Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing

"Livin' Thing" is a song written by Jeff Lynne and performed by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It appears on ELO's 1976 album A New World Record. Patti Quatro sang uncredited vocals, particularly the "higher and higher" parts. In August 2006, "Livin' Thing" was named by the UK's Q as the number 1 "Guilty Pleasure" single of all time – a list designed to celebrate "uncool" but excellent records, and which received considerable publicity. The original single had the bonus of having "Fire On High" on the flip side, a tune that became the band's most popular instrumental piece. The UK version was released in a blue vinyl format. AllMusic's writer Stewart Mason described the song structure: "[it] opens with a mock-Spanish orchestral flourish before swinging into a more typical mid-tempo ELO rocker, driven by a battery of acoustic rhythm guitars on the verses and modulating upwards into a falsetto Jeff Lynne vocal on a chorus that’s powered by an even more prominent than usual contribution from the group's string section", adding that it lacks "that impossible-to-dislodge hook that typified Lynne's most successful songs from this era, but it's still a darn sight better than most of what was at the top of the charts in late 1976"