September 18, 2024 • 54 mins
In this episode of *Listen to This*, host Eric Leckey takes listeners on a nostalgic journey through the iconic music produced by the legendary Jeff Lynne. From his work with Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) to collaborations with Tom Petty, George Harrison, and the Traveling Wilburys, Leckey delves into the genius behind Lynne's distinctive sound. As the songs play, Leckey provides insightful commentary on Lynne's production techniques, his influence on rock music, and the timeless appeal of his tracks. Tune in for a trip through music history, celebrating one of rock's greatest producers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another fabulous episode of Listen to This. This
is the podcast that is dedicated to bringing you stories
behind the artists, behind the songs, and hopefully we are
introducing you to old songs that have influenced all that
music that you hear today. The goal is I want
you to hear an artist that you might not normally
listen to and search out their music on whatever streaming
service you subscribe to, and maybe just maybe search it
(00:23):
out on vinyl, cassette, eight track or laser disc, any
of the cool old things that's physical media. We invite
you to subscribe, comment, and please recommend this podcast to
a friend.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Every episode has a.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Theme, and today's theme is Songs produced by jeff Lynn.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Never in the history of the United States a monster
of such size and power.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Welcome to Listen to This, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs and artists with a theme
to tie it all together.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Here's your hosts, Eric Lecky.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Mister Jeffrey Lynn as an e musician. He's a singer, songwriter,
and of course a record producer. He's the co founder
and currently the sole member of the rock band Electric
Light Orchestra commonly referred to as ELO. They were formed
in nineteen seventy and as a songwriter, he's written most
of the band's hits, but he has also produced songs
(01:20):
for others, which is what I wanted to showcase today
in kind of a more breaking from the traditional episodes
that I do. As a writer and producer, Jefflyn does
have a pretty good resume. Jefflyn's songbook first opened more
than five decades earlier with a move in the mid sixties.
As a co founder of the EL band, Lynn wrote
(01:40):
and arranged a majority of the band songs, including hits
that we all know like Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman,
Mister Blue Sky, hold On Tight, many many others.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Lynn has remained the key.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Songwriter within ELO's catalog, from their self titled nineteen seventy
one debut through all the way through twenty nineteen's Out
of Nowhere. You will see a lot of repeat artists
on today's episode because he really worked with a lot
of artists very closely and repetitively. So we're gonna play
a few songs from the same artists over and over again.
But I wanted to give you a good idea of
(02:12):
Jeff Lynn and his producing skills, and we're going to
start it off with mister Tom Petty, before.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
All of this.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Ever and down.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
None of the place. Another ten.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
You j.
Speaker 8 (02:45):
Abason the crowd, You j abasion the cradd.
Speaker 9 (03:03):
Walking the rap, basing the crab, out of the dream, out.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Of this gap, into.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
My arm, into my life.
Speaker 7 (03:35):
A new a j basing the crowd, You jet a
basing the crowd.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We started you off there with a song from Tom Petty,
a face in the crowd. Tom Petty never dove into
the meaning of this one, but he's It was a
really sweet.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Song with a nice sentiment.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It tells the story of a girl who comes out
of nowhere to win his heart before all of this
ever went down. As he says in the song, if
there was a real life inspiration, it would probably be
his first wife, Jane, whom he married nineteen seventy four
before he was famous. They were still married when Petty
released this song on his nineteen eighty nine Full Moon
(04:23):
Fever album. They divorced in nineteen ninety six, and by
the way, that album's a great album. Petty wrote this
song with Jeff Lynn, best known of course as the
Elo frontman, but he wore many hats, including playing some
of the instruments that would appear on this record. In
nineteen eighty, he and Petty were part of a supergroup,
The Traveling Wilbury's. Petty wrangled him to co produce Full
(04:47):
Moon Fever, and this is the first time Petty was
putting a little distance between himself and his band, Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers, but not too much because Heartbreakers
guitarist Mike Campbell played on it as also worked as
songwriting team in on the production along with Jeff Lynn.
According to Mike Campbell, jeff Lynn was a wizard in
the studio and they were happy to let him do
(05:09):
his sorcery. The album did very well, out selling any
Tompetty and the Heartbreakers album, but Tom Petty had no
interest in remaining a solo artist. He pulled the band
back together for their nineteen ninety one album, Into the
Great Wide Open.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
It's all out two nights, Love, can you do? It's
all that to night, She's all value you, the love
she gave even then you threw it.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
All away, look goodbye.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
So don't even try. Don't even try.
Speaker 12 (06:06):
It's too late, Love, What can you say? It's too
late love because she's gone away.
Speaker 11 (06:22):
Yes, section bar.
Speaker 13 (06:24):
Aserves no me too to you made a cry.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
So don't even try, don't even try.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That was Brian Adams with his song don't even Try.
Brian Adams made his album Get Up exclamation Point, produced
by Jeff Lynn. Of course, that's why it's in this episode.
Adams first Metland back in nineteen eighty seven in the UK.
It was a director of a TV pilot that was
never made who put the pair together and the guy said, quote,
(07:05):
I need some songs. I'm gonna get my buddy Jeff
to do one, recalled Adams in an interview with Billboard magazine.
He said, oh, you know Jeff, Yeah, tell him.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I said, Hi.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The next thing I know, I get a message from Jeff,
and he says, next time you're in LA, let's grab
a cup of tea. That's all it took, and Jeff
all of a sudden started being my regular producer. The
Get Up Album, or I should say Get Up exclamation
Point Album recording process really took place intermittently. Adams sent
demos of songs to Lynn, who would then create finished tracks.
(07:37):
The Ello frontman gravitated to this Beatles flavored demo. When
I played that song for Jeff, he looked at me
and said, that sounds like a rubber soul outtake. Adams said.
The director of that TV series wanted songs that had
a sixties feel, so I was going for that and
it just came out with that kind of a sound.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Night Jo.
Speaker 14 (09:04):
Bad.
Speaker 11 (09:18):
Whatever happened to the life that we once knew?
Speaker 14 (09:25):
Can we really live without charge?
Speaker 9 (09:31):
Where did we lose the touch?
Speaker 11 (09:34):
It seemed to me so much.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
It always made me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Sa It's hard to find unknown Beatles tracks to play,
(10:10):
but that was one that most people don't know unless
you're a real Beatle file. I guess, as they'd be called,
that was a song Free as a Bird. John Lennon
recorded this as a demo in nineteen seventy seven. The
other Beatles recorded around his tracks to complete the song
in nineteen ninety four. The next year it was released
as a single. Jeff Lynn produced this song along with
(10:33):
Ringo Starr and George Harrison, who both played by the
Way on ELO's two thousand and one album Zoom. Lynn
had quite a task on this song, as Lennon's original
vocal was mixed in with the piano track.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
They couldn't.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
They didn't have the technology to really separate the voice
from the piano. Yoko Ono agreed to release Lennon's demo
to the other Beatles the day after he was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yogo got
a bad rap by a lot of Beatles fans, but
she's been very protective of Lennon's legacy. This is one
of the few projects that she has authorized on his behalf.
(11:07):
Some royalties were donated to the Romanian Aids charity that
was set up by Elton John and some of the
Beatles' wives. The phrase turned out nice Again at the
end of the song is a reference to George Formby,
a musical hall entertainer who played the ukulelean is represented
in the closing scenes of the video. Turned out Nice
(11:27):
Again was Formby's catch phrase. The connection here is that
George Harrison played the ukulele and was a member of
the George Formby Appreciation Society even attended their gatherings. Harrison
was said to have a ukulelean every room of his
home and even gave one to McCartney early on in
their careers. Jeff Lynn said in an interview that Of
(11:48):
all the songs he's produced, Free as a Bird is
the one he's the most proud of. Quote because I
just had to improvise and come up with a few
things to make it work and recalled. I did it
late at night, three am in the student you, just
me and the engineer, because I didn't want to do
it in front of Paul and George. But I came
in the next day and Paul gave me a hug
and with a tear and as I said, you've done it,
well done.
Speaker 15 (12:09):
I love you, man God a good woman, and she
makes me happy most of the time. I make her
happy too. We decided we should live again.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
So we both said I have you. And when someone says, hey.
Speaker 11 (12:36):
Joe, let's saw you.
