![\"Jeff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Jeff-Lynne-Electric-Light-Orchestra-1990-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Jeff Lynne)<\/p>\n
Sun 19 April 2026 12:00, UK <\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t many songwriters in the world who have the ability to transform a song with just one simplistic change, but one who has always undoubtedly been blessed with this knack is Jeff Lynne<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s very little that the former Electric Light Orchestra frontman and co-founding Wilbury<\/a> has ever produced that doesn\u2019t have even the faintest whiff of his magic sprinkled over the top of it. While there are certainly songs that may seem weaker than others from his extensive catalogue, there\u2019s usually at least one redeeming feature that has crept its way into the composition, proving that he\u2019s still a master of his craft.<\/p>\n However, even though many songwriters who have this gift make it appear easy, Lynne has always maintained that it doesn\u2019t come without plenty of hard graft, and that he\u2019s entered many dark periods where he didn\u2019t have the belief in his songwriting abilities. Safe to say, the mid-1970s was not one of those periods.<\/p>\n During this spell, Lynne and Electric Light Orchestra were on fine form<\/a>, releasing four classic albums in successive years that produced seven top ten singles between them, and when reflecting upon this string of releases that excelled even his own expectation during a 2014 interview with Jon Kutner, he claimed that one particular song stood out to him for how straightforward the manner in which it came to him was.<\/p>\n \u201cI wrote so many songs so quickly in that 1974\u201378 period, and it was like a conveyor belt, really,\u201d Lynne explained, \u201cI was just banging them out. But I\u2019m particularly pleased with \u2018Livin\u2019 Thing\u2019, because I like the chorus, it\u2019s really interesting. I think it\u2019s interesting because there is one chord change just before \u2018higher and higher, baby\u2019 that makes the whole thing work, and if I hadn\u2019t found that, it would never be a song.\u201d<\/p>\n While there\u2019s nothing particularly complex about the chord progression, what Lynne had done with the existing structure up until that point was trap himself in a minor key, looking for an interesting way of welcoming the song back into a major key without using brute force. <\/p>\n In order for it to feel natural as a segue between the pre-chorus and the main chorus, it needed to have a transitional flow that connected the two parts, so at the end of the verse, Lynne holds on an F minor chord, which he acknowledged could have reverted to C major or G major, but instead of choosing the obvious route, he opted to then move to E minor and D minor, taking the root notes down a whole tone before bringing them back upwards with an F major and G major to return to where things were.<\/p>\n When you think of the song and try to make it progress in one of the alternative ways that Lynne suggested, then it resolves quicker, but lacks the charm that his songs have always possessed.<\/p>\n Searching that little bit longer for the right chord progression, via the means of a quick key change, allowed Lynne to find exactly what the song needed. \u201cIt\u2019s like magic,\u201d the song proclaims, and it might seem like sorcery, but if you know a little bit about your way around chords<\/a> and their relationships, then it turns out it\u2019s more just a case of excellent songcraft.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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