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10538 Overture (2006)

Song details plus a list of the releases it has appeared on and the tours where it has been performed live.

YEAH! 2006.

original written by

  • Jeff Lynne.

performed by


additional musicians

  • 01 - Strings by the Stepaside Symphonia. Conducted by Ronan McHugh.

song info

  • Song Type - Cover Version/Album Track.
  • First Released - 22nd May 2006.
  • Producer - Def Leppard/Ronan McHugh.
  • Engineered/Mixed By - Ronan McHugh.

original song info

  • Artist - Electric Light Orchestra.
  • Length - 4:04 (Single Edit).
  • Length - 5:32 (Album Version).
  • First Released - 23rd June 1972.
  • Producer - Roy Wood/Jeff Lynne.
  • UK Chart Position - 9 (26th August 1972).
  • USA Chart Position - n/a.

song versions

  • 10538 Overture (Version 1) - 4:30

The only version of this song appeared on the 'YEAH!' covers album in 2006 as track 6 of 14. The strings parts on this version were played by various musicians under the name Stepaside Symphonia and conducted by co-producer Ronan McHugh. Stepaside being the village Joe's studio is located in. Also the first Def Leppard song to feature co-lead vocals by Rick Savage.


audio releases


song trivia

This was the first ever single by E.L.O. (Electric Light Orchestra) in 1972. Taken from their debut album 'Electric Light Orchestra'. The band featured Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, Bev Bevan, Bill Hunt and Steve Woolam. The song has also been re-recorded by Jeff Lynne's E.L.O. in 2012. And covered by Bobby Sutcliff and Mitch Easter (2001) and Paul Weller (2013). Joe's cheeky reference to Paul Weller in the YEAH! liner notes (see below) is due to his 1995 song "Changing Man" using a major sample from '10538 Overture'.


song commentary

Joe Elliott (May 2006)

"We had, HAD to pay tribute to Roy Wood somehow. So, how?. A lot of Roy's songs were a bit too "oompah" for us to perform, or just too damn "out there"!!! "Blackberry Way," for example, is one of the best songs of its time, as are "Tonight," "Brontosaurus" and "California Man," the latter two covered by Cheap Trick, so they were out!!! We'd always dug the Beatles-ness of 10538, so as it was the Roy Wood-era ELO, we thought "why not"...We also had a lot of fun with the Stepaside Symphonia on this one...funny folk, these classical types. I must ask Jeff Lynne what this lyric is all about...I suspect a prison break with the number being the prisoner's identity...or not...and while I'm at it, "here's one Paul Weller stole from ELO" (You get my drift.)."

Phil Collen (May 2006)

"This was Jeff Lynne's move away from from the Move-style pop he had successfully forger with Roy Wood. I loved the opening guitar riff. Being starved of guitars on UK radio at the time, this was a welcome epic, hit home even further by the immense strings and drums."

Joe Elliott (September 2006)

"Hopefully it's beyond people's belief. There's a certain joy you get out of the shock factor of people looking at the album and going, 'I can't believe they're doing ELO and they're haven't done the 'Mr. Blue Sky' period. They've done ELO from '72, which is the mental ELO period. The '10538 Overture' is one of the highlights for me because we nailed the strings section. That whole song is almost built around the 'Dear Prudence' guitar lick and the end part of 'I Am The Walrus.' It's so obviously influenced by the Beatles. It's kind of fun to discover second-generation Beatles ideas done 30 years later. The big attraction to this song was the opening five seconds, that guitar jangle. It's so enormous, and for '72 it was mind blowing."

Vivian Campbell (August 2006)

"There was a lot of politicking. Some people are more fond of certain acts than others. We covered an ELO song. I wouldn't say I was a big ELO fan, but Rick Savage, our bass player, was, so he lobbied for that."


tours played on

  • This song has never been performed live.

song lyrics

Did you see your friend, crying from his eyes today?
Did you see him run through the streets and far way? Aah...
Did you see him run? Did you see him fall? Ah, ah...
Did his life flash by at the bedroom door?

Did you hear the news, it came across the air today?
Someone has been found on the rocks down in the bay, ah...
Did you see him hide? Did you see him crawl? Ah, ah...
Does his life mean more than it did before?

Did you see that man running through the streets today?
Did you catch his face, was it 10538?.


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