Lyrics for Livin' Thing as interpreted by Kenobi65

Livin' Thing Lyrics
Sailin' away on the crest of a wave
It's like magic
Rollin' and ridin' and slippin' & slidin'
It's magic

Chorus:
And you, and your sweet desire,
You took me, higher and higher
It's a livin' thing,
It's a terrible thing to lose
It's a given thing
What a terrible thing to lose

Making believe this is what you conceived
From your worst day,
Moving in line then you look back in time
To your first day

Chorus: repeat

Takin' a dive 'cos you can't halt the slide
Floating downstream,
So let her go don't start spoiling the show
It's a bad dream

Chorus: repeat

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Kenobi65
06-14-2002

Rated 0 
I remember that they did a TV ad for this album (A New World Record). It depicted a discus-thrower throwing a "discus," which was actually the ELO "starship." After it lands, a track-and-field judge (portrayed, IIRC, by Slim Pickens) comes running up with a tape measure, and says, "It's a new world record," as the chorus to "Livin' Thing" swells. Hearing this song always takes me back to 1976, and seeing that ad.

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poohbluesky
06-30-2003

Rated 0 
I remember that ad seeing it somewhere. its funny, and what a great song this is.

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emimi
10-08-2004

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I've heard this song is meant to be against abortion. I don't know how true that is, but it seems to fit.

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gpciie
01-12-2005

Rated 0 
jeff lynne said that this song has absolutely nothing to do with abortion. it has to do with love being a living thing, or something like that. bbc interview, i think.

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spacepirate
08-11-2005

Rated 0 
wow it really does seem like it could be about abortion.......still a good song, nonetheless.

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nemskdb92
12-23-2005

Rated 0 
i agree with the abortion thing my friend and i were listenig to it and she goes hey this soundslike abortion i mean just read it! lol

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Soldier_of_Funk
06-20-2006

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its "Sailin' away on the crest of a wave"

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Nifty
06-30-2006

Rated 0 
This song has nothing to do with abortion, though the lyrics fit. Anything could fit to these lyrics if you set your mind to it though. This song is about love. Love is reffered to as a living thing in it, and it is such a terrible thing to lose.

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SwoopSwoop_RockRoc
07-19-2006

Rated 0 
Teah this song is about love, but like nifty said if u put your mind to it it could portray heaps of stuff, like Australia losing to Italy in the 2006 world cup . lol

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jimbob11
01-11-2007

Rated 0 
I always thought it was about drugs/suicide and how it is a shame to go out like that. I guess it was the "I'm takin a dive" and the "And you, and your sweet desire, You took me, higher and higher"

Oh well. Love...suicide. I was close, right.

Usually the worst person to ask for a song meaning is the artists themselves. They often lie or change meanings from what they were at the writing to something new. It's their song so they are entitled.

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LoveSong44
02-14-2007

Rated 0 
It sure captures the sadness of abortion--and it came out just a few years after Roe v. Wade.

I agree that artists don't always tell the truth about what they've written.

It expresses the true sadness of abortion. Listent to the words . . .

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GhostmanX
03-23-2007

Rated 0 
Nope...its definetely about love. First verse(Sailin away...) is about how love makes him, second verse (Making believe) is about how love comes from out of nowhere, how we dont reallly wake up and say "I'm gonna fall in love today", and the final verse is about the loss of love and moving on. The slide is life, and how you cant stop it, and how you have to move on from a relationship.

IMO, of course

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amara
07-05-2007

Rated 0 
We did this in Religion back when I was at school - we were doing an ethics course. The teacher played it about seventy times, then finally told us it was about abortion.
But hey, the point of a song is that it means different things to different people. So while it might be about abortion to some, it might be about anything to someone else!

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clintonthegeek
08-17-2007

Rated 0 
The only thing in this song that could come close to suggesting abortion is the chorus, but anything could be portrayed as "lively", and that's always something that is terrible to lose. But it's obviously a happy, upbeat song, and has nothing to do with abortion. He's just happy with who he's with, and doesn't want what they have to end 'cause of a whatever problems they're having.

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angryrobot
01-18-2008

Rated 0 
actual the lyrics seem to fit comforting a depressed friend after a miscarriage more than they fit abortion. The first verse is the conception "slipping and sliding...it's magic" to the last verse "So let her go don't start spoiling the show It's a bad dream". But it could easily just be about the breakdown of love.

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