"Twilight" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
from the album Time | ||||
B-side | "Julie Don't Live Here" | |||
Released | 16 October 1981 (UK) November 1981 (US) | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Studio | Musicland Studios, Munich | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:37 | |||
Label | Jet | |||
Songwriter(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Producer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Time track listing | ||||
13 tracks
| ||||
Music video | ||||
"Twilight" on YouTube |
"Twilight" is a song written by Jeff Lynne for English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO),originally released on their 1981 album Time . The lyrics tell of a man who falls asleep while in a twilight state,where he imagines everything in his life that is going to happen to him. They contribute to the album's overarching theme of time travel. [1] ELO writer Barry Delve says that "a cacophony of sound effects...transport us chaotically to the year 2095" to start the album and that the song "doesn't stop or pause for at least 2 minutes," making the song "one of the most exciting experiences ELO ever gave you." [2] Delve suggests that the piano break is influenced by Sergei Rachmaninoff. [2] Billboard said that it was "more intricate" than most ELO songs and that "a grand orchestral build coincides with swirling vocal harmonies for great effect." [3] Record World said that it has "roller-coaster surges of angelic voices and awesome strings." [4] Messenger-Press critic Steve Wosahla said that "Twilight" "indicates that ELO may never get away from Jeff Lynne's accessibly spacey pop pizzaz." [5] Cincinnati Post critic Jerry Stein said that it "is a pounding tune but still has that soaring arrangement favored by the Beatles in so many of their uptempo songs. [6]
It was the second single released from the album,peaking at number 30 on the UK Singles Chart and number 38 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Delve explains the single's relatively poor performance despite his thinking that it is "A-grade ELO" saying that "with Time conceived and realized as a running narrative rather than a series of unconnected songs heard in isolation,many of the lyrics are quite esoteric with their talk of such things as time transporters and baffling references to the 1980s as if they were in the distant past which would have made less sense when heard out of context on top-40 radio stations." [2]
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia Kent Music Report [7] | 93 |
Austrian Ö3 Austria Top 40 [8] | 15 |
Dutch GfK chart [9] | 18 |
French SNEP Singles Chart | 10 |
German Media Control Singles Chart [10] | 17 |
Irish Singles Chart [11] | 18 |
UK Singles Chart [12] | 30 |
US Billboard Hot 100 [13] | 38 |
US Cash Box Top 100 Singles | 38 |
US Record World Singles [14] | 39 |
US Radio &Records (R&R) [15] [16] | 25 |
It appeared,with authorisation and credit,in a 1982 Japanese advertisement for the Toyota Celica XX. [17] It was also used as the finale song in the 2009-2010 Burton Snowboards film The B Movie,featuring most of the Burton team snowboarding on a "B" built out of snow. [18]
The song was used (without authorisation) [19] as the theme music for the opening animation to the 1983 Daicon IV science fiction convention in Osaka. [20] In 2005, as an homage to the Daicon IV animation, the song was used as the opening theme of the television series Train Man , which features an otaku as the main character. [20] As a similar homage, it has served as the opening song for the anime convention Otakon's AMV contest since 2008, with the exception of 2017. [21]
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.
Out of the Blue is the seventh studio album by the British rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released on 24 October 1977 in the United States and four days after in the UK on 28 October. Written and produced by ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, the double album is among the most commercially successful records in the group's history, selling about 10 million copies worldwide by 2007.
Time is the ninth studio album by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra, released in July 1981 on Jet Records. It is a concept album about a man from the 1980s who is taken to the year 2095, where he is confronted by the dichotomy between technological advancement and a longing for past romance. The record topped the UK Albums Chart for two weeks, though it attracted mixed reviews for its heavy use of synthesizers and stylistic shift away from the orchestral rock of previous ELO albums. It has since gained a cult following, particularly among retrofuturist enthusiasts.
Zoom is the twelfth studio album by British symphonic rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released on 12 June 2001 on Epic Records. It was the first official ELO album since 1986's Balance of Power.
Balance of Power is the eleventh studio album by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released in 1986. It is the final album by the band to feature co-founder Bev Bevan on drums, as well as the last album to feature a significant contribution from keyboardist Richard Tandy.
"Livin' Thing" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It appears on ELO's 1976 album A New World Record and was also released as a single. Patti Quatro sang uncredited vocals, particularly the "higher and higher" parts.
"Here Is the News" is a 1981 song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
"Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the band's seventh studio album Out of the Blue (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite on side three of the original double album. "Mr. Blue Sky" was the second single to be taken from Out of the Blue, peaking at number 6 in the UK Singles Chart and number 35 in the US Billboard Charts.
"Can't Get It Out of My Head" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and originally recorded by Electric Light Orchestra.
"Do Ya" is a song written by Jeff Lynne, that was originally recorded by The Move, which became a hit for the Electric Light Orchestra in 1977.
"Turn to Stone" is a 1977 song by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
"Evil Woman" is a song recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and written by lead vocalist Jeff Lynne. It was first released on the band's fifth album, 1975's Face the Music.
"Don't Bring Me Down" is the ninth and final track on the English rock band the Electric Light Orchestra's 1979 album Discovery. It is their highest-charting hit in the United States to date.
"Hold On Tight" is a song written and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). The song is track twelve on the band's 1981 album Time and was the first song released as a single. The song went top ten in most countries, hitting the top spot in Spain and Switzerland, number two in Germany, number four in the UK, and number ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's seventh and last top 10 hit, as well as number two on the US Billboard Top Tracks chart the week of 12 September 1981. A verse sung in French, which is a reprise of the first verse, translates as "Hold on to your dream, Hold on to your dream, When you see your ship leaving, When you feel your heart breaking, Hold on to your dream".
"Ticket to the Moon" is a popular song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
"Rain Is Falling" is a song written and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).
"Getting to the Point" is a song by the rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from their 1986 album Balance of Power. Released in the UK as the last single from the album in July 1986, it was the last original release from the band for 15 years.
"Boy Blue" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which first appeared as track number 3 from their 1974 album Eldorado.
The Daicon III and IV Opening Animations are two 8 mm film anime short films that were produced for the 1981 Daicon III and 1983 Daicon IV Nihon SF Taikai conventions. They were produced by a group of amateur animators known as Daicon Film, who would later go on to form the animation studio Gainax. The films are known for their unusually high production values for amateur works and for including numerous references to otaku culture, as well as its unauthorized appropriations of the Playboy Bunny costume. Usage of the songs "Runaway" by Bill Conti as well as "Twilight" and "Hold On Tight" by English rock band Electric Light Orchestra were also unauthorized.
Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra is an album of re-recordings by Jeff Lynne of hits by Electric Light Orchestra. It was issued in 2012 by Frontiers Music simultaneously with Lynne's cover album Long Wave.