Turn to Stone (Electric Light Orchestra song)

"Turn to Stone"
Single by Electric Light Orchestra
from the album Out of the Blue
B-side"Mister Kingdom"
Released14 October 1977[1]
StudioMusicland, Munich, Germany
Genre
Length3:47
LabelJet
Songwriter(s)Jeff Lynne
Producer(s)Jeff Lynne
Electric Light Orchestra singles chronology
"Telephone Line"
(1977) 		"Turn to Stone"
(1977) 		"Mr. Blue Sky"
(1978)
Music video
"Turn to Stone" on YouTube

"Turn to Stone" is a 1977 song by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO).

The song is the opening track to the double album Out of the Blue. It was the first song released as a single from the LP. The single reached No. 18 in the United Kingdom charts[2] and spent twelve weeks on the chart. Out of four singles from the album, "Turn to Stone" was the only song not to reach the top ten in the United Kingdom singles charts. The song reached No. 13 in the United States[3] and number nine in Canada in early 1978.[4]

The song was composed in Switzerland during Jeff Lynne's two-week writing marathon for his double album. Lynne played the Moog bassline of the song.

Lynne has called "Turn to Stone" one of his favorite songs, saying "It’s just so primary and simple, but yet very evocative. I love the shuffle beat."[5] Lynne has also said "There’s a part in the middle where I talk super fast. I just felt like it needed something simple in the middle of the song. I often used to put a funny little piece in a song just in case I get bored with it. I’d go, 'Well, maybe this is going on too long. I’ll think of something daft to put in there.'"[5]

On 4 November 2008, Lynne was awarded a BMI (Broadcast Music, Inc.) Million-Air certificate for "Turn to Stone" for having one million airplays.

  1. ^ "Music Week" (PDF). p. 54.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference UK was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference awards was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference CAN was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Potter, Jordan (6 December 2023). "The ELO song Jeff Lynne calls a favourite: "It's just so primary and simple"". Far Out. Retrieved 25 January 2024.