clarity2009: Music

The Traveling Wilburys (from left): Lucky Wilbury, Otis Wilbury, Charlie T., Jr., Nelson Wilbury, Lefty Wilbury.

Later their names changed. Just because. On Volume 3, Lucky became Boo Wilbury; Otis became Clayton Wilbury; Charlie T. became Muddy Wilbury; Nelson became Spike Wilbury. Lefty was gone.

---------

I doubt if anyone reading this doesn't remember or know about the traveling Wilburys, but perhaps some have forgotten how this "super group" happened to be formed. Here is an abbreviated version.

George Harrison, a solo artist, had just released his "Cloud Nine" album and was looking to release one of the songs as a single. He needed another song for the "B" side of the single. While Harrison was in Los Angeles, he asked Jeff Lynne (of Electric Light Orchestra) to help him with this song. This was natural, since Lynne had produced the "Cloud Nine" album that had just been released in Europe. But then started an almost incredibly coincidental chain of events.

It happened that Lynne was at the time also working with Roy Orbison on Roy's "Mystery Girl" album. This was in 1988. Roy (himself a prolific songwriter) also agreed to pitch in to help write the needed song for Harrison. That was the first coincidence, and we now have three rock and roll legends in one place working on one song. But the coincidence chain continues.

George Harrison needed his guitar. As luck would have it, he had left it at Tom Petty's house. He, too, offered to pitch in on the song collaboration. Four rock and roll legends. They finished the song and showed up at the studio for Harrison to record it.

The studio belonged to their friend, Bob Dylan. He was there.

George Harrison: "And so everybody was there and I thought, I'm not gonna just sing it myself - I've got Roy Orbison standing there. I'm gonna write a bit for Roy to sing. And then, as it progressed, then I started doing the vocals and I just thought I might as well push it a bit and get Tom and Bob to sing the bridge." The final result was a song called "Handle With Care."

It wasn't destined for the "B" side of a single. They came up with 9 other songs and made an album. They called the album Volume 1, tongue in cheek of course - not likely there would ever be another album. And what would they call the hastily-formed group?

There are always mistakes in the recording of music. Equipment failures. Mistakes. Whatever. Sometimes it requires another take. Sometimes they don't bother. As George Harrison said of one such mistake, "We'll bury that in the mix." Ha. But then someone decided "We'll bury" was not a bad name for a band like theirs. We'll bury. Wilbury. The Trembling Wilburys. No. The Traveling Wilburys. And so it was.

I really have a hard time choosing a favorite song by The Traveling Wiburys. They went on to make another album, and I like much of that too, although they were not the same people (Roy Orbison unexpectedly passed away right after "Mystery Girl", and so I like the original song, "Handle With Care" a lot, because Roy was prominent in the bridge of that song. Other songs I really like include "End of the Line", Dylan's "Nobody's Child", and a haunting remake of the sad-fated Del Shannon's "Runaway."

There were a couple of songs the supergroup made that were never released. One of these was a song that featured George Harrison, called "Maxine". When the original albums were re-released in 2007 as a boxed set, "Maxine" was released too. It had the vocals okay but some of the guitar needed overdubbing. What to do? - George Harrison had died in 2001. Here's a little bit of trivia for you: a new Wilbury was created for that duty on "Maxine". His name became Ayrton Wilbury. His real name was Dhani Harrison, George's son.

I thought Julian Lennon looked a lot like his father. But Dhani Harrison could BE his father. The first time I saw a picture of him, I thought George Harrison had come back to life and it was the 1960s again. I swear.

Click below picture of the original Traveling Wilburys to enlarge.