{"id":315600,"date":"2025-08-03T22:07:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T22:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315600\/"},"modified":"2025-08-03T22:07:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T22:07:10","slug":"the-classic-elo-song-jeff-lynne-hated-at-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/315600\/","title":{"rendered":"The classic ELO song Jeff Lynne hated at first"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jeff<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Sun 3 August 2025 16:00, UK <\/p>\n

Musicians disliking early versions of tracks isn\u2019t entirely unheard of, but ELO\u2019s Jeff Lynne<\/a> once hated the original version of a track so much that he erased it and rebuilt it almost from scratch.<\/p>\n

When we think of the broader milestones in ELO and Lynne\u2019s legacy, it\u2019s usually about the success of Out of the Blue, and how it signalled the peak of his creative ambition, not just with timeless melodies but with how he stretched the parameters of musical innovation in an era scrambling to even keep up. This was so apparent that even the subsequent tour had to make some adjustments to cater to some of the more technologically advanced songs on the record with equipment that was still far behind.<\/p>\n

For instance, not every band found itself in the crux of a lip-sync scandal purely because ELO was substituting parts of the sets with more developed technology so that they could actually pull off some of the more innovative songs without the audience feeling disappointed and confused. But what one person regarded as a cop out and a cover-up for a band that couldn\u2019t perform live was ELO\u2019s way of putting on a good show and using tools as a failsafe when they didn\u2019t have the means to perform the songs to the same standard as in the studio.<\/p>\n

Still, all of this supported a broader accomplishment when it came to Out of the Blue, namely the way it all but reinvented basic approaches to music while proving that in 1977, all hope wasn\u2019t lost with being polished and refined but maintaining a level of authenticity and integrity. In fact, for many, it was Lynne\u2019s confidence with those polished productions that made him more authentic than most, even if he struggled to translate this to live spaces at first.<\/p>\n

But technology wasn\u2019t the only thing on Lynne\u2019s mind when it came to innovation. Holding himself to high standards has seemingly been built in from the start, especially as he\u2019s always had this kind of intuitive know-how that means he can trust his gut instinct when he knows something could be done better; a trait he carried with him even in projects with some of the biggest, most legendary names of all time.<\/p>\n

But while Lynne breaking into the Traveling Wilburys\u2019 studio<\/a> seems like a more definitive example of this drive for the utmost artistic excellence, it\u2019s always lingered in the crevices of his approach as a musician, in the subtle ways he sees the best in things enough to know how to disregard them when they\u2019re not living up to their true potential. This was the case with Out of the Blue\u2018s \u2018Sweet Talkin\u2019 Woman\u2019, when Lynne trusted his first feelings with the initial lyrics and decided to tear out the page, crumple it up, and start again.<\/p>\n

Originally called \u2018Dead End Street\u2019, Lynne made it his mission to change it into something people (and himself) would actually like. \u201cIt was a song called \u2018Dead End Street\u2019. I\u2019d done all the words and everything, finished it,\u201d he told Off The Record. \u201cAnd I came down the next day in the studio and I went, \u2018I hate that. Let\u2019s rub all the vocals off.\u2019 And so, he goes, \u2018Really?\u2019 Y\u2019know, me engineer. And I said, \u2018Yup. Get rid of everything off there. Whatever to do with the vocals.\u2019 And he did. He rubbed \u2019em all off.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cAnd I\u2019d been sitting up in the hotel, which is above the studio, working at night just trying to think of a new tune and new words, which I did. And tried it the next day and there they worked. So, it was a good job I did, but it also meant changing the arrangement slightly. So a lot of pairs of scissors were used that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine there was ever a different version of the track, but this also just proves Lynne\u2019s dedication to getting things exactly right (or his tendencies as a perfectionist, through and through). But while some would throw the towel in or disregard a tune completely if it wasn\u2019t very good, Lynne kept at it, knowing exactly what it could be if he applied pressure in all the right places.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Sun 3 August 2025 16:00, UK Musicians disliking early versions of tracks isn\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[42910,114947,77,41450,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-315600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-electric-light-orchestra","9":"tag-elo","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-jeff-lynne","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114967114378214963","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}