11/22/2024
Warranted Nostalgia: Gushing About Electric Light Orchestra
In terms of sound and lyricism, one of the greatest American bands has to be Electric Light Orchestra. Their unique blend of synthesized and acoustic sounds came at just the right time to take the music world by storm. Their artistry is very much a product of its time, but as the years go by, I mean this to their benefit as the style of their music is still unmatched and timeless.
As with many bands, lots of people associate the name ELO with their love ballads and cheerier songs. In fact, people who list "happiest songs" often include their hit "Mr. Blue Sky," for good reason - that track is a joy to listen to.
I've grown up with Electric Light Orchestra and dug into all their output over the years. One theme that runs through their discography that I appreciate is how they wrestle with time. This isn't a hidden message in their music - hell, one of their albums is outright called "Time."
The first song I think of regarding this topic is "The Way Life's Meant to Be." The words of the song are colored with mentions of the past, with things like "Although it's only a day since I've been taken away," "Too late, too late to cry" and the mournful "I wish I was back in 1981." With phrases like these and similar ones in other songs, it makes you wonder about the person singing it.
Getting meta for a second, I can't help but wonder if the lead singer Jeff Lynne felt this way writing this song back in the 80's. Although the album released in 1981 - the year mentioned in the song - there's no doubt in my mind that he wrote this as a time capsule. Instead of singing wishing that he was back in the 60s when he was far younger, I think he better captures that feeling of wanting to be in a better time by not looking back too far. But I think it still does say a lot about who Jeff is for him to miss 1981 while still in 1981. (Even better - depending on when the song was recorded, the album only released in 1981 - did he sing about wanting to be back in 1981 in 1980?)
Actually, the band was not a stranger to projecting nostalgia across time and space, as the song "Yours Truly, 2095" demonstrates. The song is largely about a guy lamenting the coldness of the future by means of detailing the features of a robot partner. While the song could have been a mildly amusing track imagining the implications of saying about your wife, "she is an IBM," the song ends with a hauntingly upbeat chorus constantly asking "is that what you want? Is it what you really want?" Seriously, go listen to the song if you haven't already and tell me if the repetition and sound of that chorus doesn't make you feel something - worry? Curiosity? Stirring of philosophical musings? Nostalgia for more natural times?
Ever since the invention and spread of things like the transistor, microprocessor, etc., the technology and complexity of the world only grows exponentially. So it's no wonder that such lyrics from ELO came when they did - a time when personal computing was slowly beginning to take off and peoples' minds went wild in sci-fi movies and books, envisioning teleportation, space travel, artificial intelligence and so on. Apparently, humanity has no time to wrestle with questions like the one ELO suggests - how much technological change is too much? - as we're too busy improving our technologies. And so the singer in "Yours Truly, 2095" begins to yearn for simpler times even before a harsh future sets in. Surely now anyone can listen to the song, decades before it is actually set, and already pine for the simpler days of 1991, 1999 or 2005 - whenever, pick a year.
Were things actually better "back in the day?" One of the funniest things I've learned studying ancient history and writings is that wanting to go back to simpler, youthful days is by no means new. Any search for "nostalgia in history" or the like will bring up plenty of sources that prove that this feeling is simply part of the human condition. Whether or not times were better is almost irrelevant - sometimes it seems like life sucks in our times and one of our first instincts is to think of how to "go back."
Songs like "Yours Truly, 2095" feel especially wise for everything mentioned here, and it's always refreshing to hear a thoughtful and well-produced song that doesn't have to do with infatuation or love. There's so many human experiences out there and for whatever reason, our culture has chosen only to fixate on romantic attraction. There's certainly a place for this, but try and make a playlist on Spotify filled with truly great music that isn't mainly about the romantic side of life - you may find you run out of tracks to add compared to the never-ending supply of love songs. So I think Electric Light Orchestra does our world a service by providing us with good songs relating to nostalgia, reflection, pondering. All with great, timeless-sounding instrumentation.
I think it's clear that Jeff has been waxing nostalgic since his youth and has carried that into the current day. He did something of a "reboot" in bringing back Electric Light Orchestra in 2014-2015 with "Jeff Lynne's ELO" where similar feelings are expressed. I'm sure many other ELO fans feel similar to how Jeff has, otherwise he wouldn't have a following decades after their debut. Songs like the ones in this article are great to listen to driving around the city at night or on a rainy day. Time is one of the few vinyl albums I have, as I only like having physical copies of the music that means the most to me. On that front, I also have a "Greatest Hits" CD from ELO for the car and another vinyl album, "Out of the Blue."
Funnily enough, I think these ideas can be summed up by the amazing beginning sequence of the album "Time," "Twilight."
"You've brought me here, but can you bring me back again?"
The ever-moving stream of time carries us through life - we often look back, asking this very question. "I only meant to stay a while," we can only say, since we all have to face the twilight in life daily, and then one day, for good.
If you haven't before, go give the whole "Time" album a listen straight through, no pauses. Remember to listen to great music intentionally on occasion!
Doctor Who, anyone? (Click image for source clip.)
JOJO2K: The Site-Wide Chatbox
All of the content, imagery, audio, references and other materials that are copyright or trademark other owners I intend to post here under fair use.
The original content of jojo2k.com by jojo2k is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
cmon creative commons image get it together, I just centered stuff >_<