mentioned this before, but the phrase "turn to stone" is also present in "Showdown" - "Now my heart has turned to stone again."

There's also an instance of blue:  "In my blue world."

"Night in the City"

The guitar part that begins this song is nearly identical to the one that begins "Poker" from Face the Music.  The one in "Night in the City" is just raised by a fourth.

Two of the verses start with "Standin' at...," which reappears in "Jungle" ("I was standin' in the jungle…") and "Standin' in the Rain."  There’s also "I see you standin' there" in "Big Wheels," but that seems different.

"Jungle"

Near the beginning, there's a Tarzan-like call to help in establishing the scene.

Toward the end, there's an alarm clock, which might have something to do with the Beatles' "A Day in the Life," which also features the sound of an alarm clock.

"Mr. Blue Sky"

After the line "Runnin' down the avenue," there's some panting, which also seems to be in debt to "A Day in the Life," in which there's panting after the line "I noticed I was late."  There are four pants in each.

In that same verse in "Mr. Blue Sky," there are the lines "See how the sun shines brightly / In the city / On the streets where once was pity," which is a reference to some similar lines in "Night in the City" earlier on the album: "Night in the city / Madness and pity."

And, of course, there's the obvious mention of blue.

"Birmingham Blues"

Years ago, I noticed that some of the violin parts quote a phrase from George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (which - along with the "blues" in the title and lyrics - is an-other inclusion of the color).  However, I don't think they're in the same key here.  I listened to a recording I have of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Rhapsody in Blue, and while the phrases in "Birmingham Blues" start on B notes, those that I found in the Rhapsody (which aren't even on violin) start on D#s.

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The last few times I've listened to this album, I always felt that some of the songs use similar musical phrases, chord progressions, or other elements that help tie the songs together, but until I start learning the parts, I can't point to anything specific.

A New World Record

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I've been neglecting this again, but here are my initial notes on A New World Record.

"Telephone Line"

There's the line "Blue days, black nights," which is the title of a Buddy Holly song (although not one that he wrote).  I don't think I've really seen anything where ELO mentions Buddy Holly, but Jeff Lynne contributed a cover of "Words of Love" to a Buddy Holly tribute album, so I think there's something to the "blue days, black nights."

Of course, that phrase is also an-other way that Lynne can include the color blue.

"Rockaria!"

I've already written about the Beethoven reference.  There are also a few more references to 1950s songs, if my conjecture is correct.  The "Knocked me right back in the alley" from the first verse isn't too dissimilar from Little Richard's "Well, I saw Uncle John with bald head Sally / He saw Aunt Mary comin', and he ducked back in the alley" from "Long Tall Sally."  Additionally, "Rockaria!" has sections where the vocal melody has only one note, which is an-other feature of "Long Tall Sally."

The various "ready" sections (like the first verse's "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a-ready / Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm ready") seem to have some connection to "Ready Teddy," which was recorded by both Little Richard (whose version was apparently first) and Buddy Holly.

"Mission (A World Record)"

It's a minor point, but this also includes blue: "The planet Earth from way up there / Is beautiful and blue."

"So Fine"

I've mentioned this before too, but both "So Fine" and "Do Ya" contain the phrase "midnight sun" (as does "Whisper in the Night" from No Answer).

"Livin' Thing"

Because the G isn't included in "Livin'," I'm not sure how to spell one other section of the lyrics.  If it follows what "Livin'" establishes and also drops the G, it's "It's a givin' thing," but it could also just be a different verb form: "It's a given thing."

The phrase "rolling and riding and slipping and sliding" in the first verse - while exhibiting some interesting parallel alliteration and internal rhyme - also seems to be a Little Richard reference, specifically to his "Slippin' and Slidin'."

"Shangri-La"

There's an-other use of blue in the lines "She seemed to drift out on the rain / That came in somewhere softly from the blue."

The more interesting thing about this is the very obvious Beatle reference:  "My Shangri-La has gone away / Faded like the Beatles on 'Hey Jude.'"  While I've noticed a lot of possible Beatle references, I've been cautious about asserting them.  There's no denying this one though.