ELO’s Sweet Talkin’ Woman

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ELO’s Sweet Talkin’ Woman

Electric Light Orchestra's Sweet Talkin' Woman

Symphonic Rock

Group co-founder Jeff Lynne wrote “Sweet Talkin’ Woman,” and ELO released it on their 1977 album Out of the Blue. They released it as  a single in 1978, backed with “Fire on High” in the U.S. and “Bluebird is Dead” in the U.K.  Lynne wrote all the songs for the Out of the Blue album, performed on it and produced it. They recorded the album at Musicland Studios in Munich, Germany.

“Sweet’ Woman” charted well internationally. In 1978, it went to #6 in the U.K. and Ireland, #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, #16 in Canada, and in the top 40 in The Netherlands, Australia, and Belgium. The song originally had different lyrics, Lynne has said, and was called “Dead End Street.” However, he did not care for those lyrics and rewrote the song about trying to reconnect with that sweet talkin’ woman. One line of the original idea remains: “I’ve been livin’ (livin’) on a dead-end street.”

Casey Kasem said that ELO was the “world’s first touring rock ‘n’ roll chamber group.” The band, indeed, combined pop music with classical arrangements and the futuristic sonic landscape of the studio. “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” uses a Vocoder 2000, and ELO was one of the first bands to make extensive use of it. Vocoders analyze and synthesize the human voice signal for things such as audio data compression and voice transformation. For Out of the Blue, the personnel included Lynne, Bev Bevan, Richard Tandy, Kelly Groucutt, Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell, and Melvyn Gale.

Here are the lyrics to “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” by ELO:

Where did you go?

I was searchin’ (searchin’) on a one-way street
I was hopin’ (hopin’) for a chance to meet
I was waitin’ for the operator on the line
(She’s gone so long)
What can I do?
(Where could she be?) Oh no no no

Don’t know what I’m gonna do
I gotta get back to you

You gotta slow down (slow down),

Sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’ (runnin’) , you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

(Sweet talking woman)

I was (workin’), many days go by
I was thinkin’ (thinkin’) ’bout the lonely nights
Communication breakdown all around
(She’s gone so long)
What can I do?
(Where could she be now?)
No no no, don’t know what I’m gonna do
I gotta get back to you

You gotta slow down (slow down)

Sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’, (runnin’) you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover (hold on)
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

I’ve been livin’ (livin’) on a dead-end street
I’ve been askin’  (askin’ kindly) everybody I meet
Insufficient data coming through
(She’s gone so long)
What can I do?
(Where could she be?)
No no no, don’t know what I’m gonna do
I gotta get back to you

Oh, slow down (slow down)

Sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’ (runnin’) you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover (hold on)
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

Slow down (slow down)

Sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’, you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover (hold on)
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

Slow down (slow down), sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’ (runnin’)  you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover (hold on)
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

Slow down (slow down), sweet talkin’ woman
You got me runnin’ (runnin;)  you got me searchin’
Hold on (hold on), sweet talkin’ lover (hold on)
It’s so sad if that’s the way it’s over

Slow down (slow down), sweet talkin’ woman (slow down)
You got me runnin’, you got me searchin’

For More 70s Tunes

The System has daily featured music from all sorts of genres of 1970s music. You’re welcome to listen to any of the 40+ selections in The System. Thank you for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” by Electric Light Orchestra.

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