One song to the tune of another

When Jeff Lynne wrote the rather catchy Do Ya for the Move they (unwisely, IMHO) stuck it on the B side of their 1972 single California Man. And there it would have stayed if it hadn't been for one Todd Rundgren. In 1975 Rundgren and his pick-up band Utopia were dropping it in their live set and everyone, seemingly, thought it was one of theirs. Well they would, wouldn't they? It sounds like a Todd Rundgren song.

The Move - Do Ya (1972)

So when the perma-shaded Lynne - by now fronting the Electric Light orchestra - got wind of this he must have said to himself 'Fuck that for a game of soldiers' and promptly rerecorded it for the next ELO album. A New World Record released in 1976 went on to shift five million copies in its first year of release alone; thanks, obviously, to the inclusion of Do Ya.

Todd Rundgren - Do Ya (1975)

And, yes, its striking resemblance to the Sweet's Fox on the Run hasn't gone unnoticed. The harmonies, in particular, have been lifted wholesale. I can only think that Jeff Lynne must have been feeling quite magnanimous about the whole thing and didn't bother filing a lawsuit; cushioned as he was, probably, by his millions in the bank.

Blue Days, Black Nights

Pray silence

Rejoice! The mighty Pugwash are just days away from releasing their seventh album; once again the airwaves will be awash with the majestic, heavenly sounds of Dublin's finest.

Several journals and blogs have got in early and are, already, heralding this brand new piece of plastic as the band's finest hour. Until I get my hands on a copy I can call my very own, and post my scores on the doors, I'll defer judgement. Instead I'm going to leave you with Thomas Walsh's tribute to a songwriting hero of his and, I suspect, many of you who secretly adore the luscious, and often luxurious, sounds of the Electric Light Orchestra.

Pugwash - Telephone Line

If you pick up that telephone

Don't you realise the things we did, we did for real, not a dream

I just can't believe they've all faded out of view

It takes Allsorts

Jeff Lynne seems like a nice bloke. He'd be good company on a long train journey; you know it wouldn't be long, on a jaunt between London and Edinburgh say, until his bag of boiled sweets would come out to share - maybe somewhere between Peterborough and Grantham. Unlike Paul McCartney, on the other hand. His goodie bag wouldn't see the light of day 'til the 125 was pulling in to Waverley. Most likely.

Lynne cares for the planet too. But not in a shouty shouty way. I really do love this song that first appeared on his Armchair Theatre album in 1990.

Karl Wallinger must have liked it too. Not for the first time he took an idea from ELO's front-man and ran with it; Always on my Mind tells a similar tale and, for me, is the standout track from World Party's Dumbing Up long-player from 2000. I don’t know how Wallinger would fair on the boiled sweet litmus test though. Anyway, he's probably a Jelly Baby man. Or maybe he has a soft spot for Liquorice Allsorts. Who doesn't? In which case I would understand perfectly if he kept the bag to himself. That said, he's welcome to the round pink things with the black middle. What were Bassett's thinking?

Showdown

Despite sharing his initials Jeff Lynne can never be John Lennon. He may well have worked with Paul, George and Ringo and built a sound (and a career) around A Day In The Life, but he will always be a Bootleg rather than a Fifth Beatle.

He can, however, take this Lennon quote to the grave as and when his time comes. (Audio from 0:13)

And for providing the soundtrack to the climax of Bill Murray's Kingpin, I can't thank him enough.

Don't feel guilty

Music wise (and pretty much everything else wise) in these post modern times, it's not a hanging offence to admit to having a soft spot for Abba. Or Billy Joel. Or even The Carpenters. That's because the battle lines of the 70s and 80s have become muddied since we all went digital. It's OK to have a guilty pleasure - you can sleep safely in your bed at night knowing that when you wake up in the morning your house hasn't been daubed with anti Barry Manilow graffiti. Your iPod may well house some of the coolest tunes on the block but next to Madness and Magazine may well be some vintage Marmalade or Mary Hopkin. But who's bothered? Nobody died.

So why then do ELO always come in for a kicking? Livin' Thing may well have been voted the nation's favourite guilty pleasure single (followed by Boston's More Than A Feeling, if memory serves) but, if you've a hankering for symphonic strings and spaceships, then you'd best keep your head down; just in case the vigilantes find out where you live.

And you can't help feeling sorry for Jeff Lynne - he did have friends in high places: Lennon once said that if The Beatles hadn't split they'd probably have turned into ELO. Changing man Paul Weller must have remembered them from his youth when he nicked the 10538 Overture riff. A couple more that spring to mind: Karl Wallinger's World Party became identikit ELO for Put The Message In The Box and Neil Hannon (one half of the might fine Duckworth Lewis Method) paid his dues when The Divine Comedy recorded Come Home Billy Bird.

Speaking of The Duckworth Lewis Method, their other half - Pugwash front man Thomas Walsh, has paid Lynne and ELO their biggest compliment to date. Have a listen to the sumptuous Nice To Be Nice.