WCSX Classic Cuts : Evil Woman

WCSX Classic Cuts

Electric Light Orchestra: "Evil Woman"

The Hook: The band's original drummer thinks it was inspired by encountering groupies on tour in America, especially in California.

Album: Face the Music

Year: 1975

Writer: Jeff Lynne

Stats: Peaked at number-10 on the Billboard Hot 100

Background: How did ELO's Jeff Lynne come to write a song about an evil woman? The group's original drummer, Bev Bevan, thinks he knows.

Original ELO drummer Bev Bevan on what inspired “Evil Woman.” OC:…came from. :25

“We did a lot of touring in the ‘70s, especially in America, and we’d never really experienced that groupie thing until we first came to America with ELO. And it’s quite a remarkable thing, particularly in California, we found. When you just check into your room and the phone rings and ‘Hi, I’m Candy, can I come and see you?’ whatever it is. And it’s just these women that you meet on the road and a lot of them are just sweet girls, really, and some of them are quite sad and some of them are just fun girls, but a lot of them are really quite evil, and I think that’s where that song came from.”