"Rockaria!" is a song by

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

(ELO), written by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

. It was the third track on the band's successful 1976 album ''

A New World Record ''A New World Record'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released on 15 October 1976, by United Artists Records in the United States and on 19 November 1976, by Jet Records in the United K ...

'', and was the second single from the album. On some CD pressings of ''A New World Record'', the title appears without the exclamation mark.

Lyrics

The chorus references

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long line of composers, s ...

and

Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma, to a family of moderate means, recei ...

, while the final verse mentions

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

Recording

The

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic voice of Mary Thomas is featured on the track, particularly during the introduction. On the first

take A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

of the song, Thomas mistakenly began the vocal too early. However, Lynne elected to use that take, complete with her interjection, "Oops!", although the interjection is omitted from some later pressings of the album. Released as a single in 1977, it reached the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

noted that the track "is rightly considered to be one of Jeff Lynne's finest achievements on record".

B-side

"Poker" is a song written and performed by

. The song first appeared on the band's LP '' Face the Music'' as the fifth track. At 3:34, it is the shortest song on the album. During recording,

Kelly Groucutt Kelly Groucutt (born Michael William Groucutt; 8 September 1945 – 19 February 2009) was an English musician best known as the bassist and secondary vocalist for the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) between 1974 and 1982. Early career ...

sang most of the song's lyrics (generally,

sang the vocals of ELO songs). The song twice appeared as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, first of "Rockaria!" in the UK, then in 1979 as the flip side of the US single version of "

Confusion In psychology, confusion is the quality or emotional state of being bewildered or unclear. The term "acute mental confusion"

Personnel

– lead vocals, electric guitar, Wurlitzer 200 electric piano *

Bev Bevan Beverley Bevan (born 25 November 1944) is an English rock musician who was the drummer and one of the original members of the Move and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). After the end of ELO in 1986, he founded ELO Part II. Bevan also was a drum ...

– drums, percussion, backing vocals *

– bass guitar, backing vocals *

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ...

– piano *

Mik Kaminski Michael Kaminski (born 2 September 1951) is an English musician. He played violin in the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) between 1973 and 1980 and toured with the band from 1981 to 1986. He was a member of Electric Light Orchestra Pa ...

– violin *

Hugh McDowell Hugh Alexander McDowell (31 July 1953 – 6 November 2018) was an English cellist and member of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) and related acts. Career McDowell started playing the cello at the age of four-and-a-half; by the age of 10, he ...

–

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Melvyn Gale Melvyn Gale (born 15 January 1952) is an English cellist. Career Born in London, Gale attended the Royal Academy of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He played his first professional concert with the London Palladium Orchestra ...

– cello Additional Personnel * Mary Thomas – operatic vocals *Patti Quatro – uncredited backing vocals * Brie Brandt – uncredited backing vocals *Addie Lee – uncredited backing vocals

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Jeff Lynne version

Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song in his own home studio. It was released on a compilation album with other re-recorded ELO songs, under the ELO name, as an iTunes Store exclusive bonus track.

References

{{Electric Light Orchestra singles 1976 songs 1977 singles Electric Light Orchestra songs Jet Records singles Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Songs written by Jeff Lynne