Livin' Thing

Electric Light Orchestra

The Electric Light Orchestra was unavoidable on my first portable radio. Their pop orchestrations adopted "art" from the Beatles and trashed it down to hit the charts along with Supertramp and other ilk in their wake. ELO rocked my AM radio alongside Boston, Sweet and Foghat, which remained as guilty pleasures for us eighties kids.

Still, when the Traveling Wilburys came along in the eighties, I was bewildered. Legends like Roy Orbison, George Harrison and Bob Fucking Dylan toyed with wannabes like Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne? God, I thought: those producers must've had great blow.

This song, well, it was the time, but I was pretty sure it was anti-abortion:

Making believe this is what you've conceived
From your worst day, I'm takin' a dive
Oh moving in line when you look back in time
To the first day, I'm taken I'm taken

And you and your sweet desire,
You took me ohh, higher and higher baby
It's a living thing,
It's a terrible thing to lose,
It's a given thing
What a terrible thing to lose

What did I know? It was the seventies and I was a kid. Sex was hot and it was bad.

Thanks Madeline, for the suggestion.