All language subtitles for Mr Blue Sky The Story of Jeff Lynne ELO

Funny, shy, ever so clever,

great musician,

and a total twat.

I've heard some of
the end results of what he does

when he stays up all night.

The harmonies stack in and,
you know, the music is great.

He has done Tom Petty

and he has done Paul McCartney,

Roy Orbison, George Harrison.

Jeff's music just has something

That's what that was, see?

But he is a...
a great, great artist, you know

I'm glad you're doing this movie
because somebody should.

He's such a great producer

and a complete control freak,

so he likes to, you know,
do it his way.

He hears the finished thing

way before it's done,

and to have a musician
as complete as he is,

it's a real rare, rare thing.

He is...
I mean, he's a composer,

but he's a recording artist, you
know, that's what he really is.

He makes his music.

And that's all he does,
really, all day,

He makes music every day.

The first band I loved
was the Nightriders, yeah,

Mike Sheridan
and the Nightriders.

I thought they were
just absolutely marvellous.

They had the brown mohair suits
for a start

which convinced me
that they were brilliant.

So in 1966, when I saw
the column in the newspaper,

in the Birmingham Mail,

it said, "Keen lead guitarist
required for Nightriders,"

I went, "What? That's me."

Since I'd seen 'em,
I'd learnt how to play

and I was ready to join,
you know.

"I hope I get in this thing
'cause it's professional."

And I'd been doing all these
horrible little menial jobs,

you know, 'cause I didn't really
wanna go to work.

I wanted to play my guitar.

Hey, Lucy.

So I've got lovely memories
of those days.

Ah, that's better.

Oi!

You have certain styles

and certain
favourite passages in music

that have tickled you probably
since you were an infant,

and I know that for a fact

'cause there was a film
called The High and the Mighty

that I saw
when I was probably about...

I went with my mum and dad
to the cinema in Birmingham.

I would be
about five or something,

and the signature tune to it...

I remember
being knocked out by it.

Oh, what a tune that is.

But I can understand
where my taste

in chords and things comes from

and it comes from way, way back
from being a tiny kid.

Da-da!

This is my very first guitar

that my dad got for me for £2
from his friend

and I've had it all these...

I've had it for, Gordon Bennett,
43 years.

So... Hang on. 40...

Something like that. A lot.

And it was kind of hard to play
when I first got it,

but now, as you can see...

...it plays beautifully
and easily.

A real old banger,
and this is the guitar

that I wrote
all my first songs on.

And if you come in this way,
I'll show you my first studio...

...which is right there.

And that's called
the BNO 2000 Deluxe.

And what you can do on that
is multi-track,

even though it's only
a stereo tape recorder.

You just bounce from the left to
the right and back to the left

and keep adding instruments
as you go.

And this is how I did... this is
how I started out, basically,

as a songwriter and a producer.

This taught me
how to be a producer

and this taught me how to be
a songwriter, so not bad.

What first got me interested
in music was my dad, really.

He used to have
a great record collection

but of all classical music

and a lot of these
great writers.

♪ And you enter sweet desire

♪ You took me

♪ Whoa-oh
Higher and higher, baby

♪ It's a living thing

♪ It's a terrible thing to lose

♪ It's a given thing

♪ What a terrible thing to lose

♪ I'm takin' a dive

♪ On the slide

It was always
like a... a nightmare

getting up at like 7:30
or something to go...

It was dark and I had to go
on the bloody bus.

Go upstairs on the bus

and everybody's like
coughing up their guts.

And you can't see
through the air in there

'cause everybody smoked
in them days.

It was vile, and then
you get off the other end

and you've gotta spend
eight hours in this place

where you don't really
wanna be at all.

That's why I used to have
a guitar stashed somewhere.

You know, and one day I'd look
when nobody's coming,

put it behind some cupboard

and then just pretend
there's nothing there.

Nothing... "I don't know
anything about it."

"Whose it that?"
"Bloody hell. I'll have it."

It was so marvellous

when I didn't have to go to work
that first day

and I knew all I'd gotta do
was go and practise,

and it was just the best fun
you could ever have,

and get paid for it an' all.

The great thing was that
I had a drawer full of money

and my mum one day said,

"Where the hell did all that
money come from in that drawer?

She thought I'd nicked it
or something.

I said, "I've earned it, Mum,
playing music."

"Don't be ridiculous.
Where did you get that from?"

She just wasn't a big fan,
I guess.

Making their first appearance
on our show this week

is a great new group
from Birmingham, The Idle Race.

Well, let's have a word
with one of them.

Roger, you've got how many
records released at the moment?

It's not the same one in America
that you have elsewhere, is it?

We have two, one in America,

which is
Here We Go Round the Lemon Tree,

and the song written by
Jeff Lynne, our lead guitarist,

which is called
Impostors of Life's Magazine.

Well let's give that
a whirl, now, can we?

Yeah, sure.

♪ How do you know what you feel

♪ Is it real
Is it real?

So in The Idle Race
we finally got a record deal,

so I wrote this song called
Impostors of Life's Magazine.

And I can't wait for this thing
to arrive in the mail,

this record that I've made,

and it's gonna have my name
on the label.

I'm going, "Whoa!
I'm gonna be a songwriter."

The thing comes
and I look at it and I go,

"What the hell is that?"

And it says, "Impostors
of Life's Magazine by G Lynn"

without the E on the end,
just L-Y-N-N.

And G, I thought,
"Who's that? Gordon?"

You know, "I don't know
any G Lynn round here."

So I was very, very
disappointed, very upset,

'cause, you know,
it was really my big moment

and it just turned to shit.

♪ Impostors of life's magazine

♪ Impostors of life's...

I loved it because we played
all the pubs in Birmingham

and it was the best
apprenticeship, if you like,

for musicians
that you could ever have,

because you play
in a different pub every night,

or a club, or the town hall

or somewhere, you know,
a bit further afield.

It was quite... It got to be
bigger and bigger as we played.