Speaker 16 (12:38):
Own genie and happy, well do me? I just shake
my head and smiled. Look, ayes, you.
Speaker 15 (12:49):
See, I'm just lucky.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
That way.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Started in nowhere.
Speaker 11 (13:05):
I did have far the fall.
Speaker 14 (13:09):
And the times a ball were the in the the world.
Thet're not so bad after all.
Speaker 11 (13:25):
Bad started.
Speaker 8 (13:42):
Nowhere.
Speaker 14 (13:45):
You didn't have far to fall, and the times I
thought into the world, You're not so bad after all.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
The only member of the Eagles that I can even
stand Joe Walsh with his song Lucky that Way.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And I guess I.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Like Joe Walsh because a lot of self deprecation in
his songs.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Doesn't take himself too seriously.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
He's just out there having fun, good guitar player, whereas
the rest of the Eagles just seemed like they had
a big stick up their ass. And I don't know, anyways,
enough of my hatred of the Eagles. When Walsh sang
on his song Life's Been Good in nineteen seventy eight,
he was viewing it through the base of a bottle.
Let's just say, since then he had cleaned up his act,
and this song serves almost as a sequel, though he
(14:33):
admitted in an interview that he didn't really plan it
that way. Walsh penned this cut with Tommy Lee James.
It was the late Barbara Orbison who hooked up Walsh
with the Nashville songwriter. He explained to Billboard Magazine, quote
Barbara Orbison Ray Roy. Orbison's wife took care of his
publishing and had an office in Nashville where a bunch
(14:53):
of writers worked. A lot of what comes out of
Nashville's because of a group of people. This group of
People and Potent Killer, and Barbara Orbison sent us a
guy named Tommy Lee James out to Los Angeles to
work with me, and he brought the beginnings of Lucky
that Way, which I immediately loved, so he co wrote
it and went ahead and wrote three other songs together
on the album. Joe Walsh is married to Marjorie Bach,
(15:16):
the sister of Ringo Starr's wife Barbara Bach. This song
features his ex beatle brother in law on drums.
Speaker 14 (15:37):
Rescue Besscinning.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Lo only hours away for GoSports.
Speaker 11 (16:05):
I can't go the Silence of the Lone.
Speaker 14 (16:13):
Da Stuny.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I wrote the book, The Man, the Game, Da Stuny.
Now I've learned out of day the main.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Try out Satday.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I can't it twain the way I'm feeling down.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Try Out Sunday I did explain.
Speaker 11 (16:46):
And now I'm walking.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Ride back to.
Speaker 14 (16:50):
Me and go along and never any.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
If I gave you sep two guesses as to who
that band was, I bet you would not get it
in all seventy two guesses. Go ahead, shout out a
few guesses. I could hear you over the radio. Nope,
that's not it. Nope, you were close that's not it either.
What about you over in Connecticut. Nope, that's a horrible no,
It's no, that's not it either. Anyways, if you want
(17:18):
to know who it is, that was the Everly Brothers.
It had been eleven years since The Everly Brothers released
a new album since their album passed the Chicken and
Listen Great Album title in nineteen eighty four. They made
their comeback with EB eighty four, which stands for Everly
Brothers eighty four, not as good of an album name.
(17:39):
On the album, Jeff Lynn also wrote and produced the
song The Story of Me, which is the song I
just played for you. Rescue me before my dreams have
flown away, Rescue me, take me back with you again.
The Lonely Hour. As I wait for Don's caress, I
can't forget the silence of lonely neess.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
He sings, Someone's gonna fish someone's hide and drive someone's
own a mission to the.
Speaker 6 (18:06):
Lonely Laurel line.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
Some folks got a vision.
Speaker 17 (18:12):
Of a castle in the sky, and I'm.
Speaker 11 (18:18):
Left stranded wondering why.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
You and me to gather.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Nothing feels so good, even an cared from a local neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (18:39):
I only a castle.
Speaker 18 (18:41):
They got castles in the side, and I'm still stranded wondering.
Speaker 14 (18:50):
Why thet a beautiful night for me?
Speaker 5 (19:02):
It's aside bag.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
That was the song Beautiful Night by Sir Paul McCartney.
This song finds Paul McCartney singing about his desire to
stay the night with the person he loves. Originally recorded
in August of eighty six in New York City, McCartney
redid the track a decade later for his Flaming Pie album.
The song features Ringo on drums. McCartney had recalled that
(19:48):
he'd been meaning to do something with Ringo for years,
and at that point they had done very little work
together outside.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Of the Beatles.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It was Flaming Pie producer Jeff Lynn who suggested getting
Ringo out there to play the drums on the album.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I had this song Beautiful Night, which I had written
quite a few years ago. I always liked it, but
felt I didn't quite have the right version of it,
McCartney had said. So I got this song out for
when Ringo was coming in and right away it was
just like the old days. Rego Star also played on
the Flaming Pie track Really Love You, which is a
pretty good song. The pair wrote that song during a
(20:24):
jam session and recorded it the day after a Beautiful night.
McCartney recorded the song at Abbey Roads Studios with an orchestra.
Former Beatles producer George Martin did the orchestral arrangement along
with jeff Lynn.
Speaker 19 (20:43):
Shino Shine shut.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Ups, the ocean calls to me.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
The ninety is still. She's working on me.
Speaker 17 (21:04):
The stars of the sad.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
They're super light to me, forever shining on me.
Speaker 14 (21:12):
Jo listen, I can't think of anything, And give me
one and what you.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Be to come and.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Let it shot, let it shine.
Speaker 14 (21:35):
Whoa, there becomes a burning fire here it fails me
with desigh and trolla dis apree.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
Feels like he's go groo me.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Brian Wilson co wrote this song Let It Shine with
jeff Lynn. The pair penned the tune at Wilson's house
in Malibu, right by the sea shore. It is instantly
recognizable as both a Wilson song and a jeff Lynn song.
Jeff Lynn recalled collaboration in an interview in twenty sixteen, quote,
I really enjoyed doing the sessions. I remember fixing the
(22:41):
bassline which went from the highest letter on the grid
downright to the bottom the e or a string, and
he walked in while I was doing it. He stared
at me and said, that's the longest goddamn bass string
I've ever seen, and we all laughed.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I was quite pleased with that.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Feeling.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Away from the cross dove Wave gets black.
Speaker 14 (23:23):
Mad, all rolling rating and sleep been as lady.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It's magic.
Speaker 14 (23:34):
And s desire.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
I haven't.
Speaker 11 (23:51):
It's a lad anything.
Speaker 14 (23:55):
It's a termorable thing too.
Speaker 11 (23:59):
It's again everything.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What the tell about that?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
I can believe this is what you can see from
your worst day.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
I'm taking a dim moving in line, and you look
back in time to the first day I'm taken. I'll
take and you sweet this day.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Don't you do it?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Don't you do it? I remer say that.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
It's a land.
Speaker 20 (24:58):
Everything, It's a living thing. It's a terrible thing to lose.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
All those Elo songs are great sing along songs. There's
been a lot of speculation as to what this song
is about, with a popular rumor being that is an
anti abortion statement, but I don't really know. Eelo frontman
Jeff Lynn has said it's simply about the loss of love,
although its initial inspiration was a bout of food poisoning
of all things. He let that slip in an interview
(25:40):
in twenty fourteen, quote, You'll never be able to listen
to it the same again, he said, I wouldn't want
anyone to think about it's about eating bad piea on
a Spanish holiday. The song features uncredited vocals by Patti Quattro,
the sister of Susie Quatro, bre Brandt and Addie Lee,
who were all one time members of the female rock
(26:00):
group Fanny kind Of popular overseas too. According to Suzi
Quatro's autobiography, the trio sang the higher and higher parts
on the song.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Live and Thing returned to.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
A Billboard chart for the first time in forty years
in twenty seventeen as a result of its being featured
in a Volkswagen ad. Fueled by its appearance in the ad,
the tune re entered the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Right Now.
Speaker 11 (27:08):
On the show line.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
That if so time.
Speaker 11 (27:26):
My note with job searching for her silver I.
Speaker 19 (27:37):
Can I get out of my.
Speaker 13 (27:42):
Don't pay get it out.
Speaker 18 (27:46):
Of my now?
Speaker 21 (27:49):
My?
