Electric Light Orchestra’s “Evil Woman” began as a last-minute idea in a Munich studio in 1975. Fifty-one years later, the song remains one of ELO’s best-known hits and a standout recording from Jeff Lynne’s career.
When Electric Light Orchestra was finishing its 1975 album Face the Music, Jeff Lynne had a problem: He did not think the record had a strong enough single.
Lynne sat at a piano at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany, and created what would become “Evil Woman.” The song was written in a matter of minutes and became the final track recorded for Face the Music, per Songfacts.
The story behind the song is almost as memorable as the recording itself. While the rest of the band was sent away to play football, Lynne stayed behind and worked on the opening piano idea. The band later returned to record the backing track.
Electric Light Orchestra pose for a portrait in 1975.Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
In a 2016 interview with Rolling Stone, Lynne explained just how quickly the song came together.
“I wrote this in a matter of minutes,” Lynne revealed. “The rest of the album (Face the Music) was done. I listened to it and thought, ‘There’s not a good single.’ So I sent the band out to a game of football and made up ‘Evil Woman’ on the spot. The first three chords came right to me. It was the quickest thing I’d ever done. We kept it slick and cool, kind of like an R&B song. It was kind of a posh one for me, with all the big piano solos and the string arrangement.”
That last-minute creation became much more than a solution to an album problem.
“Evil Woman” was released as the first single from Face the Music in late 1975. It became ELO’s first worldwide hit and reached No. 10 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart. It also reached No. 6 in Canada and No. 8 in New Zealand.
ELO had been known for bringing classical arrangements into rock music. By the time Face the Music was recorded, however, Lynne was looking for songs with stronger melodies and a more direct pop appeal.
“Evil Woman” fit that direction.
The recording combines piano, electric guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, strings and layered vocals. Its chorus is especially simple: the title is repeated four times, with Lynne changing the pitch and stretching the words to make the hook stand out.
The song also contains an unusual studio trick. During the instrumental section around the 2:40 mark, a strange synthesizer and string passage can be heard. Played backward, that section is revealed to be part of another Face the Music song, “Nightrider,” also played backward.
Another detail connects “Evil Woman” to The Beatles. According to Louder, the lyric “There’s a hole in my head where the rain comes in” was inspired by “Fixing a Hole” from The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Lynne was a close friend of George Harrison and later worked with Harrison, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison as part of the Traveling Wilburys. He also became involved in The Beatles’ Anthology project and produced the re-recorded versions of “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.”
But the identity of the woman who inspired “Evil Woman” has never been revealed.
“It was inspired by a certain woman, but I can’t say who,” Lynne said. “She’s appeared a few times in my songs.”
The success of “Evil Woman” gave ELO a bigger platform. According to Lynne, the band began getting more opportunities to perform in larger venues after the song became a hit.
The single was followed by more successful ELO songs, including “Strange Magic” and “Livin’ Thing” in 1976. The band would later produce major hits such as “Don’t Bring Me Down” and “Mr. Blue Sky.”
ELO went on to sell more than 50 million records worldwide during its original period of activity. The group also became known for its unusual combination of rock, pop and classical sounds.
“Evil Woman” remains an important part of that story because it arrived at a turning point. It was not originally planned as the centerpiece of Face the Music. Instead, it was created because Lynne believed the album needed a better single.
The song earned Platinum certification in the United States for one million certified units. It was also certified Silver in the United Kingdom and Platinum in New Zealand.
Related: 1976 Soft Rock Song, Named After Carl Wilson’s Dog, Is Still an Iconic Hit 50 Years Later
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