Even from his work with Electric Light Orchestra alone, it’s not hard to establish that Jeff Lynne was a pop music savant, effortlessly able to create masterpieces with massive hooks, gorgeous sing-along choruses and masterful production. Outside of his work with the band, his contributions were just as inspired, and there’s plenty of good reason to recognise him as being one of the most naturally gifted songwriters of a generation.
There’s plenty of good reason as to why he ended up teaming up with some of the most illustrious songwriters in the world to form the Traveling Wilburys in the 1980s, working alongside greats such as George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty to create two albums of inspired rock music. There wasn’t any indication around this time that any of the group were operating at below full capacity, and Lynne’s songwriting and musicianship were clearly not showing any signs of waning after his most prolific period in the decade before.
It’s well-known that outside of working with Harrison in Traveling Wilburys, the two were close friends and had long admired each other’s work, with both making appearances on the other’s records for many years. Lynne seemingly had a bond with Harrison unlike any that he had previously had with any of his former Beatles bandmates, having written alone and not having quite the same amount of time in the spotlight as John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and this kinship would continue after the demise of the supergroup as well.
Long after the Beatles had split in 1970, the group chose to release two standalone singles that had stemmed from unfinished demos that were recorded by Lennon in the late ‘70s, only a few years prior to his death. Both ‘Real Love’ and ‘Free As a Bird’ were recognised by the rest of the group as having all the qualities of classic Beatles tracks, and with Lennon having never finished these two iconic tracks, they felt that it would be a great service to their former bandmate to finish them off and give them an official release.
Lyne was involved in helping flesh out these two Lennon demos in 1995 and contributed to the band’s first two songs in 25 years in the form of guitar and backing vocals. The Beatles were no strangers to having other celebrated musicians assisting them in the studio, having recruited the likes of Eric Clapton and Billy Preston to provide additional instrumentation on some studio recordings, but having Lynne assist the group on these two felt like an inspired move that highlighted just how complimentary his writing style was for the band.
Speaking to fanzine Beatlefan shortly after the songs were released, Lynne said that he had been approached by Harrison to work on finishing off these two songs, and that he was honoured to have been invited to work on such a project. Discussing the virtues and recording process of the two songs, Lynne said: “‘Free As a Bird’, really, I suppose it was like the first one and everybody was real excited about doing it. It came together quicker. ‘Real Love’ is a much simpler song. And also, it came out great. So I wouldn’t say that one was better than the other, although ‘Free As a Bird’ is probably a deeper and more meaningful song. although they’ve both got their points.”
While ‘Real Love’ certainly has its merits, ‘Free As a Bird’ has many more qualities in line with classic Beatles material, and had it not been for the release of ‘Now and Then’ in 2023, it would have made for a perfect swan-song for the band to finally bow out on several years after their sudden demise.