Speaker 18 (27:49):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Okay jack.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Out another Elo song for you that Jeff Lynn produced,
Can't Get It Out of My Head. This is one
of several fan favorites from the album El Dorado, considered
by many to be jeff Lynn's best album. The album
cover shows what appears to be the scene from the
(28:18):
movie The Wizard of Oz, as though wicked Witch tries
to snatch Dorothy's ruby red slippers. This was ELO's first
top forty hit in the US, However, it did not
chart in their native UK, despite their four previous top
forty hits over across the Pond.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Jeff Lynn wrote this.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Track and had previously led The Idol, which is a band,
and later co founded The Move, which is also another band,
with Roy Wood and Bev Bevon, before finally creating ELO.
The album El Dorado sold and went gold, becoming the
sixteenth best selling album in nineteen seventy four in the US.
(28:56):
Can't Get It Out of My Head was featured in
the nineteen seventy seven soundtrack of the film Joyride. Lynn
recalled in an addition of VH one's Storytellers that he
found inspiration for the song in an unfulfilled reveries of
an everyday bloke that he knew.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's about a guy in a dream who sees the
vision of loveliness and wakes up to find that he's
actually a cleric working at a bank, he said, and
he hasn't got any chance of her or doing all
these wonderful things that he thought he was going to
do with her. Jeff Lynn revealed that he wrote the
song to prove a point to his dad. He explained
that they were arguing about something when his father said,
that's a trouble with your tunes today. They've got no
(29:35):
bloody tune. So Lynn said to himself, I'll show you
a tune, and wrote, can't get it out of my head,
just to show him I could write something with a
nice tune.
Speaker 22 (30:01):
Every time I have to lie, it tears me a Paul.
Every time I see you cry takes a frus of love.
Speaker 15 (30:17):
I know that.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
Said I'd never never walk away round you.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
I know that said I'd always.
Speaker 14 (30:29):
Been her my whole life.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
I've got to work.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Every time I'MBI that hurts more and more. There was
a time I couldn't see none off the show.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
I know that.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
I can help.
Speaker 14 (31:12):
I say, don't why it has to be the wind?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That was Del Shannon with walk Away. It was written
by jeff Lynn, Tom Petty and Del Shannon. It was
Del Shannon's final album before his death in nineteen ninety
and the album was called Rock on exclamation Point. It
was produced by Jeff Lynn and Mike Campbell, Tom Petty's guitarist,
and the opening track of the album is walk Away.
(31:53):
Every time I have to lie, it tears me apart.
Every time I see you cry, it takes a piece
of my heart. I know that I said I'd never
walk away from you. I know that i'd say I'd
make it my whole life through. I've got to walk away.
There's nothing left that I can do but walk away. Slowly,
turn my eyes from you and walk away.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
The way for.
Speaker 13 (33:13):
It needs making, the streets, its rains, least strains.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
Its steet.
Speaker 13 (33:41):
I'm the strong.
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Exactly while my life.
Speaker 13 (33:52):
Susan I st.
Speaker 11 (33:56):
Wait for.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
That is a pretty good song.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It was an unfinished song written by John Lennon that
was completed by the remaining Beatles. It was the second
of the quote New releases for the Anthology two album.
The song I Played You Free as a Bird was
the first of.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
These two songs.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yoko Ono supplied Lennon's demos and gave the remaining Beatles
permission to use them. Lennon recorded his demo on a
small tape recorder, which posed a challenge when Lynn tried
to mix it with updated tracks. He was able to
use a noise reduction system to improve the sound. Paul
McCartney did his best John Lennon imitation to help the
(34:48):
lead vocal because the recording of John's voice was low
and spotty.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
In some places.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
The lead vocals actually a blend of John and Paul duetting.
This is the only Beatles song where the songwriting credit
is John Lennon alone instead of the standard Lennon McCartney,
which or even all four of the Beatles. It was
really the only one, according to notes in the John
Lennon album Acoustic. When Lennon wrote this song, the original
(35:13):
title was girls and Boys.
Speaker 17 (35:18):
Back Then, long time ago, when Gress's cool, all go.
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Days arrived, Strangers.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
And night.
Speaker 17 (35:39):
One time ago when he was when in contexts he
has Chriss's faced dream the morning light.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
Sure desist, don't.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
We did.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
A time ago when we was spent? I will do
a we laugh.
Speaker 18 (36:31):
And while you're in this world, the Fir's gonna comment
gay you, but you move Ben Helwise.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
When the Bust gonna comment, take You.
Speaker 23 (36:49):
Go, Take You.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
A song I didn't like as much when I first
heard it, but it's one of the songs that grows
on you and becomes a very good sing a long
song you'll sing.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
A chorus throughout your day. Just watch.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That was George Harrison with the song When We Was Fab.
George Harrison wrote this about the days of beatle Mania
when the group was known as the Fab Four. With
the lyrics he was just having a goof. He called
it a complete joke of words. The lyrics are written
after the track was complete. Harrison gave it the working
title Assi Fab because it was written in Australia and
(37:34):
it sounded like a Beatles song. He decided to use
Fab and the title make it a playfully nostalgic song
about the Beatles. Harrison wrote a far more sanguine song
about the Beatles all those years ago in nineteen eighty one,
following John Lennon's death. Jeff Lynn of Elo wrote this
song along with Harrison, and of course also produced it
(37:54):
with him, along with the rest of the whole album.
A huge Beatles fan. Jeff Lynn also appears briefly in
the video for this song just looked for the guy
with the big white guy afro in the back. Lynn's
influence on this song is apparently in the cello, which
is played by a Philharmonic Orchestra member named Bobby Cox.
Two of the Fab Four actually played on the song.
(38:15):
Ringo Starr was the drummer. Knowing he had his former
bandmate on board, Harrison started writing the song, thinking of
a drum pattern that Ringo would have played back in
the sixties. Harrison came up with a drum part and
he nicknamed the Beatles song Glass Onion, but later realized
it didn't fit. Harrison and jeff Lynn put the song
together at the end of nineteen eighty six when they
(38:37):
went to Australia to see the Adelaide Grand Prix. They
ended up at someone's house for dinner and was a
grand piano there. They both sat down and started writing
out the chords, the verse and then the melody. They
recorded their impromptu session on a cassette tape, which they
recovered when they started recording the album in England. They
(38:57):
stole the bridge from another song they were working on.
At the top i'man further refine the track before finally
at the end writing the lyrics, Harrison slipped in a
Bob Dylan reference in the song with the line it's
all over now, baby Blue, which is, of course the
title of a really fantastic nineteen sixty five Bob Dylan.
Speaker 11 (39:15):
Song, She got at the event and it's gonna be good.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
Bet you can go after never.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
She has to be.
Speaker 11 (39:53):
Babe, does she.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Did?
Speaker 5 (39:59):
She get that out of the strain?
Speaker 6 (40:04):
She can't either us drive a milin.
Speaker 20 (40:10):
She's so good.
Speaker 14 (40:12):
Look cat in the rain.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
She's coming down the sidewalks.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
He's coming through the door.
Speaker 11 (40:27):
He's coming over the lace and never going. He steps
down over the door.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
Up, He's going to step drinks and coming on, honey,
go down.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That was the Traveling Wilbury's with She's My Baby.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Love that song.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
This is a rocker of a song, and it marked
the return of the Traveling will who first released their
first album in nineteen eighty eight with the lineup of
George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynn, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty.
Just weeks after that album was released, Orbison died of
a heart attack. The four remaining Wilburys decided to make
another album without him, which they jokingly titled Volume three
(41:18):
even though it was their second album. She's My Baby
was the lead single from that album. The song and
album weren't as well received as the previous material, and
the Willburys folded the tent soon after. All four group
members wrote this song and share the lead vocals. Petty,
Harrison and Lynn could spend months polishing a song, but
with the Wilburys, they kept the polish on the shelf,
(41:40):
writing and recording it pretty much on the fly. They
were just there to have fun. A lot of what
they came up with was this throwback of a song
evoking kind of a fifties rock song. You can certainly
hear it on this track where they were just having
fun singing about a special girl. She could drive a truck,
she can drive a train, she could even drive an aeroplane.