And I loved playing
with The Idle Race a lot.

After four years
I decided I'd join The Move,

with Bev Bevan and Roy Wood.

We stayed as The Move
for a couple of years

while we made this album
called Electric Light Orchestra

which was
what we decided to call it

when me and Roy used to hang out
at clubs in Birmingham

and discussed
this group with strings.

♪ Did you see your friend
crying from his eyes today...

10538 was the first one I'd eve
written that got in the top ten

so that was a big start.

It was odd because I wasn't
really aware too much of ELO,

but when I went to the concert,
I realised I knew every song.

It was extraordinary.

So I sort of did know,
you know, from the radio.

I just didn't put 'em
all together and go Jeff, ELO.

I think it's always a big
mistake he left The Idle Race.

I think that's
a much better title for a group.

Roy left
after about three months

and he never told us
he was leaving.

He just disappeared and had
this other group called Wizzard

You know,
it was a shame at the time,

but also it proved to be
a big opportunity for me

because I was now the sole
songwriter and the producer.

I'd been doing sessions
for The Move and things

before Jeff joined.

Then he joined The Move
as well and...

And then they formed ELO
and asked me to join,

and I said yes and...

I think they wanted somebody
who could play a bit of piano,

a bit of guitar, a bit of bass
and a bit of singing.

Just to help out
the various other

multi-instrumentalists
in the group,

and that's what I did.

I invited Richard over
to play with me on this film

because he's a great
piano player,

and he's also
a great guitar player,

but the reason
I wanted him there

was 'cause he was there
at the very start.

That's it.

Merci beaucoup.
See you all next week.

♪ Did you hear what he said?

♪ He said they sold me
down the river

♪ They thought I...
thought I was a fool...

♪ Said the rain would fall

♪ What did they know?

♪ Then I saw your face

♪ Heard the song
that you were singing

♪ Though I thought
I knew the words

♪ The tune was quite absurd

♪ And out of key

♪ Doo dah dah Dee

♪ I'm steppin' out...

Usually when I start to write
a song, a new one, you know,

you'll be either messing round
on the piano or the guitar

and the first thing that comes
is really like

two or three chords in sequence

You go,
"Mm, that's interesting."

And you try and work
on those two or three chords

and sort of stretch it out
to a fourth and a fifth,

then you've got a tune
going through it.

And your little tune's wandering
in it and you're going,

"Mm, this is good."

And some songs,
you can finish 'em in 15 minutes

and some can take three months.

You never know
how a song is gonna develop.

♪ I'm steppin' out
I'm steppin' out

♪ I'm steppin' out
I'm steppin' out

♪ I'm steppin' out

♪ Steppin' out

♪ Steppin' out

That's it. I had it there.

When the Heartbreakers
first kicked up,

I had bought one of those... the
first ghetto blasters, you know.

It was a Sony,
made out of metal,

this really industrial
ghetto blaster.

And you couldn't buy many...

Cassettes were just
becoming a thing

and there weren't many for sale,

but they had an ELO one
for sale and I bought that

and I carried it
around with me on tour.

And I played it all the time
and I really liked it

and I thought, you know, just
what a record maker this guy is.

They say everyone was borrowing

from the people they admired.

And so, you know,
when I heard ELO,

it was very what we'd been doing
on Sergeant Pepper,

this sort of...

Cellos, you know, and...

You know, very much
what we'd been into,

very sort of
mathematical strings.

And so I think
the first thing was,

"Ooh, that's...
I know where he got that from."

But then you can't resist it.
It's just so good.

You go, "Oh, God,
it's a bloody good song."

"Wish we'd done that one."
You know.

"God, he's nailed those strings.

"He's singing it great.
That guitar's good."

♪ I'll tell you once more
before I get off the floor

♪ Don't bring me down

♪ Don't bring me down

♪ Grroosss

♪ Don't bring me down

♪ Grroosss

I actually saw ELO play

with the full spaceship
and everything.

That was the first time
I saw Jeff or met Jeff.

He was coming out of a big
spaceship with lots of robots

and then we went to his house.

I ended up throwing a dart
into his dart board

and it bounced off
and went in my arm.

So I remember that day.

♪ Don't bring me down

♪ No, no, no, no, no

♪ Whoo-oo-oo

♪ I'll tell you once more
before I get off the floor

♪ Don't bring me down

You know, if you listen
to something like Mr Blue Sky...

you know, I hear it a lot
in ads now and... or in movies,

and I think it was in a movie
I watched recently,

and it was just...
it's just amazing, you know.

And it's... it's not derivative.

It's... It's not...

It's not really coming
from anybody but Jeff.

Nobody could do it
quite like that.

And I think he's...

He's not noticed enough
for what he does, really.

I mean, all those records
are just incredible.

You know, I mean, I'm a sucker
for sort of the hits,

so Mr Blue Sky
is a pretty special song.

It's probably the one
that everyone would choose,

so it's a bit boring
to choose it.

But it is great.
I mean, it just works.

And if you're in the car
and it's a nice day,

it really works.

You know, I re-recorded
all of my old songs.

When I heard them,
either on the radio

or just happened to play them,

they just didn't have
the sound I remembered

or thought I'd got on them
in the day I did 'em.

Some of 'em are like
35, 36 years old, 37.

So they are quite old, you know

and they were made
on 16 track or 8 track.

It was just nice to have
all this facility of Pro Tools

and just re-do 'em all
in my own time and just...

In the old days I'd have to
do them in like six weeks,

write it, record it,
get in there,

finish it
and be on tour playing them.

But now
I've got time to get 'em

exactly as I really want them.

And luckily
I've managed to do it, I hope.

Yeah, yeah, OK, OK.

OK, that was good. Cut 'em both.

- Yeah.
- Good, OK.

- Two good ones.
- Yeah.

So, anyway,
that's that one done.

♪ Well, I heard the crowd
singin' out of tune

♪ As they sat and sang
Auld Lang Syne

♪ By the light of the moon

♪ I heard the preachers
bangin' on the drums

♪ And I heard the police
playin' with their guns

♪ But I...

