(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Sun 23 November 2025 18:30, UK
Not all songs are created equal, particularly in terms of shelf-life. Over the years, there have been countless smash-hit singles which have been forgotten about within a matter of months; it takes something very special to stand the test of time over a period of multiple decades, yet ELO’s Jeff Lynne has certainly had his share of generational anthems.
It shouldn’t be overly surprising that the Electric Light Orchestra’s extensive discography still resonates with audiences in this 21st-century age. After all, when Lynne first formed the group alongside his musical comrade Roy Wood, the pair were attempting something far ahead of their time. Combining the infectious power of rock with the experimental nature of prog and the timeless tones of orchestral music, the musical manifesto of ELO was ambitious, to say the least.
After more than a few disastrous live performances, while Lynne waited for technology to catch up with his sonic vision, ELO eventually reached their stride, and there was no stopping them from there. An extensive array of hits and a mounting reputation among the greatest live bands of the era soon followed, and that penchant for performance never really dissipated for Lynne.
Although now, as he reaches his eighth decade here on Earth, Lynne’s touring schedule isn’t quite as exhaustive as it once was, the power of ELO to drag in colossal crowds has never dropped. Any other artist might grow tired or even resentful about performing the same songs year after year, with only slight deviations from the standard setlist, but there are certain tracks that, for the ELO songwriter, have never truly lost their lustre.
Indeed, there are a fair few Light Orchestra tunes which only seem have improved with the passing of time, as audiences attach a greater deal of sentimentality upon them. One such enduring masterpiece is ELO’s 1975 hit ‘Evil Woman’, a song which arguably encapsulated the appeal of Lynne’s outfit during the mid-1970s period, even if the songwriter himself didn’t attach much importance to it at the time.
“‘Evil Woman’, actually [still gives me a thrill],” he shared in one interview back in 1990. “It sounds like a complete song,” he added, cryptically. Part of its appeal for the songwriter, however, probably arises from just how quickly the track came together. With some efforts, Lynne and the band would pour over it for days, week, even months on end, often to no avail, while ‘Evil Woman’, on the contrary, was written and recorded within a matter of minutes.
As Lynne recalled, “I wrote that in about fifteen minutes.” Explaining, “It was really weird because I needed one more song for the album [Face the Music] and all the rest of the group were hanging about and I said, ‘You all go do something and I’ll just write this song on the piano in the studio.’ About half an hour later it was almost ready to record.”
The lyrics soon followed that piano melody, also arriving fully formed in a short space of time. “It was very, very quick,” the songwriter remembered. “Some take months to make. Some just come easy.”
Even still, the song became a transatlantic top-ten upon its release, and quickly carved out a reputation among ELO’s defining tracks, as well as being a go-to track to give audiences a lift during their live shows. It is no wonder, then, that it has never lost its appeal for Jeff Lynne.
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