Each group member was a signed a Willbury name, which
(42:02):
changed for this album where they became George Harrison became
Spike Willbury, Bob Dylan was Boo Willbury, Tom Perry was
Muddy Willbury, and Jeff Lynn was Clayton Willbury.
Speaker 21 (42:14):
Like a ove of Domina, Just want to touch him
down with God, Pentouse, sweet with Champagne Views, Minds, Deliciously Confused,
(42:45):
Little Black Dresser, the.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Do Not Disturb cover of the Dog.
Speaker 13 (43:00):
Sound of Love, Love.
Speaker 6 (43:08):
Like a Row of Domino.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Just to show you it wasn't all big artist that
jeff Lynn worked with. This is an absolute nobody in
terms of music sales. I mean about three episodes of
this podcast added together would have more downloads than this artist,
Juliana Ray. And I really really don't mean that as
an insult. She has a lovely voice. I just wanted
to showcase that jeff Lynn didn't always go for the
(43:37):
biggest names when he decided to produce an artist. He
just heard something in her that led to this production
of the album, and he worked for scale pay rate,
which is quite a favor on his part. She became
briefly well known in nineteen ninety three when her work
as a backing singer and songwriter persuaded producer Jeff Lynn
and Warner Brothers Records executives Larry Wannerker to give her
(44:00):
a major label debut album, released on the reprise record
for the album Something Peculiar. Despite Warner's backing and Jeff
Lynn as a producer, the nineteen ninety three album failed.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
To make a commercial impact, and it was not until
two thousand and two that.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Ray attempted a comeback with a rock pop album, Restless Night,
which also didn't sell very well.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
This is what you wanted to see me?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
It should be away, It should be away?
Speaker 13 (45:54):
She got.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
That was Dave Edmonds with Information.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Edmunds scored a big hit in nineteen seventy with I
Hear You Knocking, then went on to form the band.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Rock Pile, a great band.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Slipping Away brought him back to the US charts, and
the song was the follow up to Slipping Away.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Information. It's about a guy who's totally into a girl
he barely knows. He wants to learn more.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
About her, so he become the man of her dreams.
Edmunds wrote this song with Mark Ratis, who had a
minor hit in nineteen seventy six with If you can't
Beat Him, Join Him. He also wrote the cheap trick
song Tonight It's You. Jeff Lynn produces track, adding his
distinctive electronic sound that he developed with Electric Light Orchestra.
(46:41):
Edmunds produced his own material up to this point, but
reached out to Lynn for help with the Information album.
Lynn also produced the other single from the album that
I mentioned before slipping Away. This sound was at odds
with Edmund's previous work, and many of his fans were
taken aback by this let's call it techno turn quote.
I got a lot of crap, he said. Once they
(47:03):
heard a synthesizer, they were like, oh Dave, what have
you done?
Speaker 2 (47:06):
You've sold out.
Speaker 24 (47:15):
Some said the local lake had been enchanted. Others said
it must have been the weather.
Speaker 5 (47:25):
The neighbors were trying to keep it quiet, but I
swear that I could hear the laughter.
Speaker 24 (47:36):
So they jokingly nicknamed it the porridge because over night
the lake had turned the stick as butter, but the
local kids would still go swimming, drinking, saying that to them,
it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (47:54):
Matter if you just sold then your.
Speaker 22 (48:01):
Do you go back and full.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
Hold your bround? Do you start through your fool?
Speaker 7 (48:18):
The genius next door was bussing.
Speaker 23 (48:20):
Tables WHI can't clean the catch a bottle label, getting
high mumbling German fables.
Speaker 7 (48:33):
Didn't care as.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Long as he was able.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
That was Genius next Door by American alternative singer songwriter
Regina Spector from her two thousand and nine album Far
Jeff produced the album, which got a lot of critical success,
but it really didn't translate to large sales in the
public music criticism or what I call the pitchfork dot
com syndrome, Because a mostly pompous music review site known
(49:02):
as Pitchfork no longer actually reviews an album. They always
have to think of it in grander terms, like what
does this song contribute to a social cause? Or what
are the political meanings behind the artists? Et cetera, et
ceter They're no longer actually critiquing the music anyways. The
star contradictions of the critics relating to Specter exemplify a
larger problem in modern music criticism. Very few writers truly
(49:23):
analyze music from an artistic perspective, at least not any longer.
Although Lynn, as founder of Elo and co founder of
The Traveling Woolbury's, has an expansive musical background, Specter did
not know of his work when she originally met him.
Quote Regina's songs are like literature, said Lynn, who doesn't
usually work with new artists, but said that Specter's demo
(49:44):
tapes blew him away. It hits you right in the face.
How brilliant she is, he said, And now we have
come to the finish, and we will end with a
velvety voice of mister Roy Orbison and the song you
Got It. Great song. One of the most distinctive and
successful singers of the sixties, Roy Orbison fell out of
(50:04):
favor in the seventies, but came into the light late
in the eighties with the support of a generation of
musicians who drew upon his influence. Along with George Harrison,
Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, Bob Dylan, Orbison joined the Traveling Wilbury's,
which released their first album in nineteen eighty eight. That year,
his fellow Wilbury's helped him record a comeback album, Mystery Girl,
(50:26):
which was completed when Orbison died of a heart attack
on December sixth of nineteen eighty eight. The album was
released in January of eighty nine, with You Got It
as the first single. The song went to number nine
in the US, giving Orbison his first top ten hit
since Pretty Woman in nineteen sixty four. Orbison wrote this
(50:46):
song with Jeff Lynn and Tom Petty. Lynn produced the
track and also played guitar, keyboards, and even the bass.
Petty played acoustic guitar and sang backup This song is
a declaration of love, with Orbison letting his girl will
know that anything she wants, anything at all.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
He will provide.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
It proved that Roy Orbison's signature style was still in demand.
While you can hear the updated musical conventions and the
instruments and the handclaps, Orbison's trembling, vulnerable voice and poetic
lyrics remained faithful to his nineteen sixties style. Orbison performed
this song just once at the Diamond Awards Festival in Antwerp, Belgium,
(51:26):
in November of nineteen ninety eight. This performance was used
in the song's music video. So we are wrapping up
for the day, kind of a different episode than we
normally do. Songs produced by jeff Lynn. Hope you enjoyed
it and we will be back next week with something
even grander and bigger.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
We love you all.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Please recommend this podcast to a friend and of course
this is a fantastic song.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Go ahead and turn it up.
Speaker 11 (52:00):
Love, I still love and money just said by Mumble
from you, I.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
Truth away, I pray.
Speaker 18 (52:23):
That you.
Speaker 20 (52:25):
For you.
Speaker 6 (52:27):
Tuesday anything else?
Speaker 7 (52:32):
Why you got it?
Speaker 5 (52:34):
Then you see him here?
Speaker 6 (52:37):
You got it?
Speaker 5 (52:39):
Anything I had all you got it. Away.
Speaker 11 (52:49):
Every time I hold you, I begin too long.
Speaker 25 (52:53):
First day, everything about you told me time O man, hello,
mylabeleve you.
Speaker 6 (53:13):
No W.
Speaker 11 (53:16):
Can do.
Speaker 5 (53:18):
You thing?
Speaker 7 (53:20):
You do.
Speaker 6 (53:23):
Anything? You you got.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
Anything, you got anything.
Speaker 11 (53:34):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (53:42):
Anything you.
Speaker 4 (53:46):
Thank you for listening. To listen to this, please recommend
to a friend and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
For more podcasts and online content, please visit This is
Funner dot com is
Welcome to another fabulous episode of Listen to This. This
is the podcast that is dedicated to bringing you stories
behind the artists, behind the songs, and hopefully we are
introducing you to old songs that have influenced all that
music that you hear today. The goal is I want
you to hear an artist that you might not normally
listen to and search out their music on whatever streaming
service you subscribe to, and maybe just maybe search it
(00:23):
out on vinyl, cassette, eight track or laser disc, any
of the cool old things that's physical media. We invite
you to subscribe, comment, and please recommend this podcast to
a friend.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Every episode has a.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Theme, and today's theme is Songs produced by jeff Lynn.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Never in the history of the United States a monster
of such size and power.
