One of my all-time favorite songs is “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra. I was only twelve years old when that song hit the airwaves in 1977. It struck a chord with me (no pun intended) because it seemed so hopeful and so happy. It also ended with a strange robot-like voice at the end, which was extra intriguing for a nerdy pre-teen like me. (More on that later.)

Jeff Lynne, the author of the song, is quoted as saying he had locked himself away in a Swiss chalet for weeks as he tried to come up with songs for the band’s next album. For a solid fortnight, the weather was dismal. There was nothing but cloudy skies and a constant drizzle to serve as inspiration. Nothing was happening in the way of new music. Then, as if a gray veil was withdrawn, the weather suddenly changed. Lynne was greeted by an incredibly beautiful day and dazzling sunshine that illuminated the mighty Alps outside his door. Inspiration followed and the tune I love so much was born. The blue sky became the songwriter’s muse.

But … why is it “Mr. Blue Sky?” Why isn’t it “Mr. Purple Sky” or “Mr. Orange Sky” or some other color? I’m glad you asked. Science has an answer.

Light coming from our sun is comprised of the entire spectrum, not just the light we can see. Colors we can see cover the standard Roy G. Biv acronym of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Light at the beginning of that list has long (relatively speaking), drawn-out wavelengths. Light toward then end of the list has shorter, choppier wavelengths.

When the light hits our atmosphere, it gets scattered, reflected, and refracted in all sorts of ways. Blue light, with its shorter waves, gets the most scattered, with the exception of indigo and violet. Indigo is very hard for us to perceive and violet is more absorbed by the upper atmosphere. That leaves blue to make up most of the light with shorter waves to get to the surface where we live. Since blue light is being bounced around us from more directions than any other color, the light in the sky looks blue.

You are smart. I know that because you are reading this intelligent, thought-provoking article. You are asking yourself, “Self, what about the edge of the sky at midday? It looks all whitish around the edges toward the horizon. What happened to all that blue? Huh, self? What?”

Take it easy on yourself. It’s science at work again. This effect happens because light at the edges of our vision has passed through more of the atmosphere than light directly above. That means that the blue light has been scattered and scattered again repeatedly. This causes it to be mixed more thoroughly with all of the other colors. The result is a more balanced, white light.

I know you, though. You won’t stop there. You pipe up and say, “Oh yeah? Well, what about the red and orange sunsets I see across the lake or at the beach? They’re not blue or white. Where’s your science now?”

Right here.

At sunset, the sun’s light energy is making its longest and most tortuous journey to your eyes. It’s a trek fraught with thousands of miles of dust, gases, pollen and whatever else is floating around in the atmosphere. By the time it gets to you, only the longest and most gentle waves get through – the reds and oranges.

So, now you know why the sky is blue (and white and red and orange), but you still don’t know what that robot voice is saying at the end of the ELO song. Your reward for reading along with me this far is that I am going to tell you. That song was the last track on side one of ELO’s seventh studio album, entitled Out of the Blue. In the days of vinyl (which are joyously returning), that meant that you had to get up from being seated (or stop dancing, if that’s what was going on) and turn the album over after the last song on side one finished. What the robot is saying is, “Please turn me over.” Yes. It really is. Listen to it closely and smile knowingly as you relay this bit of music trivia to friends and colleagues across your social media landscape. You’re welcome.

This article was written by Tilmer Wright, Jr. Tilmer is an IT professional with over thirty years of experience wrestling with technology and a proud member of the Authors Guild of Tennessee. In his spare time, he writes books.

You can find links to Tilmer’s books at the following location: https://www.amazon.com/Tilmer-Wright/e/B00DVKGG4K?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1…

His author information web site is here: http://www.tilmerwrightjr.com/

Credit for image accompanying this article: Aleena Rayamajhi / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)