Songfacts®:

• Electric Light Orchestra are from Birmingham, England, a place they hold dear. By the mid-'70s they had done lots of touring and seen the world, but they always looked forward to coming back to Birmingham and spending time with friends and family. This song is a tribute to their hometown.
• The song was written by ELO leader Jeff Lynne, who sings on the pre-chorus:
  
  Across the world I've seen
  People and places
  Could be the same
  But with a different name
  
  This is an insight he gleaned from his travels. "I've been away for a long time and I've found that everywhere is exactly the same," he told Melody Maker. "If you've got your friends and acquaintances around you, everywhere is exactly the same."
• The title is a reference to ELO's local soccer team, the Birmingham City Football Club, who are known as the Birmingham Blues because that's their team color. Jeff Lynne is a huge supporter, and the team supports him back, playing the ELO song "Mr. Blue Sky" before their matches.
• "Birmingham Blues" is part of the 1977 Electric Light Orchestra album Out Of The Blue, which also includes "Mr. Blue Sky." Blue is a motif of sorts for the group, who also have songs called "Out Of The Blue" and "Midnight Blue."
• The orchestral part at the beginning of the song is a variation of George Gershwin's classical classic "Rhapsody in Blue" - give ELO credit for committing to the bit. Gershwin's song was released in 1924 and not yet in the public domain, so ELO had make sure what they played wasn't too similar.
• The synthesized voice at the beginning of the song is Jeff Lynne saying, "play soccer," a little call-out to the Birmingham Blues using language that won't confuse Americans, who have a different definition of "football."