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Welcome to Listen to This, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs and artists with a theme
to tie it all together.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Here's your hosts, Eric Lecky.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Mister Jeffrey Lynn as an e musician. He's a singer, songwriter,
and of course a record producer. He's the co founder
and currently the sole member of the rock band Electric
Light Orchestra commonly referred to as ELO. They were formed
in nineteen seventy and as a songwriter, he's written most
of the band's hits, but he has also produced songs
(01:20):
for others, which is what I wanted to showcase today
in kind of a more breaking from the traditional episodes
that I do. As a writer and producer, Jefflyn does
have a pretty good resume. Jefflyn's songbook first opened more
than five decades earlier with a move in the mid sixties.
As a co founder of the EL band, Lynn wrote
(01:40):
and arranged a majority of the band songs, including hits
that we all know like Don't Bring Me Down, Evil Woman,
Mister Blue Sky, hold On Tight, many many others.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Lynn has remained the key.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Songwriter within ELO's catalog, from their self titled nineteen seventy
one debut through all the way through twenty nineteen's Out
of Nowhere. You will see a lot of repeat artists
on today's episode because he really worked with a lot
of artists very closely and repetitively. So we're gonna play
a few songs from the same artists over and over again.
But I wanted to give you a good idea of
(02:12):
Jeff Lynn and his producing skills, and we're going to
start it off with mister Tom Petty, before.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
All of this.
Speaker 6 (02:27):
Ever and down.
Speaker 7 (02:31):
None of the place. Another ten.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
You j.
Speaker 8 (02:45):
Abason the crowd, You j abasion the cradd.
Speaker 9 (03:03):
Walking the rap, basing the crab, out of the dream, out.
Speaker 7 (03:22):
Of this gap, into.
Speaker 6 (03:26):
My arm, into my life.
Speaker 7 (03:35):
A new a j basing the crowd, You jet a
basing the crowd.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
We started you off there with a song from Tom Petty,
a face in the crowd. Tom Petty never dove into
the meaning of this one, but he's It was a
really sweet.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Song with a nice sentiment.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
It tells the story of a girl who comes out
of nowhere to win his heart before all of this
ever went down. As he says in the song, if
there was a real life inspiration, it would probably be
his first wife, Jane, whom he married nineteen seventy four
before he was famous. They were still married when Petty
released this song on his nineteen eighty nine Full Moon
(04:23):
Fever album. They divorced in nineteen ninety six, and by
the way, that album's a great album. Petty wrote this
song with Jeff Lynn, best known of course as the
Elo frontman, but he wore many hats, including playing some
of the instruments that would appear on this record. In
nineteen eighty, he and Petty were part of a supergroup,
The Traveling Wilbury's. Petty wrangled him to co produce Full
(04:47):
Moon Fever, and this is the first time Petty was
putting a little distance between himself and his band, Tom
Petty and the Heartbreakers, but not too much because Heartbreakers
guitarist Mike Campbell played on it as also worked as
songwriting team in on the production along with Jeff Lynn.
According to Mike Campbell, jeff Lynn was a wizard in
the studio and they were happy to let him do
(05:09):
his sorcery. The album did very well, out selling any
Tompetty and the Heartbreakers album, but Tom Petty had no
interest in remaining a solo artist. He pulled the band
back together for their nineteen ninety one album, Into the
Great Wide Open.
Speaker 10 (05:30):
It's all out two nights, Love, can you do? It's
all that to night, She's all value you, the love
she gave even then you threw it.
Speaker 5 (05:51):
All away, look goodbye.
Speaker 11 (05:57):
So don't even try. Don't even try.
Speaker 12 (06:06):
It's too late, Love, What can you say? It's too
late love because she's gone away.
Speaker 11 (06:22):
Yes, section bar.
Speaker 13 (06:24):
Aserves no me too to you made a cry.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
So don't even try, don't even try.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
That was Brian Adams with his song don't even Try.
Brian Adams made his album Get Up exclamation Point, produced
by Jeff Lynn. Of course, that's why it's in this episode.
Adams first Metland back in nineteen eighty seven in the UK.
It was a director of a TV pilot that was
never made who put the pair together and the guy said, quote,
(07:05):
I need some songs. I'm gonna get my buddy Jeff
to do one, recalled Adams in an interview with Billboard magazine.
He said, oh, you know Jeff, Yeah, tell him.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
I said, Hi.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
The next thing I know, I get a message from Jeff,
and he says, next time you're in LA, let's grab
a cup of tea. That's all it took, and Jeff
all of a sudden started being my regular producer. The
Get Up Album, or I should say Get Up exclamation
Point Album recording process really took place intermittently. Adams sent
demos of songs to Lynn, who would then create finished tracks.
(07:37):
The Ello frontman gravitated to this Beatles flavored demo. When
I played that song for Jeff, he looked at me
and said, that sounds like a rubber soul outtake. Adams said.
The director of that TV series wanted songs that had
a sixties feel, so I was going for that and
it just came out with that kind of a sound.
Speaker 6 (08:36):
Night Jo.
Speaker 14 (09:04):
Bad.
Speaker 11 (09:18):
Whatever happened to the life that we once knew?
Speaker 14 (09:25):
Can we really live without charge?
Speaker 9 (09:31):
Where did we lose the touch?
Speaker 11 (09:34):
It seemed to me so much.
Speaker 7 (09:38):
It always made me.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Sa It's hard to find unknown Beatles tracks to play,
(10:10):
but that was one that most people don't know unless
you're a real Beatle file. I guess, as they'd be called,
that was a song Free as a Bird. John Lennon
recorded this as a demo in nineteen seventy seven. The
other Beatles recorded around his tracks to complete the song
in nineteen ninety four. The next year it was released
as a single. Jeff Lynn produced this song along with
(10:33):
Ringo Starr and George Harrison, who both played by the
Way on ELO's two thousand and one album Zoom. Lynn
had quite a task on this song, as Lennon's original
vocal was mixed in with the piano track.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
They couldn't.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
They didn't have the technology to really separate the voice
from the piano. Yoko Ono agreed to release Lennon's demo
to the other Beatles the day after he was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yogo got
a bad rap by a lot of Beatles fans, but
she's been very protective of Lennon's legacy. This is one
of the few projects that she has authorized on his behalf.
(11:07):
Some royalties were donated to the Romanian Aids charity that
was set up by Elton John and some of the
Beatles' wives. The phrase turned out nice Again at the
end of the song is a reference to George Formby,
a musical hall entertainer who played the ukulelean is represented
in the closing scenes of the video. Turned out Nice
(11:27):
Again was Formby's catch phrase. The connection here is that
George Harrison played the ukulele and was a member of
the George Formby Appreciation Society even attended their gatherings. Harrison
was said to have a ukulelean every room of his
home and even gave one to McCartney early on in
their careers. Jeff Lynn said in an interview that Of
(11:48):
all the songs he's produced, Free as a Bird is
the one he's the most proud of. Quote because I
just had to improvise and come up with a few
things to make it work and recalled. I did it
late at night, three am in the student you, just
me and the engineer, because I didn't want to do
it in front of Paul and George. But I came
in the next day and Paul gave me a hug
and with a tear and as I said, you've done it,
well done.
Speaker 15 (12:09):
I love you, man God a good woman, and she
makes me happy most of the time. I make her
happy too. We decided we should live again.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
So we both said I have you. And when someone says, hey.
Speaker 11 (12:36):
Joe, let's saw you.
Speaker 16 (12:38):
Own genie and happy, well do me? I just shake
my head and smiled. Look, ayes, you.
Speaker 15 (12:49):
See, I'm just lucky.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
That way.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Started in nowhere.
Speaker 11 (13:05):
I did have far the fall.
Speaker 14 (13:09):
And the times a ball were the in the the world.
Thet're not so bad after all.
Speaker 11 (13:25):
Bad started.
Speaker 8 (13:42):
Nowhere.
Speaker 14 (13:45):
You didn't have far to fall, and the times I
thought into the world, You're not so bad after all.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
The only member of the Eagles that I can even
stand Joe Walsh with his song Lucky that Way.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
And I guess I.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Like Joe Walsh because a lot of self deprecation in
his songs.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Doesn't take himself too seriously.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
He's just out there having fun, good guitar player, whereas
the rest of the Eagles just seemed like they had
a big stick up their ass. And I don't know, anyways,
enough of my hatred of the Eagles. When Walsh sang
on his song Life's Been Good in nineteen seventy eight,
he was viewing it through the base of a bottle.
