ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA - TWILIGHT

Released: October 16, 1981

Charted:  UK: #30   US: #38 

"Twilight" is a song written by Jeff Lynne, originally released on ELO’s 1981 album “Time”, and released as the second single of the record. The song captures the essence of a surreal journey into the unknown, where reality and fantasy intertwine and time feels elusive. It speaks to the allure of escaping into a dreamlike state while acknowledging the inherent uncertainty and transience of such experiences.

Lynne paused at the dawn of the 80s to gauge the tide of the times and decided, astutely, that the future was in electronic new-wave pop. Enter 1981’s startlingly modernist “Time” taking its cues from those moment popular synth-pop bands as Tubeway Army, the Human League or Devo, and set to become ELO’s most conceptual album.

“Time” is an album about a man abducted to a 2095 of human clones, moon tourism, prison satellites, hovercars and 4G android girlfriends, it shed the symphonic for the synthetic, with vocoder vocals and post-disco sci-fi synth riffs. “Yours Truly 2095”; “The Rain Is Falling”; “21st Century Man” and “Ticket to the Moon” all rebooted ELO’s aesthetic for the neon decade, but “Twilight” stood out for its space-age cathedral sizzle, warp-speed pacing and the sort of brazen futuristic hooklines.

Twilight is a bombastic introduction to the album’s sound and a brilliant description to kick off “Time” story. This track is about moving from the 1980s to the future, be it real or a dream. Even the character himself, who presumably sings Twilight, is unsure: “Am I awake or do I dream; the strangest pictures I have seen?” The contradictory lyrical stylings and the quick movement of the track do well to represent this movement. In addition, Twilight presents the dilemma of being trapped in the future with its chorus refrain, “Twilight; I only meant to stay awhile. Twilight; I gave you time to steal my mind away from me.” Either the character cannot bring himself away from this dream world he has constructed, or the time travel device he has used cannot take him back. 

The vagueness of whether or not “Time” story is a dream allows the listener to hear it in two different ways, one that is a quiet reflection on a lost love and another that is a bombastic adventure through the world of the future. Mentions of “shadows of time” illustrate images of time folding in on itself. These moments of strong imagery make “Time” feel like a musical without imagery, forcing the listener to conjure up their image of the future, giving them a strong bond with the main character, whom they can now see. These elements represent a bridge between the past and the future, the real and the imagined, the known and the unknown. As the song says, it is a place between what “now is day and before was night.” Twilight.

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”.