"Secret Messages"

Last week, I figured out the chords for "Secret Messages" and noticed a small feature:  underneath the line "Where words cascade like rainbows tumbling from the sky, then I'll be there," the chord progression descends (G minor | F major | Eb major | D minor | C minor), mirroring the downward direction of "cascad[ing]" and "tumbling."

"Can't Get It out of My Head"

Last month, I watched this video of ELO miming to "Can't Get It out of My Head" on Dutch television:

I noticed that in one of the Moog phrases (at ~1:21 in the video, but at ~2:27 in the album version), there are some trills.  Despite what it looks like in the video, I think these notes are E F E, C D C, G A G, E F E.

These descending trills may have been modeled after part of the solo in Del Shannon's "Runaway" (performed on a heavily modified clavioline).  Jeff Lynne talks about the song (starting around 39:14) in this BBC interview.  He mentions that the tape was sped up, so while it sounds higher, originally, these trills were played as E F E, D E D, C D C.  Obviously, in terms of pitch, these groups of notes are closer to each other than those in "Can't Get It out of My Head," but they do descend.

"Here Is the News"

Last month, I figured out the chords for "Here Is the News," and I noticed that the chords for the chorus are different each time.

First, it's:

|: G major | F major :|

Then:

|: G major | F major :|

A major | G minor

A major | D major

And finally:

|: G major | F major :|

|: A major | G minor :|

That the chord progression is different every time mirrors the novelty of the news.