| Confusion | |
| Cover: | Last train to london.jpg |
| Caption: | UK single |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Electric Light Orchestra |
| Album: | Discovery |
| A-Side: | "Last Train to London" (UK) |
| B-Side: | "Poker" (US) |
| Released: | 8 October 1979 (US) |
| Recorded: | 1979 |
| Studio: | Musicland Studios, Munich |
| Genre: | Pop rock |
| Length: | 3:42 |
| Label: | Jet |
| Producer: | Jeff Lynne |
| Prev Title: | Don't Bring Me Down |
| Prev Year: | 1979 |
| Next Title: | I'm Alive |
| Next Year: | 1980 |
"Confusion" is the second song from the 1979 Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) album Discovery. It features 12-string acoustic guitar and vocoder.
It was released in the UK as a double A-side single with "Last Train to London". It peaked at number 8 in the UK Singles Chart, making it the fourth consecutive top 10 single to be taken from the Discovery album. In the United States the song was released as a single with "Poker" on the B-side becoming a more modest hit, reaching number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1]
Billboard rated "Confusion" as "a superbly crafted single," describing it as "a mid-tempo rock track that mixes a Beatlesque sound with a hint of disco."[2] Cash Box called it a "bubbly Lynne concoction, mixing glossy pop melody with alternately grandiose and circus-like keyboard fills" and praised the song's hook and craftsmanship."[3] Record World called it a "mellifluous, pop disc with the everpresent falsetto vocals & keyboard gymnastics."[4]
| Chart (1979–80) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Ö3 Austria Top 40[5] | 5 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles[6] | 20 |
| German Media Control Singles Chart[7] | 6 |
| Irish Singles Chart[8] | 9 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[9] | 19 |
| South African Singles Chart[10] | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart[11] | 8 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 37 |
| US Billboard Adult Contemporary[12] | 41 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 Singles | 47 |