♪ I...

♪ Never heard nothin' like you

Just about
every ELO single killed me.

The first time I noticed him was
when The Move cut Do Ya...

I thought that was just this
incredible thing, and it was,

and then he later did it
with ELO

and it was a whole new look at
that song that was really good.

I knew I could make 'em better

because I had
all these years of experience,

like working
with George and Paul

and Roy Orbison and Tom Petty
and all these fantastic people.

I've learned so much
working with them, you know.

I mean, hopefully they learned
a bit working with me too.

♪ Well, I think you know
what I'm trying to say, woman

♪ That is I'd like to save you
for a rainy day, yeah

♪ I've seen
enough of the world to know

♪ That I gotta get it all
to get it all to grow

♪ Do ya, do ya want my love?

♪ Come on now

♪ Do ya, do ya want my face?

♪ I need it

♪ Do ya, do ya want my mind?

♪ All right, yeah!

♪ Do ya, do ya want my love?

♪ Oh, look out!

♪ Do ya, do ya want my love?

♪ Do ya, do ya want my love?

♪ Oh, oh!

♪ Only the lonely

♪ Only the lonely...

Only The Lonely,
I suppose,

is the first one of those thing
when I was real young

that I heard and thought,

"My God, how does that happen?
What is that? How does it work?

"How do all these people
know what they're doing?"

Like it seems like hundreds
in the studio.

Obviously it doesn't sound
that big now,

but it still sounds pretty big,
I tell you.

♪ There goes my baby

♪ And there goes my heart

♪ And they're gone forever

♪ So far apart

♪ But only the lonely...

It sounds fantastic,

and then there's all these
other people

and strings
and backing vocalists

and guitar players, drummer.

And they're all doing it once,
in one go,

and that to me is like...
I never wanna have to do that.

I don't wanna have to set
that up, that session.

That's not my scene.

Mine is the opposite to that,
I like to do it one at a time,

but still come out
with the same result at the end

We had a telephone call,
like from management...

and that Jeff Lynne was trying
to reach Roy Orbison.

And so we allowed the number
to be given to Jeff.

And so maybe three hours later
the telephone rang

and I said, "Hello."

And nobody said anything.

I said, "Hello?" and a click.

Then somebody called again.

And I knew
it was Jeff intuitively.

And then somebody called again.
And I said, "Hello?"

And there was a moment of
silence and then somebody said,

"It's Jeff Lynne.
Could I talk to Roy Orbison?"

And I said,
"Yes, he's waiting for you."

♪ California blue

Thank you
and come back next week.

Thank you very much,
ladies and gentlemen,

and that was my latest song.

Wonderful as it might be.

Ah

Roy Orbison
was just astonishing

because he could just open
his... not even open his mouth.

You'd stand there by the mic an
you'd say, "Has he started yet?

And it'd just
come out gradually.

He was just pretending
to sing it.

OK. You don't want me to go...

♪ Still missing you

♪ California blue

No, it's... it's really
what you hear, you know?

And then... And then
he'd go, "OK, let's do a take."

He'd say, "OK, I think
I've got it. Let's try it."

And you'd... you'd...
you'd start and you go, blam!

All the needles would bend
and it'd be like so loud.

It was like 100 times louder
than when he was practising it,

you know, so it always used
to take you by big surprise.

♪ California blue

And it was Jeff,
really, that got him back

and made him comfortable
with recording again

and really completely
revitalised Roy's career.

We went to the studio
here in Los Angeles. He called.

And it was Roy
and Roy Junior and myself,

and we went
to listen to the songs.

And the first one
that Jeff played for Roy

was A Love So Beautiful.

♪ Too young to understand

♪ To ever know

♪ That lovers drift apart

♪ And that's the way love goes

♪ A love so beautiful

♪ A love...

And it was so amazing for Jeff
to play the song for Roy.

And, you know,
Roy, Kelton and I,

we were just, you know,
in the background,

and Roy listening to what Jeff
had done to the song,

and he just started crying,
and we had never seen that.

I mean, I had been married
to Roy for 20 years,

and, you know, I mean...

Roy Junior had been
in many studios with him

and to see that emotion in Roy.

And then Jeff looking
and Jeff not knowing, I mean,

what to do with Roy
just sitting there

and having tears
roll down his face.

Then the good part came.

Thank God
you got it as up tempo.

♪ Anything you want, you got it

♪ Anything you need, you got it

♪ Anything at all, you got it

♪ Baby

And we got out of the tears.

But it was just so incredible
to see, you know.

Roy always liked finding...

He probably listened
to something

that just totally surprised him,

that he didn't think Jeff could
add to the song, you know?

George wanted
a producer for an album

and he hadn't recorded an album
for like eight, nine years.

He wanted someone to help him

and he had just really started
listening to Jeff's music.

I think Telephone Line was on,
although that's an obvious one,

but it is a very catchy song.

And that was on the jukebox for
a long time before we met Jeff.

So we kind of felt we knew him
when we did meet him.

♪ Hello

♪ How are you?

♪ Have you been all right

♪ Through all those lonely,
lonely, lonely, lonely nights?

And I think everybody's...
had an experience

where, you know,
they've had a bad telephone call

with somebody
they care about, and the...

and the way it gets to you,
and I think he captured that.

♪ Hey

♪ How you feelin'?

♪ Are you still the same?

♪ Don't you realise the things
we did, we did are for real?

♪ Not a dream

♪ I just can't believe

♪ They've all faded out of view

♪ Whoa

Dave Edmunds told me
that George was looking for me,

George Harrison,
and would like to work with me

on his new album.

You know, once he decided
to do an album

and he decided he'd do it with
somebody whose music he liked,

and he got to know Jeff,
that whole process happened.

George wanted to make sure

we were good pals
before we started, so...

we went to Australia
to watch the Grand Prix.

Hanging out
with George Harrison, you know,

and I'm going,
"This is like the best thing."