Let's just say, since then he had cleaned up his act,
and this song serves almost as a sequel, though he
(14:33):
admitted in an interview that he didn't really plan it
that way. Walsh penned this cut with Tommy Lee James.
It was the late Barbara Orbison who hooked up Walsh
with the Nashville songwriter. He explained to Billboard Magazine, quote
Barbara Orbison Ray Roy. Orbison's wife took care of his
publishing and had an office in Nashville where a bunch
(14:53):
of writers worked. A lot of what comes out of
Nashville's because of a group of people. This group of
People and Potent Killer, and Barbara Orbison sent us a
guy named Tommy Lee James out to Los Angeles to
work with me, and he brought the beginnings of Lucky
that Way, which I immediately loved, so he co wrote
it and went ahead and wrote three other songs together
on the album. Joe Walsh is married to Marjorie Bach,
(15:16):
the sister of Ringo Starr's wife Barbara Bach. This song
features his ex beatle brother in law on drums.
Speaker 14 (15:37):
Rescue Besscinning.
Speaker 7 (16:01):
Lo only hours away for GoSports.
Speaker 11 (16:05):
I can't go the Silence of the Lone.
Speaker 14 (16:13):
Da Stuny.
Speaker 3 (16:17):
I wrote the book, The Man, the Game, Da Stuny.
Now I've learned out of day the main.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Try out Satday.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
I can't it twain the way I'm feeling down.
Speaker 5 (16:42):
Try Out Sunday I did explain.
Speaker 11 (16:46):
And now I'm walking.
Speaker 5 (16:49):
Ride back to.
Speaker 14 (16:50):
Me and go along and never any.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
If I gave you sep two guesses as to who
that band was, I bet you would not get it
in all seventy two guesses. Go ahead, shout out a
few guesses. I could hear you over the radio. Nope,
that's not it. Nope, you were close that's not it either.
What about you over in Connecticut. Nope, that's a horrible no,
It's no, that's not it either. Anyways, if you want
(17:18):
to know who it is, that was the Everly Brothers.
It had been eleven years since The Everly Brothers released
a new album since their album passed the Chicken and
Listen Great Album title in nineteen eighty four. They made
their comeback with EB eighty four, which stands for Everly
Brothers eighty four, not as good of an album name.
(17:39):
On the album, Jeff Lynn also wrote and produced the
song The Story of Me, which is the song I
just played for you. Rescue me before my dreams have
flown away, Rescue me, take me back with you again.
The Lonely Hour. As I wait for Don's caress, I
can't forget the silence of lonely neess.
Speaker 7 (17:57):
He sings, Someone's gonna fish someone's hide and drive someone's
own a mission to the.
Speaker 6 (18:06):
Lonely Laurel line.
Speaker 7 (18:09):
Some folks got a vision.
Speaker 17 (18:12):
Of a castle in the sky, and I'm.
Speaker 11 (18:18):
Left stranded wondering why.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
You and me to gather.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Nothing feels so good, even an cared from a local neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (18:39):
I only a castle.
Speaker 18 (18:41):
They got castles in the side, and I'm still stranded wondering.
Speaker 14 (18:50):
Why thet a beautiful night for me?
Speaker 5 (19:02):
It's aside bag.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
That was the song Beautiful Night by Sir Paul McCartney.
This song finds Paul McCartney singing about his desire to
stay the night with the person he loves. Originally recorded
in August of eighty six in New York City, McCartney
redid the track a decade later for his Flaming Pie album.
The song features Ringo on drums. McCartney had recalled that
(19:48):
he'd been meaning to do something with Ringo for years,
and at that point they had done very little work
together outside.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Of the Beatles.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
It was Flaming Pie producer Jeff Lynn who suggested getting
Ringo out there to play the drums on the album.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I had this song Beautiful Night, which I had written
quite a few years ago. I always liked it, but
felt I didn't quite have the right version of it,
McCartney had said. So I got this song out for
when Ringo was coming in and right away it was
just like the old days. Rego Star also played on
the Flaming Pie track Really Love You, which is a
pretty good song. The pair wrote that song during a
(20:24):
jam session and recorded it the day after a Beautiful night.
McCartney recorded the song at Abbey Roads Studios with an orchestra.
Former Beatles producer George Martin did the orchestral arrangement along
with jeff Lynn.
Speaker 19 (20:43):
Shino Shine shut.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Ups, the ocean calls to me.
Speaker 5 (21:00):
The ninety is still. She's working on me.
Speaker 17 (21:04):
The stars of the sad.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
They're super light to me, forever shining on me.
Speaker 14 (21:12):
Jo listen, I can't think of anything, And give me
one and what you.
Speaker 6 (21:21):
Be to come and.
Speaker 7 (21:26):
Let it shot, let it shine.
Speaker 14 (21:35):
Whoa, there becomes a burning fire here it fails me
with desigh and trolla dis apree.
Speaker 5 (21:54):
Feels like he's go groo me.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Brian Wilson co wrote this song Let It Shine with
jeff Lynn. The pair penned the tune at Wilson's house
in Malibu, right by the sea shore. It is instantly
recognizable as both a Wilson song and a jeff Lynn song.
Jeff Lynn recalled collaboration in an interview in twenty sixteen, quote,
I really enjoyed doing the sessions. I remember fixing the
(22:41):
bassline which went from the highest letter on the grid
downright to the bottom the e or a string, and
he walked in while I was doing it. He stared
at me and said, that's the longest goddamn bass string
I've ever seen, and we all laughed.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I was quite pleased with that.
Speaker 5 (23:19):
Feeling.
Speaker 7 (23:20):
Away from the cross dove Wave gets black.
Speaker 14 (23:23):
Mad, all rolling rating and sleep been as lady.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
It's magic.
Speaker 14 (23:34):
And s desire.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
I haven't.
Speaker 11 (23:51):
It's a lad anything.
Speaker 14 (23:55):
It's a termorable thing too.
Speaker 11 (23:59):
It's again everything.
Speaker 3 (24:03):
What the tell about that?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
I can believe this is what you can see from
your worst day.
Speaker 5 (24:31):
I'm taking a dim moving in line, and you look
back in time to the first day I'm taken. I'll
take and you sweet this day.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Don't you do it?
Speaker 3 (24:48):
Don't you do it? I remer say that.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
It's a land.
Speaker 20 (24:58):
Everything, It's a living thing. It's a terrible thing to lose.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
All those Elo songs are great sing along songs. There's
been a lot of speculation as to what this song
is about, with a popular rumor being that is an
anti abortion statement, but I don't really know. Eelo frontman
Jeff Lynn has said it's simply about the loss of love,
although its initial inspiration was a bout of food poisoning
of all things. He let that slip in an interview
(25:40):
in twenty fourteen, quote, You'll never be able to listen
to it the same again, he said, I wouldn't want
anyone to think about it's about eating bad piea on
a Spanish holiday. The song features uncredited vocals by Patti Quattro,
the sister of Susie Quatro, bre Brandt and Addie Lee,
who were all one time members of the female rock
(26:00):
group Fanny kind Of popular overseas too. According to Suzi
Quatro's autobiography, the trio sang the higher and higher parts
on the song.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Live and Thing returned to.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
A Billboard chart for the first time in forty years
in twenty seventeen as a result of its being featured
in a Volkswagen ad. Fueled by its appearance in the ad,
the tune re entered the Rock Digital Song Sales Chart.
Speaker 6 (27:03):
Right Now.
Speaker 11 (27:08):
On the show line.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
That if so time.
Speaker 11 (27:26):
My note with job searching for her silver I.
Speaker 19 (27:37):
Can I get out of my.
Speaker 13 (27:42):
Don't pay get it out.
Speaker 18 (27:46):
Of my now?
Speaker 21 (27:49):
My?
Speaker 18 (27:49):
Oh?
Speaker 7 (27:52):
Okay jack.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
Out another Elo song for you that Jeff Lynn produced,
Can't Get It Out of My Head. This is one
of several fan favorites from the album El Dorado, considered
by many to be jeff Lynn's best album. The album
cover shows what appears to be the scene from the
(28:18):
movie The Wizard of Oz, as though wicked Witch tries
to snatch Dorothy's ruby red slippers. This was ELO's first
top forty hit in the US, However, it did not
chart in their native UK, despite their four previous top
forty hits over across the Pond.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
Jeff Lynn wrote this.
Speaker 1 (28:35):
Track and had previously led The Idol, which is a band,
and later co founded The Move, which is also another band,
with Roy Wood and Bev Bevon, before finally creating ELO.
The album El Dorado sold and went gold, becoming the
sixteenth best selling album in nineteen seventy four in the US.
(28:56):
Can't Get It Out of My Head was featured in
the nineteen seventy seven soundtrack of the film Joyride. Lynn
recalled in an addition of VH one's Storytellers that he
found inspiration for the song in an unfulfilled reveries of
an everyday bloke that he knew.
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Quote.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
It's about a guy in a dream who sees the
vision of loveliness and wakes up to find that he's
actually a cleric working at a bank, he said, and
he hasn't got any chance of her or doing all
these wonderful things that he thought he was going to
do with her. Jeff Lynn revealed that he wrote the
song to prove a point to his dad. He explained
that they were arguing about something when his father said,
that's a trouble with your tunes today. They've got no
(29:35):
bloody tune. So Lynn said to himself, I'll show you
a tune, and wrote, can't get it out of my head,
just to show him I could write something with a
nice tune.
Speaker 22 (30:01):
Every time I have to lie, it tears me a Paul.
Every time I see you cry takes a frus of love.
Speaker 15 (30:17):
I know that.
Speaker 11 (30:20):
Said I'd never never walk away round you.
Speaker 6 (30:25):
I know that said I'd always.
Speaker 14 (30:29):
Been her my whole life.
Speaker 5 (30:34):
I've got to work.
Speaker 6 (30:52):
Every time I'MBI that hurts more and more. There was
a time I couldn't see none off the show.
Speaker 7 (31:07):
I know that.
Speaker 6 (31:10):
I can help.
Speaker 14 (31:12):
I say, don't why it has to be the wind?
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That was Del Shannon with walk Away. It was written
by jeff Lynn, Tom Petty and Del Shannon. It was
Del Shannon's final album before his death in nineteen ninety
and the album was called Rock on exclamation Point. It
was produced by Jeff Lynn and Mike Campbell, Tom Petty's guitarist,
and the opening track of the album is walk Away.
(31:53):
Every time I have to lie, it tears me apart.
Every time I see you cry, it takes a piece
of my heart. I know that I said I'd never
walk away from you. I know that i'd say I'd
make it my whole life through. I've got to walk away.
There's nothing left that I can do but walk away. Slowly,
turn my eyes from you and walk away.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
The way for.
Speaker 13 (33:13):
It needs making, the streets, its rains, least strains.
Speaker 6 (33:28):
Its steet.
Speaker 13 (33:41):
I'm the strong.
Speaker 6 (33:46):
Exactly while my life.
Speaker 13 (33:52):
Susan I st.
Speaker 11 (33:56):
Wait for.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
That is a pretty good song.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
It was an unfinished song written by John Lennon that
was completed by the remaining Beatles. It was the second
of the quote New releases for the Anthology two album.
The song I Played You Free as a Bird was
the first of.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
These two songs.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yoko Ono supplied Lennon's demos and gave the remaining Beatles
permission to use them. Lennon recorded his demo on a
small tape recorder, which posed a challenge when Lynn tried
to mix it with updated tracks. He was able to
use a noise reduction system to improve the sound. Paul
McCartney did his best John Lennon imitation to help the
(34:48):
lead vocal because the recording of John's voice was low
and spotty.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
In some places.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
The lead vocals actually a blend of John and Paul duetting.
This is the only Beatles song where the songwriting credit
is John Lennon alone instead of the standard Lennon McCartney,
which or even all four of the Beatles. It was
really the only one, according to notes in the John
Lennon album Acoustic. When Lennon wrote this song, the original
(35:13):
title was girls and Boys.
Speaker 17 (35:18):
Back Then, long time ago, when Gress's cool, all go.
Speaker 7 (35:25):
Days arrived, Strangers.
Speaker 6 (35:31):
And night.
Speaker 17 (35:39):
One time ago when he was when in contexts he
has Chriss's faced dream the morning light.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
Sure desist, don't.
Speaker 3 (36:05):
We did.
Speaker 6 (36:15):
A time ago when we was spent? I will do
a we laugh.
Speaker 18 (36:31):
And while you're in this world, the Fir's gonna comment
gay you, but you move Ben Helwise.
Speaker 6 (36:46):
When the Bust gonna comment, take You.
Speaker 23 (36:49):
Go, Take You.
Speaker 1 (37:01):
A song I didn't like as much when I first
heard it, but it's one of the songs that grows
on you and becomes a very good sing a long
song you'll sing.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
A chorus throughout your day. Just watch.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
That was George Harrison with the song When We Was Fab.
George Harrison wrote this about the days of beatle Mania
when the group was known as the Fab Four. With
the lyrics he was just having a goof. He called
it a complete joke of words. The lyrics are written
after the track was complete. Harrison gave it the working
title Assi Fab because it was written in Australia and
(37:34):
it sounded like a Beatles song. He decided to use
Fab and the title make it a playfully nostalgic song
about the Beatles. Harrison wrote a far more sanguine song
about the Beatles all those years ago in nineteen eighty one,
following John Lennon's death. Jeff Lynn of Elo wrote this
song along with Harrison, and of course also produced it
(37:54):
with him, along with the rest of the whole album.
A huge Beatles fan. Jeff Lynn also appears briefly in
the video for this song just looked for the guy
with the big white guy afro in the back. Lynn's
influence on this song is apparently in the cello, which
is played by a Philharmonic Orchestra member named Bobby Cox.
Two of the Fab Four actually played on the song.
(38:15):
Ringo Starr was the drummer. Knowing he had his former
bandmate on board, Harrison started writing the song, thinking of
a drum pattern that Ringo would have played back in
the sixties. Harrison came up with a drum part and
he nicknamed the Beatles song Glass Onion, but later realized
it didn't fit. Harrison and jeff Lynn put the song
together at the end of nineteen eighty six when they
(38:37):
went to Australia to see the Adelaide Grand Prix. They
ended up at someone's house for dinner and was a
grand piano there. They both sat down and started writing
out the chords, the verse and then the melody. They
recorded their impromptu session on a cassette tape, which they
recovered when they started recording the album in England. They
(38:57):
stole the bridge from another song they were working on.
At the top i'man further refine the track before finally
at the end writing the lyrics, Harrison slipped in a
Bob Dylan reference in the song with the line it's
all over now, baby Blue, which is, of course the
title of a really fantastic nineteen sixty five Bob Dylan.
Speaker 11 (39:15):
Song, She got at the event and it's gonna be good.
Speaker 6 (39:36):
Bet you can go after never.
Speaker 7 (39:43):
She has to be.
Speaker 11 (39:53):
Babe, does she.
Speaker 6 (39:58):
Did?
Speaker 5 (39:59):
She get that out of the strain?
Speaker 6 (40:04):
She can't either us drive a milin.
Speaker 20 (40:10):
She's so good.
Speaker 14 (40:12):
Look cat in the rain.
Speaker 7 (40:17):
She's coming down the sidewalks.
Speaker 6 (40:26):
He's coming through the door.
Speaker 11 (40:27):
He's coming over the lace and never going. He steps
down over the door.
Speaker 5 (40:32):
Up, He's going to step drinks and coming on, honey,
go down.
Speaker 1 (40:51):
That was the Traveling Wilbury's with She's My Baby.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Love that song.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
This is a rocker of a song, and it marked
the return of the Traveling will who first released their
first album in nineteen eighty eight with the lineup of
George Harrison, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynn, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty.
Just weeks after that album was released, Orbison died of
a heart attack. The four remaining Wilburys decided to make
another album without him, which they jokingly titled Volume three
(41:18):
even though it was their second album. She's My Baby
was the lead single from that album. The song and
album weren't as well received as the previous material, and
the Willburys folded the tent soon after. All four group
members wrote this song and share the lead vocals. Petty,
Harrison and Lynn could spend months polishing a song, but
with the Wilburys, they kept the polish on the shelf,
(41:40):
writing and recording it pretty much on the fly. They
were just there to have fun. A lot of what
they came up with was this throwback of a song
evoking kind of a fifties rock song. You can certainly
hear it on this track where they were just having
fun singing about a special girl. She could drive a truck,
she can drive a train, she could even drive an aeroplane.
