All Over the World

All Over the World is a song written and made famous by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released as a single in mid-1980 in both the UK and the USA. In that year the song made it to No. 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and to No. 11 on the UK singles chart.

The song was written by Jeff Lynne specifically for the 1980 feature film Xanadu. It appeared in a sequence with the film’s stars Olivia Newton-John, Gene Kelly, and Michael Beck. Lynne wrote about half the songs for the film, with All Over the World also appearing on the soundtrack album Xanadu, and in the 2007 Broadway musical Xanadu.

Lynne said of the song, “I’m really pleased with the music. This song never lets up, and it’s very catchy and optimistic.”

The lyrics include references to a number of famous world cities including London, Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Los Angeles, New York City, Amsterdam and Monte Carlo. The last place named in the list is Shard End, a suburb of Birmingham, England where Jeff Lynne, the composer, was born.

This choral arrangement, with a driving piano accompaniment, is available in SATB, SSAA and SAB voicings.