And, of course, when you're with
George, you can get in anywhere.

And anything you want.
"What would you like?"

"Can we see the cars, like,
and that?"

"Yeah, you can have
a sit in 'em."

You know, in the racing cars
in the Formula 1.

You're going,
"Shit, this is brilliant."

We'd go there in a helicopter,
of course. You don't mess about.

They worked all day
and came out, took a break,

played a bit of cricket
on the lawn,

went back in,
you know, had dinner,

then maybe would go in
and hang out and listen

and then sort of the fun began.

But they were very,
you know, serious

about when they were working

but unhinged when they weren't,
you know.

♪ I got my mind set on you

♪ Set on you

♪ I got my mind set on you

♪ Set on you

♪ But it's gonna take money

♪ A whole lot of spending money

It sounds great to this day
and it kind of defined

that next sort of period
of my dad and Jeff

and the sound they were getting.

You know, Jeff and George
were similar characters

in their humour
and their northern upbringing.

Not too far apart in age.
Maybe they were like...

George might have been
like the older brother.

We were great pals
for like about 16, 17 years.

It was a marvellous time

just to be working with him
then in the studio.

And, I mean, I actually
literally kept pinching myself.

They were very... Just you see
two people that just click.

They just...

They came from a...
a point of... reference

that was just too close for them
not to... not to hit it off.

And they...
they loved each other's music.

It was Full Moon Fever time
as well, wasn't it?

That was when Jeff
had just done Tom's record.

And I remember that record
playing continuously.

And I still...
I love that record.

That's one of
my favourite records.

Yeah, we should do
some of them as well.

- Really?
- Yeah, maybe.

- Just try like a moving one.

- Bluesy, man.
- Yeah.

At the time, I was
renting a house in Beverly Hills

and I was driving down the road
on an errand,

and I pulled up at the light
and looked over

and there was Jeff.

Somebody kept
tooting the horn at me

and I looked and it was Tom,
Tom Petty.

And I'd only met him
once before

and that was at a concert
with Bob Dylan.

He was backing Bob Dylan.

His group, the Heartbreakers,
were backing Bob.

And he stopped me.

I pulled over, I got out
and we had a chat.

And he said... "Wow," he said.

"We're just playing
George Harrison's new album

and it sounds fantastic."

"Do you fancy writing some songs
together and see what happens?"

I said, "Sure, I'd love to."

We played guitars
quite a bit, hanging around,

and we wrote a couple of songs
together, you know.

I had one
and he helped me finish it off.

And the next song we wrote
was Free Fallin',

and so we had the two songs.

It was the Christmas holiday,

so there weren't
many people around,

so we called Mike Campbell,
'cause he had a studio,

and we went over there
and just made those records.

♪ She's a good girl

♪ Loves her mama

♪ Loves Jesus

♪ And America too

And he was kind of leaning over
the piano, as I remember it,

and he said, "Free fallin',"
you know,

and I sang it, but I could only
get half the word in.

♪ Free

And then I put in...
♪ Free fallin'

And he's like, "That's it!"

♪ Now I'm free

♪ Free fallin'

♪ Oh!

♪ Free fallin'

♪ Free fallin'

♪ I'm free...

And so we started work
on a couple of songs.

We did about two or three
to start with and it was...

We got on really good as well,
no problem.

We made 'em
in Mike Campbell's garage.

And that was all thanks
to George as well, really.

♪ Back then, long time ago
when grass was green

♪ Woke up in a daze...

So when I was working
with George on Cloud Nine,

we used to hang out every night
after the sessions,

listen back to what we'd done
in the daytime,

and George had this idea that..

He said to me, "You know what,
me and you should have a group."

And, I said, "Wow, that's a good
idea. What a smashing thing."

And I said,
"Who would we have in it?"

And he said,
"Well, how about Bob Dylan?"

I said,
"Yeah, that's a good idea."

And then I said,
"How about Roy Orbison?"

- He said, "That's a good idea."

Oh, bollocks.

Sorry, loves. I've gotta
turn this off somehow.

So, anyway, this was like...

This went on for a few...
I suppose, a couple of weeks.

And...

everybody agreed,

and then... and I thought,
"Wow, what about Tom?"

The Traveling Wilburys
came along

and so we spent
even more time together.

And I think in the Traveling
Wilburys, he's often overlooked.

His contribution was so huge,
you know, it was...

There couldn't have been a
Traveling Wilburys without Jeff.

My dad had just
had dinner with Roy,

so it all just kind of
worked out.

Bob had the studio,
Tom had my dad's guitars,

Jeff was doing Tom's record,
so they all just got together.

♪ Been beat up
and battered around

♪ Been sent up
and I've been shot down

♪ You're the best thing
that I've ever found

♪ Handle me with care

So that's how
it happened,

and we just got together
one day

and started jamming
round this table.

And I remember
Bob was a bit late

and we were all going,
"Ooh, Bob's late."

Anyway, the first one, George
had half of it written already,

and it was called
Handle With Care,

and that was the first single.

Really, the Wilburys
came together as sort of...

again, just something
that happened,

you couldn't make it happen,
they just came together.

But they had a lot of fun
and they made some great music.

And I think for George

it was one of
the most enjoyable times

I'd ever seen him have,
you know, like in 30 years.

He just, he really enjoyed...
And I guess they all did.

So I take it...
ls this the front here?

Or is this the front, that bit?

Is it that bit there
or is it...?

- It's kind of a broad space.
- Yeah.

It's right here.

Bill, can we just give you
a level of what we're doing

and see if we get
a good balance?

There's a Roy Orbison number
on the first album

called... Not Alone Any More.

♪ It hurt like never before

♪ You're not alone any more

And that was really
Jeff and Roy's song.

I mean,
we all contributed a little bit,

but in the end, you know,
they had the handle on that one

And so really the rest of us
kind of backed off

and let them go.

And they... they wrote
this song. We recorded it.

No one was really happy with it
you know?

