Paul McCartney’s opinion on ELO and Jeff Lynne

The Beatles influenced nearly all the Rock and Roll bands that came after them, either directly or indirectly. Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paul McCartney was a crucial part of the band’s success and had the opportunity to be part of that revolution in music, witnessing up close the many amazing bands that followed the same path.

Over the decades, he has spoken about many groups from that era. One of them was Electric Light Orchestra, also known as ELO, led by Jeff Lynne.

What is Paul McCartney’s opinion on ELO and Jeff Lynne

“(Jeff Lynne is) funny, shy, ever so clever, great musician and a total twat. (…) Per say, everyone was part of it (ELO’s sound), from the people he admired. So when I heard ELO, it was very what we been doing on ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’ (using the cellos), very much what we been into, very sort of mathematical strings. So I think the first thing was: ‘Oh, I know where he got that from”. But then you can’t resist it and it’s just so good. You go ‘Oh God, it’s a bloody good song, I wish we’d done that one.”

“They got these ELO strings, they’re singing great, the guitar is good. I mean, I’m a sucker for the hits. ‘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’s great. I mean, it just works and if you’re in the car and it’s a nice day, it really works.”

He continued:

“(…) (Jeff’s) got a great voice, he’s got a really beautiful voice. Being a singer, it’s not easy to do what he does, got a really classic voice. It’s an individual voice too, it’s distinctive, it’s nobody else, it’s Jeff Lynne. (…) Songwriter, singer, drummer, guitarist, you can’t do it all, he’s not bad at all,” Paul McCartney said.

The Beatle also said that Lynne is very modest and innocent in some ways, but at the same time, he is also “amazingly accomplished.” They had the chance to work together in 1994 when Lynne was approached by The Beatles to help record new songs based on a home demo made by the late John Lennon back in 1977. George Harrison, who was always close to Jeff Lynne and had him as a producer on many of his records, suggested his name. Paul recalled that the late musician said it would be dangerous to go in the studio without a producer because there could be a lot of egos “flying around”.

The single “Free as a Bird” was the result of those sessions. The track was featured on the album Anthology 1, released in 1995. The second track from the demo, “Now and Then,” was finally released in 2024, with the guitar parts that George Harrison had recorded back then. Lynne was credited as a producer alongside McCartney and Giles Martin (George Martin’s son).

The Ringo Starr joke about ELO told by Paul McCartney

The comparison between The Beatles and ELO was always common although they were good friends and admired Lynne’s band. In an interview with Q magazine in 1997, he was asked if ELO was “simply The Beatles with more instruments”. He answered telling a Ringo joke about the group.

“Well Ringo says, You know why ELO broke up? They ran out of Beatles riffs. One of Jeff’s great prides is that he met John once – obviously a huge fan of John’s. John said, I really like all that ELO stuff, man. That was the highspot of Jeff’s life! He was vindicated. John said it was alright! He’s a smashing guy. Beer and football,” Paul McCartney said.

Jeff Lynne produced one of Paul’s albums

A few years after “Free as a Bird”, in 1997, Lynne worked with McCartney again on the Beatle’s solo album Flaming Pie, which also featured drummer Ringo Starr on some tracks. Jeff also performed on the album, contributing harmony vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, and electric spinet harpsichord. In 2000, Lynne co-produced McCartney’s cover of “Maybe Baby” (originally by The Crickets), which was part of the soundtrack for the British film of the same name. McCartney also said once that he hears “A Day in Life” influence on the Electric Light Orchestra hit “Mr. Blue Sky”.

Electric Light Orchestra was formed in 1970 by Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood and Bev Bevan in Birmingham, England. Lynne is the only original member who was part of all the albums the band released during the past five decades. Playing live he is the band’s guitarist and vocalist but in the studio he already also played drums, bass and keyboards. During their career ELO released 15 studio albums and 7 live records. The group has sold an estimated amount of more than 50 million records worldwide.

As a solo artist, Lynne released two albums: “Armchair Theatre” (1990) and “Long Wave” (2012). Besides The Beatles, George and Paul, he also produced many other famous artists over the years. Some of them are Del Shannon, Dave Edmunds, Brian Wilson, Randy Newman, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh and Bryan Adams.