The 1977 song that became Jeff Lynne’s favourite to play live: “I just love the chords”
Jeff Lynne found his calling after witnessing The Beatles craft The White Album.
That moment clarified his ambition: to create music as universally resonant as theirs, reaching audiences around the globe. With this vision, he could imagine Electric Light Orchestra as the second coming of the Fab Four, even if he was the only one carrying that torch.
Lynne’s admiration for The Beatles was never about imitation alone. He was fascinated by their ability to blend experimentation with accessibility, creating music that pushed boundaries while still connecting with millions of listeners around the world.
“I was blown away,” Lynne later said, reflecting on the moment he witnessed one of the greatest bands in the history of music scathe away to make sonic magic. Two years later, ELO was born out of Lynne’s desire to create and his vision to keep the spirit and feel of the Beatles alive, no matter what that might have looked or sounded like.
That ambition quickly set ELO apart from many of their contemporaries. Rather than simply following rock trends, Lynne sought to combine classical influences, pop melodies and studio innovation into something that felt both familiar and entirely new.
It’s a comparison the musician gets a lot, even without any preconceived idea about his inspirations: “This sounds like the Beatles,” many who hear his music for the first time say, finding mutual musical blends filtered throughout many of his songs almost like a delicious encounter with déjà vu. Of course, there are many differences, but it’s often hard to ignore the subtle nods at every corner.
One major aspect of Lynne’s music that resonated, whether Beatles-inspired or not, was how much value he placed on the fusion of energy, upbeat rhythms, and catchy melodies. This is precisely why ‘Mr. Blue Sky’ became so popular—not only did it borrow tropes from the many that came before, but it also tapped into the universal urge to stop everything for a moment and just have fun—an endearing trait Lynne enhances during live performances to create a more unified atmosphere.
Live performances, for Lynne, are always a good opportunity to escape, which is often compounded by a great catchy tune or one with stark simplicity. In his view, the best live tracks are the ones that reinstate the true power of music, allowing fans to resign themselves to the joyful feeling of musical immersion, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Often, this energy is extracted from a simple melody or a couple of chords, proving that complexity isn’t usually needed to incite audience connectivity.
For this reason, he once admitted his favourite song to play live is ‘Turn To Stone’, a fun and upbeat track that immediately pulls you in. The opening track to Out of the Blue, ‘Turn To Stone’ came together during a two-week writing marathon in Switzerland, relying on nothing more than simple feeling and a desire to create something people would consistently come back to, even if its appeal is unclear.
Still, it’s obvious why this is Lynne’s favourite to perform live. Not only is it, in his words, “simple” and “very evocative”, but it also includes a middle section in which he talks “super fast”, which gives it a subtle comedic twist that audiences love to sing along to during live performances. Explaining why it’s his favourite during live setlists to Steve Baltin, he said: “‘Turn To Stone’ is very, very simple. But I love playing it, it’s my favourite song to play. I just love the chords. The simplicity of it is the best thing about it.”
The comment neatly sums up Lynne’s broader approach to songwriting. Beneath the strings, harmonies and elaborate production techniques, his greatest songs are often built around deceptively simple ideas that linger long after the music stops.