I think we all thought,
"Better write another song,

'cause this one's not...
not doing it."

Well, that is not good enough
for Jeff Lynne.

He... He came in the next day,
stripped the song.

He had the lead vocal
and the drums.

And he completely re-wrote
the song...

around this lead vocal
that was there...

and wrote this incredible song,
you know.

And now it's one of
my favourite ones on the album.

And there's nobody
that could do that.

♪ Well, it's all right

♪ As long as
you've got somewhere to lay

♪ Well, it's all right

♪ Every day is just one day

The first album
was doing fantastically well.

It was in the top five
and just an amazing reaction.

People were really loving it.

And right then Roy died.
Very sad.

The End of the Line,

we did like a tribute to Roy
by doing the video

with just a rocking chair
with his guitar in it.

That was our symbol for Roy,
you know, and our tribute.

And it's pretty poignant,
really.

And Roy's not with us any more,
which is a tragedy.

Bands get together
and there's a magic there.

And it lasts
as long as it lasts.

But when it's a true band,

and it's the band's time,

there's a... a... a magic to it.

And the Wilburys are truly

one of those
special chemistries,

making really special music.

♪ Even if you're old and Grey

♪ Well, it's all right

♪ You still got something to say

I think we both loved
a lot of the same music.

We... We discovered that we had
both produced Del Shannon.

♪ Walk away
Every time, right?

♪ Walk away
If you think it's a good idea.

Yeah, let's try that.

You know what also
might be good?

- What?
- Hand claps and a bongo.

Hand claps and a bongo? Shit,
I came to the right session.

My specialty, man.

I think Jeff's...

If you wanna define
his three biggest influences,

I think they'd be Del Shannon,

Roy Orbison and the Beatles.

And maybe in that order.

♪ The one who understands

♪ What I've gotta do

♪ I've gotta find
a place to hide

♪ With my baby by my side

Who would have thought
one day that Del Shannon

would actually come to my house
in Shard End

and we'd do a demo together
on my tape recorder?

It was fantastic, really.
I was so thrilled to know Del.

♪ We've gotta keep
searching, searching

♪ Find a place to hide

♪ Searching, searching

I just thought he was like
amazingly wacky and zany,

you know what I mean?

It turns out he was always a
little bit pissed all the time.

But I loved him so much.
He was such a sweetheart.

I started to take notice
of the Beatles in '63.

It was all a bit wishy-washy
before that.

The '60s
really did change things

and it was
the Beatle revolution.

The Beatles did come along
and they represented something

that just set fire
to all these fumes

that were waiting
to be set fire to.

Well, he wasn't there
by accident.

It's a pretty good compliment

that the Beatles
got back together

and hired you
to be the producer.

That's, you know...

I'm sure they could have
got anyone they wanted.

I think it was George who said,
"No, we need a producer."

It could be dangerous
just to all go in the studio.

It could get nasty.

'Cause you've got egos,
you know, flying around,

surprisingly-

So, yeah, Jeff's name came up
and it was like,

"Yeah, oh, that's good, yeah."

You know,
we really got to know Jeff.

I mean, I got to know him
hanging out with him and George,

but then we really got
to know him on Free as a Bird

and he was a lifesaver on that.

And, you know,
he put that cassette together

and that was all playing,
and it was interesting,

because the three of us
felt comfortable with him.

He'd worked with George,

and so George said, you know,
"I think Jeff would be great."

And so it was like,
we decided yeah.

We loved his work anyway,
and it was a good idea

for who to produce
the Free as a Bird thing,

'cause it was a kind of
difficult record to make

for a producer.

It was really quite scary,

because I didn't know Paul
very well at all.

I'd only met him
a couple of times before that.

And... he was
a bit worried about me

'cause I was George's pal

and he wondered
if it was gonna be

a little bit one-sided,
you know,

and not...
not in the spirit of things.

But he needn't have worried

'cause I was totally
into the spirit of things.

♪ Just like little girls
and boys

♪ Playing with their little toys

♪ Seems like
all we really were doing

♪ Was waiting for love

I don't think those records,

the Free as a Bird record
and Real Love,

I think you really needed him...

they would have really
needed him to pull that off,

because it was such a major job,
you know,

to take that really shaky
cassette recording

they had of John.

And it was a crackly old thing,
you know.

It was a cassette,
and you don't use that.

You normally
make your demos on cassettes

and then make a proper record

and get rid of all the crackling
and the hiss and everything.

But Jeff was very good
in that respect too,

'cause he took the cassette tape
and he put it in time.

♪ Free

♪ As a bird

He didn't interfere with
anything but the vocal phrases,

'cause it's a demo,
nobody cares about time,

and if we were gonna work...

And Jeff is very precise.

That's one of the things
I love about him.

You know, his stuff just...
it just rolls out

and there's not a thing wrong.

You know,
you listen to it, so...

and then you stop listening
to it so precisely

and it just rolls over you.

It's like, "Ooh, I love this!"

♪ Free

♪ As a bird

Jeff was very good
because he's...

he's very diplomatic

and, you know,
he lets you do your thing,

and he's just
sort of the controller.

He just makes sure
it's all right.

The first afternoon, really,
was just banter, you know.

It was all the three of them.

They hadn't been
in the same room for years.

And so I'm just sitting there
with them,

like in the club with them,
you know.

And it's just like,
"Wow, I'm in the Beatles club."

And it's like...
and it's like a club meeting

and having a reminisce.

It was just superb.
It was like...

Hamburg stories, you know,
all the Liverpool stories.

It was just magnificent.

And I was just willing
just to sit there forever

and not ever do a bit of work

and just listen
to these stories.

They were the stories
you sort of almost knew,

but these are the real,
you know, the real kind of...

the real thing, the real,
actual, as it really happened.

So when we came in to do it,

we had John in the ears,
you know,

and we just
played along with it.

I'm not sure how we started it.
Jeff will remember better.

I know I played bass.

It was so hard to do.

