| "The Diary of Horace Wimp" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Electric Light Orchestra | ||||
| from the album Discovery | ||||
| B-side | "Down Home Town" | |||
| Released | August 1979 | |||
| Format | 7" vinyl | |||
| Recorded | 1979, Musicland Studios, Munich | |||
| Genre | Art rock, Pop rock | |||
| Length | 4:17 | |||
| Label | Jet | |||
| Writer(s) | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Producer | Jeff Lynne | |||
| Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"The Diary of Horace Wimp" is the fourth track on the Electric Light Orchestra album Discovery, written by Jeff Lynne.
Released in 1979 as a single, the song is Beatlesque in nature and became a Top Ten hit in the UK and Ireland. The lyrics describe a week in the life of an oppressed man who nevertheless overcomes his shy nature with the help of "a voice from above." The day Saturday is omitted – this is because, as explained by Jeff Lynne: "'The football match is played on a Saturday".
| “ | A song about a lucky lad who somehow defies the odds and gets the girl. Really wild use of the vocoder. | ” |
|
—Jeff Lynne[1] |
||
Contents |
"Down Home Town" first appeared on the band's fifth album Face the Music. It also featured as the flip side to the US single "Last Train to London".
"Down Home Town" contains an intro with a backmasking message, the backing chorus of the previous track, "Waterfall": "Face the mighty waterfall, face the mighty waterfall." This song includes an orchestral intro (after the "Waterfall" refrain) and a similar ending.
"Another backward message was used in the beginning of "Down Home Town" by singing twice: 'There is the mighty waterfall.' Those reverse recorded words were only used because of the sound effect, but some fanatical christians [sic] in the USA were sure they heard, as several hysterics put it 'satanic messages' hidden on the record".[2]
| Chart (1979) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 48 |
| German Media Control Singles Chart | 52 |
| Irish Singles Chart[3] | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart[4] | 8 |