"The Way Life's Meant to Be" is a song written by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...

and performed by

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop, classical a ...

(ELO). The single peaked at number 30 on the German Media Control Singles Chart. "The Way Life's Meant to Be" was the first song recorded for ''Time'', a few months before the main recording sessions. The song is track five on the 1981 album ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' and was the last track to be released as a single from the album in the UK. It starts with gentle violins, and continues with

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

-like guitar playing, and castanets. The south Mediterranean sound continues throughout the vocal and choiring on the refrain. Continuing the theme of time travel, the lyrics deal with the protagonist's Future Shock at seeing his town over a hundred years later, and his disappointment at how the future is not nearly as utopian as the people of 1981, himself included, had predicted. It was the first single since " Nightrider" in 1976 that failed to chart in the UK. The B-side was "Wishing" taken from the ''

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...

'' album. The song was recorded at the Polar Studios in Stockholm, unlike the majority of the songs of the album that were recorded at Musicland Studios in Munich. According to ELO drummer Bev Bevan, the castanets and acoustic guitars in layers were intended to give the song a

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...

ish

wall of sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session m ...

feel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Way Life's Meant To Be, The 1981 songs 1982 singles Electric Light Orchestra songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Songs written by Jeff Lynne Jet Records singles