Electric Light Orchestra fans figure out which film Surrender was written for – but it ‘didn’t pan out’

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A song written by the Electric Light Orchestra had been intended for a film but “didn’t pan out” according to fans of the band.

ELO listeners have since figured out which film the song Surrender had been written for, with the lesser-known track from Jeff Lynne praised by dedicated listeners. A post to the r/ELO subreddit has seen fans discuss which film it had been meant for, and why it was ultimately not used by the filmmakers. A fan asked: “What movie was Surrender intended for? In the liner notes in my A New World Record CD, Jeff Lynne says that Surrender was written for a movie that didn’t pan out. Does any of you know any details about what that movie would have been?”

Fans have since seemingly figured out the film Surrender had been written for, with the entire film scrapped just months before filming was meant to take place. A fan shared: “The film in question was Devil’s Riff, which ELO was announced as providing half of the soundtrack for, with the rest handled by Seiji Ozawa and The Boston Symphony Orchestra.

“From what I can gather, this was to have been a mix of live action and animated segments, its story concerning a figure who somehow enters the underworld to try bargaining for his captured love. Unfortunately, the only copy of the script was stolen just before the project was due to go into production, and the studio decided it wasn’t worth going ahead with.

“In addition to Surrender (which was technically completed during the Zoom sessions, but based on a vintage idea), the fast part of what later became The Quick And The Daft dates back to this period, likely being intended as the main theme.”

They continued: “My understanding is that they’d only just finished writing a draft when this went missing, but it’s possible the studio involved used that as an excuse to quietly drop a project tentatively committed to before it went into actual production, since I can imagine the hybrid format being quite expensive, and if someone in the financing chain felt this overall film carried a risk of failing to return on its initial investment, they’d have likely jumped at any opportunity to cut it off.”

It is not the first time ELO has worked on soundtracks, with their Olivia Newton-John collaboration, Xanadu, providing the band with the hit song, All Over the World. Other users have since noted other A New World Record songs were used in films after the album’s release in October 1976.

One user wrote: “If this is true, my first instinct would be to say the film Joyride, which was released in 1977 and had on the soundtrack a few tracks from A New World Record. Desi Arnaz Jr was in it but I don’t remember anything else about the film.”