When our interests and ideals differ from those of our parents, conflicts will surely arise. Although these conflicts may be a bit tiring and wearing, they sometimes result in the best outcomes. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why we have so many wonderful rock songs.
The musician goes out of his parents’ way, creates his own style, and makes his own way in his career. Then, he shows them the material he comes up with, only to receive disapproving remarks, which fuels the desire to prove himself more. So, he creates better music and gets more successful.
This is approximately how the success story of the Electric Light Orchestra started. The band’s co-founder, Jeff Lynne, became a rock musician, much to his father’s distaste as he was a classical music lover. Therefore, he was not fond of his son’s and the band’s music, unlike John Lennon, who characterized the band as one of the ‘true sons’ of the Beatles. Still, his father supported Jeff and his music until an argument happened between the two.
They were arguing about an unknown topic when his father stated that Lynne’s music had ‘no tune.’ This comment, which came from the person who had encouraged his interest in music for years, of course, enraged him, but in a productive way. Shortly after the incident, Jeff Lynne went to his parent’s front room, took his instrument, and proceeded to write ‘Can’t Get It Out of My Head’ inspired by classical tunes in retaliation for his father. He wanted to prove that he could ‘have tunes’ if he wanted, as he stated in a 2001 interview with Off the Record.
Lynne talked about his memory of the song’s origin as follows:
“Yes, I thought there was something special [about ‘Can’t Get It Out Of My Head’], um, I think because you had like a hypnotic sort of feel to it and was quite repetitive as well. But it was still have lots of melody. And I was very pleased because just prior to that, me dad– y’know, we were having an argument about something– and he said, uh, ‘That’s the trouble with your tunes.’ I said, ‘What is?’ And he said, ‘They got no bloody tune.’ So I said, ‘I’ll show you the tune, then.’ And that’s how I wrote, um, that one– this tune– showing him I could write a tune.”
In another interview the same year with the Bullring Variations, Jeff mentioned the story again, but this time, he added that his father was right in a way. Apparently, upon his father’s words, he realized that he did not use his full potential. So, he worked harder and created ‘Eldorado,’ which had the influence of the Beatles as well as Jeff’s father’s. The album followed a storyline that Lynne designed, accompanied by its music, and successfully merged classical music with rock. Listening to his father’s words provided Jeff with a good rock ballad in the end.
The musician expressed his thoughts about his father’s words by stating:
“Me dad said, ‘The trouble with your tunes is that they’ve got no tunes.’ I was a bit upset by that, but then I thought, he’s right, you know. I’m not doing myself justice. That made me write ‘Eldorado’ – I’ll show you, I’ll write something with a tune in it. And that included ‘Can’t Get It Out of My Head,’ which became a big hit in America.”
Jeff Lynne worked on the tunes as well as he could and came up with a song that started a new phase for him and his band. ‘Can’t Get It Out of My Head’ became the first single to be released from Electric Light Orchestra’s 1974 album ‘Eldorado’ and achieved great success. It got into the top 10 of the US charts and contributed greatly to the band’s popularity in the USA. And it all came from a place of ambition on Jeff Lynne’s part, following his father’s criticism of his music. Well, that is the good old rock spirit!
