Love Sunshine

Soundtrack to a scorcher: second installment

Another of the essential listening tracks for encouraging and celebrating the weather we all love.

Mr Blue Sky by The Electric Light Orchestra (1978).

I hated this song when it first came out. I liked the Police and Blondie, and these guys were big hairy twerps who wore bow ties. But it has grown on me over the years. It nudged its way into my affection with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, when it was used for the trailer.

It's a silly song. The sun Has Got His Hat On in beirdy-weirdy guise. Grandiose, operatic, inflated (making Queen look like a bunch of minimalist shoe-gazers), and paints rather childish in its personification of the elements. A picture book view of the weather. But why not? It expresses a very English response to that amazing feeling you get when the bloody grey clouds that have laid siege to our island for months eventually lift, and you are reminded that skies are also available in blue. Everyone smiles, the colours are brighter, and we are given a glimpse of how our world might be. That's worth singing about, and, yes, it does make you feel rather childish. Perhaps reminding us of a time when it was always sunny and summers were always dependable. Sigh.