They incorporated the sounds of string ensembles, vocoders and dub echos into rock songs, thereby creating a very sophisticated studio version of rock. The musical content of ELO songs often went far beyond usual chord structures, mixing pop songwriting with classical romanticism and synthesized sounds. The band claim that their music "picks up where The Beatles' 1967 song I Am the Walrus left off."
Formed in 1970 by Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan (the remaining members of the 1960s rock group The Move). The band used cellos, violin, horns and woodwinds to give their music a classical sound. This was an idea Roy Wood initially had while with The Move, to take rock music in a new direction. In 1970 when Carl Wayne left the The Move, Jeff Lynne, front man with fellow Brum band Idle Race, responded to Wood's second invitation to join the line-up, with the lure of starting the new band. To help finance the fledgling project, two more Move albums were released during the recording of their eponymous first album in 1971 which produced the UK hit 10538 Overture. In the US this album was released with the mistaken title of No Answer, due to a mix-up with an uncompleted telephone call to the American label and subsequent secretarial message.
However, tensions soon surfaced between Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. With most of the media attention focused on Roy Wood, differences in musical direction, and a disastrous first live outing, it was no surprise when the band went through the first of its many line-up changes as Wood took Hugh McDowell and Bill Hunt with him to form Wizzard. Despite the music press's predictions that the band would fold without Wood, Jeff Lynne stepped up to lead the band, with Bevan remaining on drums, bassist Richard Tandy switching to moog synthesizer, Michael d'Albuquerque on bass, Mike Edwards, Colin Walker (cello) and Wilfred Gibson replacing Steve Woolam on violin. They released ELO 2 in 1973, from which came their first U.S. chart hit, a hugely elaborate version of the Chuck Berry classic Roll Over Beethoven. After their second album, violinist Gibson was dismissed and replaced by Mik Kaminski. They also released On The Third Day in 1973, with Mike Edwards playing all the cello parts due to Colin Walker leaving the band. Later that same year saw the return of Hugh McDowell, who had jumped ship the year previous, to replace cellist Colin Walker.
In 1974 Lynne hired a thirty-piece orchestra, choir and Louis Clark, then began work on the next LP Eldorado, A Symphony, a concept album about dreams, scoring their first U.S. Top Ten hit with Can't Get It Out Of My Head in 1975. Eldorado would become ELO's first gold album.
After the release of Eldorado, bassist and vocalist Kelly Groucutt and cellist Melvyn Gale joined, replacing de Albuquerque and Edwards respectively.
The band split in 1983. In 1985, Lynne, Tandy and Bevan reunited and recorded the album "Balance of Power". This reunion was short lived and the band split once more in 1986. Bev Bevan and Louis Clark, with the consent of Lynne, toured and recorded as ELO Part II from 1988 until Bevan's retirement in 1999. In 2000, Lynne and Tandy reformed Electric Light Orchestra and released a new record, "Zoom". "Zoom" proved to be a commercial failure, and the duo split once more in 2001.
In 2014, following support from BBC Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans, Lynne and Tandy reunited as a part of BBC Radio 2's "Festival in a Day" to perform under the new billing, "Jeff Lynne's ELO", a name Lynne devised as a response to ELO tributes, imitation bands, and offshoots who used ELO to promote their own tours.
In February 2015, Jeff Lynne's ELO performed at the Grammy Awards with Ed Sheeran, and in September of that year they announced a new album would be released under Columbia Records. Jeff Lynne's ELO - Alone in the Universe was released on November 13, 2015, and was ELO’s first album of new material in almost 15 years.
The second album under Jeff Lynne’s ELO, Jeff Lynne's ELO - From Out of Nowhere, was released on November 1, 2019.
There is more than one artist with the name "ELO". The vast majority of scrobbles to "Electric Light Orchestra" are for the rock band from England.
ELO, is a South Korean singer, who debuted with the album, 8 Femmes, on August 26, 2016.
