At the very beginning of this song (beloved in my childhood), a man’s voice says, like a weatherman, “The forecast for today is… blue skies.” Anyone know whose voice that is? Sounds a lot like Ted Knight from “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” but I haven’t been able to confirm that.
The line is “Today’s forecast calls for blue skies!”
You know, there’s a Mr. Blue Sky here on the SDMB. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll stumble in here by chance. As much of a fan of ELO as I am, I do not know the answer to your question; he might, since it’s the source of his screen name.
I can mention that Volkswagen used this song in their commercials when the first released the new convertible Beetle. Does that make you feel better?
No? OK, watch this video then.
Can I bump a thread this old? OK, I’ll try…
I’ve always wondered the same. To me, the voice seems to have a British cast to it (which would make sense, given that the band is British). I’ve read a lot about ELO and their songs over the years, but I’ve never seen mention of whose voice that might be (as opposed to, for example, the singer at the beginning of “Rockaria!”, who was an unnamed female opera singer of the band’s acquaintance).
Does anyone else see this song as a riff on the Beatles?
Lots of their songs sound Beatle-ish. “10538 Overture” seems to borrow from “Dear Prudence”, for example. Jeff Lynne made no secret of the strong influence, and John Lennon once described ELO as “son of Beatles”.
If I remember correctly, Mr. Blue Sky is an animal when it comes to knowledge of ELO. Has he been around lately?
EDIT: I just searched and he doesn’t appear to have darkened our door since April 2006. 
My favourite thing about this song is the little voice at the end that says “Please turn me over.” Because it was the last track on that side of the album.
And you try to explain that to kids these days…
It was actually David Tennant.
Cite?
I suspect that’s a Doctor Who reference / joke; Tennant (born in 1971) would have been 6 when Mr. Blue Sky was recorded.
If you listen closely, I’m pretty sure that’s Patrick Troughton playing the recorder in “Daybreaker”. 
Gah, I had completely forgotten about this particular reference…
There’s a Tennant-era Doctor Who episode, “Love & Monsters”, which depicts a group of amateur sleuths who track the Doctor’s activities. They also happen to be ELO fans, and several ELO songs (including “Mr. Blue Sky”) appear in the episode.
Ah, got it. Thanks.