Each group member was a signed a Willbury name, which
(42:02):
changed for this album where they became George Harrison became
Spike Willbury, Bob Dylan was Boo Willbury, Tom Perry was
Muddy Willbury, and Jeff Lynn was Clayton Willbury.
Speaker 21 (42:14):
Like a ove of Domina, Just want to touch him
down with God, Pentouse, sweet with Champagne Views, Minds, Deliciously Confused,
(42:45):
Little Black Dresser, the.
Speaker 5 (42:52):
Do Not Disturb cover of the Dog.
Speaker 13 (43:00):
Sound of Love, Love.
Speaker 6 (43:08):
Like a Row of Domino.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
Just to show you it wasn't all big artist that
jeff Lynn worked with. This is an absolute nobody in
terms of music sales. I mean about three episodes of
this podcast added together would have more downloads than this artist,
Juliana Ray. And I really really don't mean that as
an insult. She has a lovely voice. I just wanted
to showcase that jeff Lynn didn't always go for the
(43:37):
biggest names when he decided to produce an artist. He
just heard something in her that led to this production
of the album, and he worked for scale pay rate,
which is quite a favor on his part. She became
briefly well known in nineteen ninety three when her work
as a backing singer and songwriter persuaded producer Jeff Lynn
and Warner Brothers Records executives Larry Wannerker to give her
(44:00):
a major label debut album, released on the reprise record
for the album Something Peculiar. Despite Warner's backing and Jeff
Lynn as a producer, the nineteen ninety three album failed.
Speaker 2 (44:11):
To make a commercial impact, and it was not until
two thousand and two that.
Speaker 1 (44:14):
Ray attempted a comeback with a rock pop album, Restless Night,
which also didn't sell very well.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
This is what you wanted to see me?
Speaker 2 (45:14):
It should be away, It should be away?
Speaker 13 (45:54):
She got.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
That was Dave Edmonds with Information.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Edmunds scored a big hit in nineteen seventy with I
Hear You Knocking, then went on to form the band.
Speaker 2 (46:08):
Rock Pile, a great band.
Speaker 1 (46:09):
Slipping Away brought him back to the US charts, and
the song was the follow up to Slipping Away.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Information. It's about a guy who's totally into a girl
he barely knows. He wants to learn more.
Speaker 1 (46:21):
About her, so he become the man of her dreams.
Edmunds wrote this song with Mark Ratis, who had a
minor hit in nineteen seventy six with If you can't
Beat Him, Join Him. He also wrote the cheap trick
song Tonight It's You. Jeff Lynn produces track, adding his
distinctive electronic sound that he developed with Electric Light Orchestra.
(46:41):
Edmunds produced his own material up to this point, but
reached out to Lynn for help with the Information album.
Lynn also produced the other single from the album that
I mentioned before slipping Away. This sound was at odds
with Edmund's previous work, and many of his fans were
taken aback by this let's call it techno turn quote.
I got a lot of crap, he said. Once they
(47:03):
heard a synthesizer, they were like, oh Dave, what have
you done?
Speaker 2 (47:06):
You've sold out.
Speaker 24 (47:15):
Some said the local lake had been enchanted. Others said
it must have been the weather.
Speaker 5 (47:25):
The neighbors were trying to keep it quiet, but I
swear that I could hear the laughter.
Speaker 24 (47:36):
So they jokingly nicknamed it the porridge because over night
the lake had turned the stick as butter, but the
local kids would still go swimming, drinking, saying that to them,
it doesn't.
Speaker 5 (47:54):
Matter if you just sold then your.
Speaker 22 (48:01):
Do you go back and full.
Speaker 5 (48:07):
Hold your bround? Do you start through your fool?
Speaker 7 (48:18):
The genius next door was bussing.
Speaker 23 (48:20):
Tables WHI can't clean the catch a bottle label, getting
high mumbling German fables.
Speaker 7 (48:33):
Didn't care as.
Speaker 6 (48:34):
Long as he was able.
Speaker 1 (48:39):
That was Genius next Door by American alternative singer songwriter
Regina Spector from her two thousand and nine album Far
Jeff produced the album, which got a lot of critical success,
but it really didn't translate to large sales in the
public music criticism or what I call the pitchfork dot
com syndrome, Because a mostly pompous music review site known
(49:02):
as Pitchfork no longer actually reviews an album. They always
have to think of it in grander terms, like what
does this song contribute to a social cause? Or what
are the political meanings behind the artists? Et cetera, et
ceter They're no longer actually critiquing the music anyways. The
star contradictions of the critics relating to Specter exemplify a
larger problem in modern music criticism. Very few writers truly
(49:23):
analyze music from an artistic perspective, at least not any longer.
Although Lynn, as founder of Elo and co founder of
The Traveling Woolbury's, has an expansive musical background, Specter did
not know of his work when she originally met him.
Quote Regina's songs are like literature, said Lynn, who doesn't
usually work with new artists, but said that Specter's demo
(49:44):
tapes blew him away. It hits you right in the face.
How brilliant she is, he said, And now we have
come to the finish, and we will end with a
velvety voice of mister Roy Orbison and the song you
Got It. Great song. One of the most distinctive and
successful singers of the sixties, Roy Orbison fell out of
(50:04):
favor in the seventies, but came into the light late
in the eighties with the support of a generation of
musicians who drew upon his influence. Along with George Harrison,
Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, Bob Dylan, Orbison joined the Traveling Wilbury's,
which released their first album in nineteen eighty eight. That year,
his fellow Wilbury's helped him record a comeback album, Mystery Girl,
(50:26):
which was completed when Orbison died of a heart attack
on December sixth of nineteen eighty eight. The album was
released in January of eighty nine, with You Got It
as the first single. The song went to number nine
in the US, giving Orbison his first top ten hit
since Pretty Woman in nineteen sixty four. Orbison wrote this
(50:46):
song with Jeff Lynn and Tom Petty. Lynn produced the
track and also played guitar, keyboards, and even the bass.
Petty played acoustic guitar and sang backup This song is
a declaration of love, with Orbison letting his girl will
know that anything she wants, anything at all.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
He will provide.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
It proved that Roy Orbison's signature style was still in demand.
While you can hear the updated musical conventions and the
instruments and the handclaps, Orbison's trembling, vulnerable voice and poetic
lyrics remained faithful to his nineteen sixties style. Orbison performed
this song just once at the Diamond Awards Festival in Antwerp, Belgium,
(51:26):
in November of nineteen ninety eight. This performance was used
in the song's music video. So we are wrapping up
for the day, kind of a different episode than we
normally do. Songs produced by jeff Lynn. Hope you enjoyed
it and we will be back next week with something
even grander and bigger.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
We love you all.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
Please recommend this podcast to a friend and of course
this is a fantastic song.
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Go ahead and turn it up.
Speaker 11 (52:00):
Love, I still love and money just said by Mumble
from you, I.
Speaker 5 (52:17):
Truth away, I pray.
Speaker 18 (52:23):
That you.
Speaker 20 (52:25):
For you.
Speaker 6 (52:27):
Tuesday anything else?
Speaker 7 (52:32):
Why you got it?
Speaker 5 (52:34):
Then you see him here?
Speaker 6 (52:37):
You got it?
Speaker 5 (52:39):
Anything I had all you got it. Away.
Speaker 11 (52:49):
Every time I hold you, I begin too long.
Speaker 25 (52:53):
First day, everything about you told me time O man, hello,
mylabeleve you.
Speaker 6 (53:13):
No W.
Speaker 11 (53:16):
Can do.
Speaker 5 (53:18):
You thing?
Speaker 7 (53:20):
You do.
Speaker 6 (53:23):
Anything? You you got.
Speaker 5 (53:27):
Anything, you got anything.
Speaker 11 (53:34):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (53:42):
Anything you.
Speaker 4 (53:46):
Thank you for listening. To listen to this, please recommend
to a friend and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
For more podcasts and online content, please visit This is
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