"Secret Messages" | ||||
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Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
from the album Secret Messages | ||||
B-side | "Buildings Have Eyes" | |||
Released | 26 August 1983 [1] | |||
Recorded | 1983 at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands | |||
Length | 4:44 (Album version) 3:35 (Single edit) 4:51 (Double album version) | |||
Label | Jet | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
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Secret Messages track listing | ||||
10 tracks
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Music video | ||||
"Secret Messages" on YouTube |
"Secret Messages" is a song recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and is the title track (and opening track) of the 1983 album Secret Messages .
The song begins with strange effects and a backmasked voice (saying "welcome to the show") followed by a burst of morse code spelling out E.L.O.,something Jeff Lynne did also 10 years earlier on "Ocean Breakup/King of the Universe" from On the Third Day . The song and album were recorded very much tongue in cheek with Jeff Lynne's love of hidden messages in songs.
The single peaked at 48 in the UK Singles Chart [2] and at number 14 in the Irish Singles Chart. [3]
Parts of the music video featuring a radio telescope were filmed at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire,England.
Chart (1983) | Peak position |
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Irish Singles Chart [4] | 14 |
Polish Singles Chart [5] | 5 |
UK Singles Chart [2] | 48 |
The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972,Lynne became the band's sole leader,arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. From this point until their first break-up in 1986,Lynne,Bevan,and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
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