I’ve seen a few online forums among the younger generation pondering the origins of the song currently backing Target’s Australian television commercials.
After extensive remembering, and despite the doubts of various family members, I have correctly identified the song as none other than the Electric Light Orchestra’s Mr Blue Sky (from Out of the Blue, 1977). Apparently the band’s main songwriter Jeff Lynne had suffered writer’s block while seeking to write tracks for the album in a rainy Switzerland. The sun came out, and so did the song.
I can’t say I was a big ELO fan back in the late 70s (I was sill pursuing Led Zeppelin and smuggling Eagles cassettes home in my sock), but no one could miss their constant stream of hits on the radio and I find the Target ads plunging me into a strangely euphoric recollection of youth. Not that I’m old. Enjoy:
My wife just said if I’m so smart, what’s the song the woman sings in the Budget Insurance commercial, “Bu-gey, bu-gey, bu-gey bu-gey.” She suggested Abba, I rapidly agreed.