"Wild West Hero" is a song 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), and the closing track and third single from the album '' Out of the Blue''. The song was written reputedly by lead singer

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 ...

in 4 minutes while on holiday.

Melvyn Gale Melvyn is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Melvyn Betts (born 1975), English cricketer * Melvyn Bragg (born 1939), British broadcaster and author * Melvyn Caplan, British Conservative politician * Melvyn Douglas (1901-1981), American a ...

, normally the band's

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

, provided the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

-style piano for this track. It entered the UK Top 40 at No. 31 in June 1978 but fell to number 36 the following week. Thanks to a rush-release in 12" format on yellow vinyl, its fortunes were reversed a week later, and within six weeks it had risen to a peak position of number 6. Coincidentally this was also the highest UK position achieved by the group's previous single, "

Mr. Blue Sky "Mr. Blue Sky" is a song by the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), featured on the band's seventh studio album '' Out of the Blue'' (1977). Written and produced by frontman Jeff Lynne, the song forms the fourth and final track of the "Concerto fo ...

", and the next two, " Sweet Talkin' Woman" and "

Shine a Little Love "Shine a Little Love" is a song by the English rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). It was released as a single in the US and UK in 1979. Summary The song is the first track on their 1979 album ''Discovery''. This was one of the band's m ...

". The chorus of the song has the same chord progression as

Pachelbel's Canon Pachelbel's Canon (also known as the Canon in D, P 37) is an accompanied canon by the German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. The canon was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue, known as ''Canon and G ...

's but transposed from D to G, which is the tonality of "Wild West Hero". The only exception is the 7th chord of the chorus, which is A instead of C.

Chart history

References

1978 singles Electric Light Orchestra songs Songs written by Jeff Lynne Rock ballads 1977 songs Jet Records singles {{1970s-rock-song-stub