I mean, because,
laying that voice in there,

which has got a piano
glued to it,

was really difficult, you know.

It was almost...
virtually impossible.

But we got it done somehow.

And Paul really helped on that
because he sort of

ghosted John's voice
a little bit underneath.

And it was... It came out
really good in the end.

For what it started out as,
it was amazing,

so I'm pretty chuffed with it.

But I think, you know, Jeff was
in a perfect position, really,

to produce those...
Free as a Bird and Real Love.

You know, he was just... again,
had the right sensibilities.

He wasn't gonna take it
somewhere completely different.

And, you know,
he had the respect

for what they wanted to do,
obviously.

And he's told me about,
you know, how hard it was.

He did a lot of work there
and I'm sure...

over to Paul McCartney
to explain that.

That was it,
we had the cassette of John

and we just gradually
built it up.

Did this, did that,
put a bit of bass on, guitar.

George ended up
putting the slide on,

which was like
the final icing on the cake.

We sang.

But I think for all of us,
the most exciting thing was,

even though John
was no longer on this planet,

here he was
in the studio with us.

And it was very special,
you know,

it was all of us like, "Wow!"

I mean, very... you know,
big, big moment.

I think my dad brought Jeff in
and I think that was a big...

Everyone was like,
"Whoa, what's going on here?"

And he was the only one

that could have done that
at the time,

his meticulous nature,
and they didn't have Pro Tools.

There were, you know,
aggregate time clocks

for the John Lennon piano track,

but then they had to phase out
the vocals and fly back in.

I mean, it was just right down
Jeff's street, you know,

and what they were left with was
Real Love and Free as a Bird,

which had, you know,
they stand the test of time,

they sound like the Beatles,
but it's, you know...

Jeff was perfect for that role.

Neil Aspinall comes looking for
me, which was great in itself.

But he said... "Oh, can you come
in the studio a sec, Jeff?"

"Paul and George want you
to check these harmonies

they're just doing,
they're working out."

And I thought,
"What? Me check 'em?"

"OK, I'll fucking do it."
Hoo-hoo!

You know,
it's quite astonishing, really.

It's something
you'd never expect to happen.

And there it was,
and I was checking them,

and they were brilliant.

The harmonies sounded great,
we recorded them straightaway

and then the sessions went along
really well after that.

George wouldn't have let... they
wouldn't have let anything out,

same, any of them,

if they weren't satisfied
with what they did.

So, you know, I think that's...
It says a lot for Jeff.

If we didn't like it, it didn't
matter if John Lennon wrote it

or Paul McCartney
or George Harrison wrote it,

it was like, "No."

And we'd go,
"All right, forget it."

"I'll think of something else."

It kept you on your mettle,
you know, you'd get chucked out,

you know, so that's good.

But they were three
that we liked.

Free as a Bird, Real Love, so
those were the two that we did.

And there was another one
that we started working on,

but George went off it.

"Fucking 'ell.
Fucking rubbish, this is."

It was like,
"No, George, this is John."

"It's still fucking rubbish,
you know."

"Oh, OK, then."

So that one... that one's
still lingering around,

so I'm going to nick in
with Jeff and do it, finish it,

one of these days.

We've always had
a constant fight, Jeff and I,

because, you know,
he always wants the click track.

He wants the click
and I keep saying,

"I am the fucking click!"

Of course, when we got the song
finished, I'll never forget,

Paul came and gave me a big hug
and he said,

"Well done. You've done it."

So I was chuffed about that
and that's how it went.

You know, I mean, he had
along run of huge hit singles.

And sometimes when you have
a lot of hit singles

and you're on...
or at least in those days,

it's probably still true today,

you know,
when you're on the AM radio

and you're having
a lot of hit singles,

critics take that for granted,
you know,

and they tend to maybe not be as
kind to you as they should be,

you know, because that's really
an art, to make a hit single.

♪ Midnight

♪ On the water

I saw

♪ The ocean's daughter

♪ Walking on a wave she came

♪ Staring as she called my name

♪ And I can't get it
out of my head...

To me,
pop is the best genre of all

because it's got everything.

It's got everything you need,
you know.

Elvis, the Beatles...
I mean, everything is in there.

All these different
millions of styles,

and it's just...
beautiful pop music.

We're gonna play Electric
Light Orchestra from last year,

Showdown, which I thought
was a great record

and I was expecting it
to be number one.

And it's a nice group.

I call them Son of Beatles,

although they're doing things
that we never did obviously.

♪ She cried to the southern win

♪ 'Bout a love
that was sure to end

♪ Every dream
in her heart was gone

♪ Heading for a showdown

♪ Bad dreamer, what's your name

♪ Looks like
we're riding on the same train

♪ Looks as though
there'll be more pain

♪ There's gonna be
a showdown, yeah

♪ And it's raining

♪ All over the world

♪ Raining

♪ All over the world

♪ Tonight the longest night

He's had phases

where his music
sounded really clean,

where it sounded
really programmed,

or when it sounded really loose
and free and orchestral,

or, you know, some...

You know, or you've got chanting
or you've got orchestras

and sometimes it's just,
you know...

There's no real way
of seeing how he's got there.

He's just...
he's got an idea in his head,

and whatever it takes him
to get that onto tape.

I was coming back
from the, you know,

to start making records again.

I finally pulled myself together
and started to bring myself up

and I asked Jeff
to produce a couple of tracks,

which he did great,
and that was the start.

And he was part of that,
he was part of me, you know,

getting back on track.

There aren't any other producers
really like him.

I think he could do whatever
he sets his mind to, and...

I've always found him
very easy to work with

and I always enjoy whatever,
you know, I hear that he's done.

Some people like to use

a specific microphone all the
time for a specific instrument.

I'm not
in that school of thought.

I found that Jeff
likes to experiment too.

You use a room
as the echo that you want,

which is always better
than some gadget, you know.

The natural sound of air moving

has got a magic to it that
you can't recreate in a box,

I don't think.

You know,
every room in his house

is part of his studio.

They're all set up.

