Evil Woman (Electric Light Orchestra song)

"Evil Woman"
Single by Electric Light Orchestra
from the album Face the Music
B-side	"10538 Overture (Live)"
Released	October 1975 (US) 10 January 1976 (UK)
Format	7"
Recorded	1975 at Musicland Studios
Genre	Symphonic rock
Length	4:19 (Album version) 4:12 (UK single edit) 3:15 (US single edit) 5:17 (Full-length version)
Label	Jet (UK) United Artists (US)
Writer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Producer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology
"Boy Blue" (1975) "Evil Woman" (1975) "Strange Magic" (1976)
Face the Music track listing 8 tracks Side one "Fire On High" "Waterfall" "Evil Woman" "Nightrider" Side two "Poker" "Strange Magic" "Down Home Town" "One Summer Dream"

"Evil Woman" is a song written by lead vocalist Jeff Lynne and recorded by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was first released on the band's fifth album, 1975's Face the Music.

Background

When released as a single in late 1975, the song became the band's first worldwide hit. According to Lynne this song was the quickest he had ever written, in thirty minutes, originally as 'filler' for the group's Face the Music album. The song placed in the top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic in early 1976. The song became a hit again in the UK in 1978 when it featured on The ELO EP. The lyric "There's a hole in my head where the rain comes in" in the song is a tribute to The Beatles' song "Fixing a Hole".

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1976)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[1]	23
Canada (CHUM)[2]	6
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[3]	6
Ireland (IRMA)[4]	10
Italy (FIMI)[5]	29
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[6]	20
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[7]	21
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[8]	8
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[9]	10
US Billboard Hot 100[10]	10
US Cash Box[11]	9
US Record World[12]	9

Year-end charts

Chart (1976)	Rank
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[13]	81
US Billboard Hot 100[14]	70
US Cash Box[15]	54

Jeff Lynne version

"Evil Woman"
Song by Electric Light Orchestra from the album Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra
Released	8 October 2012 (UK) 9 October 2012 (US)
Recorded	2001–2012 Bungalow Palace
Length	4:30
Label	Frontiers
Writer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Producer(s)	Jeff Lynne
Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra track listing
12 tracks "Mr. Blue Sky" "Evil Woman" "Strange Magic" "Don't Bring Me Down" "Turn to Stone" "Showdown" "Telephone Line" "Livin' Thing" "Do Ya" "Can't Get It Out of My Head" "10538 Overture" "Point of No Return"

Jeff Lynne re-recorded the song in his own home studio. It was released in a compilation album, Mr. Blue Sky: The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra, with other re-recorded ELO songs, under the ELO name.^[16]

Other uses/cover versions

• Patty Pravo covered it on her 1976 "Tanto" album in Italian as "E lo Cammino."
• The 1987 TV special DTV Monster Hits! also featured a short music video of the song, set to clips of all the female villains featured in Disney cartoons up to that point.
• In 1995, Michael Stipe imitated Jeff Lynne at an R.E.M. concert at Madison Square Garden on their Monster Tour, he wore a frizzy wig and sang "Evil Woman" before the show with Luscious Jackson playing the music.
• In 2002, the song was used in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember during the jail scene with Dr. Evil receiving a visit from Mindy Sterling's character Frau Farbissina, the movie's soundtrack album featured a version sung by Diana King.
• The band moe. covered the song three times in 2005.
• In 2006, a part of the song was sampled in the Pussycat Dolls single "Beep".
• The song is being performed as part of the 2007 Broadway musical Xanadu.
• The song appeared in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV on the fictional radio station Liberty Rock Radio 97.8.
• In 2008, singer/songwriter Mike Posner included a remix of the song on his mixtape, "A Matter of Time."
• The song appeared in a 2008 episode of the TV series My Name Is Earl.
• The song was also featured in a 2009 episode of the TV series Community.
• A cover version of the song was performed by Oh Mercy on Triple J's Like a Version segment in April 2011.^[17]
• The song was used as Danny's ringtone in the season 3 premiere of Hawaii Five-0 in 2012-2013.
• The song appeared in a TV commercial for the Hyundai Elantra that aired during Fox's coverage of Super Bowl XLVIII on 2 February 2014, featuring Johnny Galecki, who is most famous for his portrayal of Leonard Hofstadter on The Big Bang Theory.

References

1. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
2. CHART NUMBER 993 – Saturday, January 31, 1976 at the Wayback Machine (archived 29 July 2007). CHUM.
3. "Top RPM Singles: Issue 4081a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
4. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Evil Woman". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 6 March 2013.
5. "Indice per Interprete: E" (in Italian). Hit Parade Italia. Creative Commons. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
6. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
7. "Dutchcharts.nl – Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
8. "Charts.org.nz – Electric Light Orchestra – Evil Woman". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
9. "Archive Chart: 1976-01-31" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
10. "Electric Light Orchestra – Awards". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
11. CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending FEBRUARY 14, 1976 at the Wayback Machine (archived 2 September 2012). Cash Box magazine.
12. "The Singles Chart" (PDF). Record World. 31 January 1976. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
13. "Top 200 singles of '76". RPM. Vol. 26 no. 14 & 15. 8 January 1977. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
14. "Singles". Billboard. 88 (52). 25 December 1976. ISSN 0006-2510.
15. The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1976 at the Wayback Machine (archived 28 December 2012). Cash Box magazine.
16. Mr. Blue Sky – The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra at the Wayback Machine (archived 27 October 2015). Jefflynneselo.com.
17. "Like A Version: Oh Mercy – Evil Woman". ABC Online. Retrieved 12 September 2015.

External links

• Full audio of the song on YouTube
• In-depth Song Analysis at the Jeff Lynne Song Database (Jefflynnesongs.com)
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics