Secret Messages (song)

"Secret Messages"
Single by Electric Light Orchestra
from the album Secret Messages
B-side"Buildings Have Eyes"
Released26 August 1983[1]
Recorded1983 at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands
Length4:44 (Album version)
3:35 (Single edit)
4:51 (Double album version)
LabelJet
Songwriter(s)Jeff Lynne
Producer(s)Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology
"Rock 'n' Roll Is King"
(1983) 		"Secret Messages"
(1983) 		"Four Little Diamonds"
(1983)
Secret Messages track listing
10 tracks
Side one
  1. "Secret Messages"
  2. "Loser Gone Wild"
  3. "Bluebird"
  4. "Take Me On and On"
Side two
  2. "Four Little Diamonds"
  3. "Stranger"
  4. "Danger Ahead"
  5. "Letter from Spain"
  6. "Train of Gold"
  7. "Rock 'n' Roll Is King"
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.

  1. ^ Strong, Martin Charles (1995). The Great Rock Discography. Canongate Press. p. 264. ISBN 9780862415419.
  2. ^ "Electric Light Orchestra". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
  3. ^ "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 21 December 2009.