"Here Is the News" is a 1981 song written by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...

and performed by

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

(ELO). It is track ten on the album ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' (1981) and was released as a double

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

along with "

Ticket to the Moon "Ticket to the Moon" is a popular song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was track four on the album ''Time'' (1981) and was released as a double-A single along with "Here Is the News" in January 1982, reach ...

" in January 1982, reaching number 24 in the UK charts. The song makes heavy use of synthesizers but also includes guitar, bass guitar, piano, and a drum kit. The song is in

Strophic Strophic form – also called verse-repeating form, chorus form, AAA song form, or one-part song form – is a song structure in which all verses or stanzas of the text are sung to the same music. Contrasting song forms include through-composed, w ...

form, lasts 3 minutes 43 seconds and ends with a fade out. The song is about the news programmes of 2095 and voices from news reports can be heard in the background during the song. The song acts as a "doom-laden news bulletin full of chattering voices and space-age electronic effects." ELO writer Barry Delve feels that it is appropriately paired with "Ticket to the Moon" on the single since both songs "share lyrical references and have a similar string arrangement." But Delve also feels that these two songs were not the most commercial songs on ''Time'' to be released as singles, especially since their lyrics can be "enigmatic" and mystifying" outside the context of the concept album. The intro of 'Here is the News' is also used in the idents and channel branding of the

VPRO The VPRO (stylized vpro; originally an acronym for , ) is a Dutch public broadcaster, which forms a part of the Dutch public broadcasting system. Founded in 1926 as a liberal Protestant broadcasting organization, it gradually became more soc ...

, a Dutch broadcasting channel. The idents of the VPRO with 'Here is the News' have been used as leaders on television since 1981 (except 1985–1987), and are used since 2010 at the end of a program. The VPRO used to use the intro on the radio to inform listeners of Radio 3 (later NPO 3FM) that a program of the VPRO was about to start. The intro of the song was also used by

Television Malta Television Malta ( mt, Televixin Malta; TVM) is a terrestrial television network in Malta operated by the national broadcaster, Public Broadcasting Services. Alongside the main TVM network, PBS operates a sister channel TVMNews+ (formerly TVM 2 ...

in the intro to their news program between 1988 and 1999; now it is used by Radio Aniol Beskidow as news jingle.

Chart positions

References

{{authority control 1982 singles Electric Light Orchestra songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Songs written by Jeff Lynne 1981 songs Jet Records singles Songs about the media