Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1979
The Diary of Horace Wimp
Buy The Diary of Horace Wimp now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = The Diary of Horace Wimp
| cover = Horace Wimp.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Electric Light Orchestra
| album = Discovery
| B-side = Down Home Town
| released = 13 July 1979
| recorded = 1979, Musicland Studios, Munich
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 4:17
| label = Jet
| writer = Jeff Lynne
| producer = Jeff Lynne
| prev_title = Shine a Little Love
| prev_year = 1979
| next_title = Don't Bring Me Down
| next_year = 1979
| misc =
}}
"'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 a repressed man who wants to express his affection towards a woman he meets, and 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".
The music video references 'Citizen Kane' in its ending, showing a closeup of Jeff Lynne saying "Horace Wimp," echoing Orson Welles' character in the film saying "Rosebud" as he dies.
B-side
"'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 backmasked 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. These reverse recorded words were only used because of the sound effect.
Chart positions
References
Category:1979 singles
Category:1979 songs
Category:Electric Light Orchestra songs
Category:Jet Records singles
Category:Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne
Category:Songs written by Jeff Lynne
Category:Songs about fictional male characters
Buy The Diary of Horace Wimp now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1979