Julie Don
Electric Light Orchestra Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A town I new so well but it seems so strange
The wind blows cold
I remember when I thought your street was paved with gold
I walked along the street
A street I walked along many times before
The things have changed
Everything I knew was gone or rearranged
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
I walked up to your door
Last night I saw your face in the window
But it was different now
The lonely light where we used to be quite gone
I though about your smile
Your laughing eyes and the things you said to me
I felt so sorry for you
For all the nights we spent hanging around with nothing else to do
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
In this song by Electric Light Orchestra, the singer is walking through a town they used to know well, but everything seems different and strange. They reminisce about walking along the street that used to be paved with gold in their eyes, but now everything they knew and loved is gone or rearranged. The singer then reveals their purpose of coming to this place - to see Julie. However, they soon discover that Julie moved away many years ago and no longer lives there. The singer remembers the good times they had with Julie, spending nights hanging around with nothing else to do. The song ends with the repeated refrain that Julie don't live here anymore.
This song is a reflection on the passage of time and how people and places from the past can be forever changed or gone. The singer's memory of Julie is juxtaposed with the reality that she no longer lives in the town they once knew. The song is also about the feelings of loss and the struggle to reconcile with the past. The singer feels sorry for Julie and the good times they could have had if she were still there. Ultimately, the song is a poignant reminder of how people come and go in our lives and how important it is to cherish the memories we have with them.
Line by Line Meaning
I wander through a town
I walk aimlessly through a familiar town
A town I new so well but it seems so strange
Although I know this town, it's unfamiliar to me now
The wind blows cold
The weather is chilly and unpleasant
I remember when I thought your street was paved with gold
I used to think everything was perfect on your street
I walked along the street
I strolled down a street that was once familiar to me
A street I walked along many times before
It's a street I've been down many times in the past
The things have changed
Things are different now
Everything I knew was gone or rearranged
All the things that were familiar are either missing or altered
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie moved away from this town
She moved away many years before
Julie left town a long time ago
How can it be, this I can't believe
I find it hard to accept that Julie is gone
I walked up to your door
I walked up to the doorstep of your old house
Last night I saw your face in the window
I saw your face in the window last night
But it was different now
Things have changed and the face in the window wasn't the same
The lonely light where we used to be quite gone
The light that used to signal our gathering spot is no longer there
I though about your smile
I thought about your happy expression
Your laughing eyes and the things you said to me
I remember the happy moments when you laughed and spoke kindly to me
I felt so sorry for you
I felt sad thinking about how hard things must have been for you since you moved
For all the nights we spent hanging around with nothing else to do
We had many uneventful nights just hanging out together
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JEFF LYNNE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Donald's trump
I wander through a town
A town I knew so well, but it seems so strange
The wind blows cold
I remember when I thought your street was paved with gold
I walked along the street
A street I walked along many times before
The things have changed
Everything I knew was gone or rearranged
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
I walked up to your door
Last night I saw your face in the window
But it was different now
The lonely light where we used to meet was gone
I though about your smile
Your laughing eyes and the things you said to me
I felt so sorry for you
For all the nights we spent hanging around with nothing else to do
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
She moved away many years before
How can it be, this I can't believe
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore
Julie don't live here anymore...
alan burge
Even the songs rejected from their albums blow your mind. How good were this group ? Amazing.
Игорь Дзержинск
Это была неземной красоты группа.
Will
I grew up listening to Time but the remastered version (in the 2010s). I never even realised this song didn't make the cut originally.
Leto 3
I love this song. From the very first second it pulls you straight in.
Wherever you are Julie, I hope you're okay
Francloy1
Still looking for my Julie
Rabscuttle Rabbit
@Francloy1 I had a crush on a girl name Julie in 1983-84. I found this single in the bargain bin at National Record Mart in March of 1984, but she was still living at her old house so it's impact was muted. Two years later though, when she had long ago moved away, this song really hit home.
Tim Wingham
How this didn't make the cut for the album I shall never understand. And I'm convinced it would have been a huge hit as a single in its own right. Catchy as hell!!
1000000man1
Apparently the reason is basically that it conveys the same thing that another song does, but I agree.
I think at the very least, bonus tracks should have always been easily available for those who want to listen to them.
Fortunately, ELO CDs are good for that.
There's some bonus tracks of The Vaccines that I like and have never been released on the CDs.
So the only options are to download and lose quality or be dependent on wi-fi and online availability of the songs, which is Not preferable.
I will never understand why that's becoming the norm.
Paolo Francisco Pavan
@1000000man1 That other song is "The way life is meant to be" right?
1000000man1
@Paolo Francisco Pavan I can't remember now, sorry 😂