The furniture is in
a certain place for a sound.

And the living room
is not really a living room.

It's a recording room, you know.

And depending on what idea
he's trying to accomplish

depends what room
you go play in.

Paul actually said to me
when I was working with him,

he said, "Oh, you're
very thorough, aren't you?"

And I think that's a good thing

You know, I look after
all the little details

and make sure there's not
any little bit of stuff

that shouldn't be there
lurking around.

I'm just trying to get the best
sound I can on all stuff.

And, you know, I think...

I do try and get
different sounds, you know,

different drum sounds
and different...

I try and make them
old-fashioned, you know,

which is a lot of fun,

trying to recreate old rooms
in new rooms.

I pay attention to things
that a lot of people don't.

That's probably
one of the things.

Yeah, Jeff likes to work.

You know, he likes to work.

And we're... we're pretty much
rocking here all the time.

When I started, there
were no rules and regulations.

Nobody cared
how loud you had it.

There wasn't little monitors and
people snooping round, going,

"Hey, what do you think
you're doing?"

and people with coats on,
white coats and that, you know,

there weren't any of that.

We come from the same school,
you know.

We're old analogue guys

trying to figure out
the digital world.

He's not interested in fame,

he's not interested in money
as such.

You know, he doesn't,
he's not, you know... he's...

He's one of
the most balanced people.

You'd never think of him
as a rock 'n' roller.

I had a hit on Broadway

and then he had
a hit on Broadway,

but he never went to his.

And I thought, "That's really
kind of cool, you know."

Can we try that once more?

He blew me away. He's doing
three albums right now.

Or he may have finished
one of them, I don't know.

And he was doing show tunes.

And they were so beautiful.

So beautiful.

Jeff has listened to the, you
know, these songs that he likes

and re-created them
and heard them

and put the sort of ELO sound
on them.

Just squeeze a bit more... a bit
more A200 into that lead guitar.

OK.

They've all got their own
little worlds that they live in

When you learn 'em,
it gradually becomes apparent

what the important bit's like.

♪ She may be
the beauty or the beast

♪ May be the famine
or the feast

A tiny bit of licence with it.

You can still find little space

to put your own
little naughty bits in.

♪ She may be
the mirror of my dream

The first song is called She.

It was recorded
by Charles Aznavour

and I loved the...
I loved the tune so much.

I've always loved it ever since
I first heard it in the '60s.

I've done
like a thicker version of it,

more of a harmony version,

like a lot of backing vocals
and stuff like that.

How was that?

- Nice.
- OK, good.

Double that. Double it.

♪ She may be
the beauty or the beast

♪ May be the famine
or the feast

♪ May turn...

- Nice.
- That's it. That's done.

That's three-part harmony.

That's a three-part harmony
right there.

And he's got a great voice.

He's got a really beautiful
voice, you know.

Being a singer, you know, it's
not easy to do what he does.

Got a really classic voice,
you know.

And it's individual voice too,
it's distinctive.

You don't... It's nobody else,
you know, it's Jeff Lynne.

♪ I'm wild again

♪ Beguiled again

What motivated me to go
in the direction of these tunes

was just really the fact
that I'd been listening to them

and only thinking about it,
never planning on it, you know,

but it took me
about probably three years

of just thinking about it
to even start doing it.

I thought, "I've gotta try 'em
because now I understand 'em."

He obviously loves

all of those songs...

and has studied
the craft of songwriting

and understands it.

And he...

listened to them all
very carefully.

And rather than getting
some really good session man

to come in and play
and sing over that,

he spent a lot of time
doing stuff himself.

A lot of people wish they could
do that, but they can't.

That makes it different.
That makes it different.

- In front of you, Jeff.
- That feels good, don't it?

Yeah, that's great.

I think he really captured
the essence

of... of all those
great old songs.

And I'm not sure
quite how he did it.

♪ Smile

♪ Though your heart is aching

♪ Smile

♪ Even though it's breaking...

I've always
loved this song

and I've always been
kind of amazed

that Charlie Chaplin wrote it.

What a talented guy.

He'd written
some really beautiful tunes,

big-time numbers.

And this was one
that was very accessible to me,

nice and simple
and very uplifting

and... I enjoy listening
to it still, so that's good.

♪ You'll see the sun
come shining...

And he had a baby
when he was 83.

♪ Just running scared...

Roy actually told me
that this was his favourite one

that he ever did.

It's a wonderful masterpiece
of a tune

because it's so simple
that it almost defies belief.

♪ Would you choose?

♪ Then all at once...

It's just marvellous.
It's like a miniature opera.

To me, it's like a masterpiece
anyway, and simplicity itself.

Anyway, Roy was a genius,
you know,

and a fantastic voice
and everything.

I can't really do it justice,

but I do it
as good as I can do it.

But I can still get up there
and hit that note,

but only if I use
a pair of stepladders.

♪ You turned around
and walked away with me

I think, you know,
there's been a little period

where he did kind of give up,
for the last few years.

I'd sort of ring him and say,
"You doing something?"

"No, I'm not doing much."

But he's back with a vengeance,
from what I can hear.

Let's try one now. Let's do that
again now with... with...

I'll put the harmony on it.

Phil. We'll have Phil
singing along with Don.

This is how we do it round here.

OK.

♪ We used to have...

Eventually you come out
with the finished thing

that's got all the bits
you ever heard

plus your new bits
that you've added to it.

And it's just like a real nice
feeling of accomplishment

to have actually got it done,
you know,

and there's the beginning,
there's the middle bit

and there's the end.

And it's just...
it's all the proper music,

just like they did.

♪ Love die

♪ So sad to watch
good love go bad

Did it Work?

- Yeah.
- OK, good.

We did this song,
Mercy, Mercy,

and I used to love
playing this live

all round the pubs
of Birmingham.

It's one of my favourite ones
to do live

'cause it had everything.

It was nice harmony, easy
to sing and nice guitar bits.

Just a great thing
for a live group to play.

