"So Serious" is a song by the rock music group

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) from their 1986 album '' Balance of Power'', released in the UK as the second single from the album in 1986.

Overview

The song's lyrics hint at

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 ...

's growing disenchantment with his involvement with ELO at this point; much like the majority of the songs from the album, the lyrical content was in sharp contrast to the upbeat

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

of the album. ELO writer Barry Delve describes it as "a cheerful canter that betrays a darker lyric about the breakdown of a relationship and wanting to 'talk it over'" and a "pleasant enough pop song, reminiscent of something

the Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave Subculture, scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (l ...

might have done in their early years but...lightweight by ELO standards." There was also a UK 12 inch EPIC three-track version with "A Matter of Fact (Alternate Lyrics)" on the B-Side.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' said it "has a classic ELO melody hook" and "a serious shot for wide radio attention." Delve says it has "at least four great

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

s" but with "one quite irritating

" and that overall the song is "very much a chorus in search of a song." Biographer and music writer John Van der Kiste called it a "deceptively upbeat number, failing to conceal a sad theme, with the narrator lying awake night after night as he tries to fit it all together."

Track listing

All songs written by

. ;7-inch single #"So Serious" – 2:38 #"A Matter of Fact" – 4:04 ;12-inch single #"So Serious" – 2:38 #"A Matter of Fact" – 4:04 #"A Matter of Fact" (alternate lyrics) – 3:49 ;12-inch single #"So Serious" - 2:38 #"A Matter of Fact" - 4:04 #"Destination Unknown" - 4:10

Chart positions

References

1986 songs Electric Light Orchestra songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Songs written by Jeff Lynne {{1980s-rock-song-stub