Songwriter, singer,
drummer, guitarist.

You know, you can do it all.

He's not bad at all.

All right, Jeff. How you doing?

All right.

All right, Jeff. How you going?

How you going? All right?

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy, baby

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ Well, I went to see the Gypsy

♪ To have my fortune read

♪ She said, man,
your baby's gonna leave you

♪ Her bags are packed up
under the bed

♪ I cried, have mercy

♪ Have mercy, baby

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ I said, if you leave me, baby

♪ Girl, if you put me down

♪ I'm going
to the nearest river, child

♪ And jump overboard and drown

♪ Don't leave me, have mercy

♪ Have mercy, baby

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ Well, now, hey, baby

♪ Hey, hey, now

♪ What you trying to do?

♪ Hey, hey, baby

♪ Hey, hey, now

♪ Please don't say
we're through

♪ I said if you stay, baby

♪ I tell you what I'm gonna do

♪ I'm gonna work two jobs
seven days a week

♪ And bring my money
home to you

♪ Well, I said, have mercy

♪ Have mercy, baby

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ Have mercy

♪ Mercy, baby

♪ Have mercy on me

♪ Have mercy

♪ Have mercy on me

Working together was...
was great.

'Cause you want someone
who can control the situation

without appearing to,

and that comes
from his character.

He just is that kind of guy, you
know, that he gets things done,

but you wouldn't know
he was pulling the strings.

Very modest,
innocent in some ways.

At the same time
amazingly accomplished.

His music certainly
hasn't been overlooked

because you hear it.

It's part of the fabric
of all our lives.

But the man himself is very shy
and retreating, you know.

I don't think
you ever saw his picture

on an album jacket or anything
back in the ELO days.

It's been a real treat
working with Jeff.

I mean, as he mentioned,

when he was...
when he was coming up

and he met the Beatles,
how he had to pinch himself,

and when he was working
with the Beatles

helped realise that, you know,
where he is,

working with such great talent,
that's basically how I feel.

I think I have
like track marks on my arm

from pinching myself
so many times.

Here's a little song
what I wrote about 20 years ago

about the climate changing.

Oh, not one of them again.
Here we go.

♪ One day the earth woke up
and said, boy, I feel half dead

♪ Somebody's churning up
the poison

♪ And it's getting in my head

He's a great, great friend.

Jeff will do anything for you
if he's your friend.

He's a wonderfully
gifted artist.

He plays...

I don't even know
how many instruments he plays,

but he plays a lot of 'em.

He's a true master
of what he does, you know,

and I don't know...

You know, it's hard to say it

in a way that doesn't
sound like it's forced.

I mean, whatever Jeff does
is beautiful.

Well, as a man
he's been a real pal.

I think he's, you know,
he's a very loyal person.

And as a producer
he's meticulous.

And as a songwriter
he's melodic as can be.

♪ And remember
all those trees I had

♪ Well, now there ain't a lot

♪ My eyes kept slowly trickling

♪ Down to where the party's at

♪ And if everybody
is a-going there

♪ Well, that's...
the end of that

♪ Save me now, save me now

♪ Come on and save me now

♪ Save me now

♪ Save me now

If I hadn't been
doing the music,

I'd have been really
probably not very happy,

'cause just all it was
was these black mornings,

you know, Grey skies,
raining, freezing cold,

getting up
on the upstairs of the bus,

going into town, going to work.

That wasn't really what...

That didn't have any kind
of fascination for me at all.

So I'm so glad I got into the..
into the rock 'n' roll music,

into the pop and rock.

I had three albums in the top
ten as a producer in America,

which is quite an amazing thing
to have three in the top ten.

And I was nominated
for Producer of the Year.

But I didn't get it. That's OK.

I still did the albums and that
was more fun than getting that.

♪ And you really
got a hold on me

♪ Fab

♪ Long time ago
when we was fab...

♪ Been beat up
and battered around

♪ Been sent up
and I've been shot down

♪ You're the best thing
that I've ever found

♪ Handle me with care

♪ Free

♪ As a bird

♪ It's the next
best thing to be

♪ Free as a bird...

♪ Every time I look
into your loving eyes

♪ I see a love
that money just can't buy

♪ One look from you

♪ I drift away

♪ I pray that you

♪ Are here to stay

♪ Anything you want, you got it

♪ Anything you need, you got it

♪ Anything at all, you got it

♪ Baby...

Oi!

Today's forecast
calls for blue skies.

♪ Sun is shining in the sky

♪ There ain't a cloud in sight

♪ It's stopped raining

♪ Everybody's in a play

♪ And don't you know

♪ It's a beautiful new day

♪ Hey, hey

♪ Running down the avenue...

One of the great things
about getting the job

was to stop my mum
banging up the stairs,

running up the stairs, shouting

"Hey, come on,
you lazy bugger, get up."

And this would be like at 7:30
or eight o'clock in the morning

This one morning she did this.

I said, "Hang on, Mum,
before you start,

I'm not getting up today
or ever again."

"I'm a professional
musician now."

And you should have seen
the look on her face.

♪ Mr Blue Sky,
please tell us why

♪ You had to hide away
for so long, so long

♪ Where did we go wrong?

♪ Hey, you with the pretty face

♪ Welcome to the human race

♪ A celebration

♪ Mr Blue Sky's up there waitin'

♪ And today is the day
we've waited for, ah ah

♪ Mr Blue Sky,
please tell us why

♪ You had to hide away
for so long, so long

♪ Where did we go wrong?

♪ Hey there, Mr Blue

♪ We're so pleased
to be with you

♪ Look around, see what you do

♪ Everybody smiles at you

♪ Mr Blue Sky

♪ Mr Blue Sky

♪ Mr Blue Sky

♪ Mr Blue, you did it right

♪ But soon comes Mr Night

♪ Well, I stuck my finger
in a woodpecker's hole

♪ And the Woodpecker said
God bless my soul

♪ Take it out, take it out

♪ Take it out, take it out

Thank you.