George Harrison Said The Traveling Wilburys Struck a Chord Because They Were ‘Flippant’
George Harrison said The Traveling Wilburys wouldn’t have happened if any of the band members had planned it. It was a miracle that George, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison formed the supergroup. Since nothing was intended or thought out, it made everything carefree, something the record companies weren’t at the time.
George Harrison said The Traveling Wilburys wouldn’t have happened if they had planned it
The Traveling Wilburys happened by complete accident.
In 1987, George entered the recording studio to record Cloud Nine, his first album in five years. He asked Lynne to co-produce the album. In November 1987, it hit shelves. However, in April 1988, George discovered that the record company wanted one more song for a European 12-inch single. George had to record one quickly.
The former Beatle asked Lynne to help him write it, and Dylan allowed them to use his recording studio. Orbison and Petty tagged along to watch. George and Lynne wrote “Handle With Care.”
However, it seemed strange to George not to invite his fellow rock stars to sing the song. So, the five musicians recorded “Handle With Care.”
It came out so beautifully that the record company didn’t want it. It was too good for a European 12-inch. So, George held on to it until he got the rest of the guys back together to record an entire album. The Traveling Wilburys were born.
In a video about the making of The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, George explained that the supergroup wouldn’t have worked if they’d all planned it. It happened by fate.
George explained, “The thing about the Wilburys for me is if we’d have tried to plan that, or if anybody had tried to say, ‘Let’s form this band and get these people in it,’ it would never happen. It’s impossible.
“The thing happened completely just by magic, just by circumstances. Maybe there was a full moon that night or something like that.”
Since the supergroup and its debut album were spontaneous, it made things carefree and less serious.
George said The Traveling Wilburys struck a chord with people because they were ‘flippant’
The former Beatle wanted The Traveling Wilburys to be fun and less severe, and spontaneity contributed to its lighter feel. They used pseudonyms on the album, so no one would buy it because of who played on it. They let the songs come naturally on the spot during the songwriting process.
Their spontaneity and carefree attitude throughout the whole process paid off. In 1990, George told Today that The Traveling Wilburys struck a chord with people because they were “flippant.”
“I think people got stuck in a concept of what the record business is, whereas, with the Wilburys, it was just something that was very flippant,” George said. “I think that comes across, just the playfulness of it. We don’t really give a damn kind of attitude.”
The Traveling Wilburys’ second album stayed carefree
George and the rest (minus Orbison, who died in 1988) kept The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 as carefree as their debut. It all stayed spontaneous regarding how the supergroup wrote their songs and operated.
They didn’t consider replacing Orbison because his place in the band was spontaneous. The supergroup would lose that spontaneity if they filled his spot with someone.
In a 1989 interview with Mark Rowland (per George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters), George said, “It’s just like an attitude and there’s loads of people—I can make a list right now and put twenty people on it who, to me, would be wonderful in the Wilburys. But the thing is, the way it happened, it happened on its own.
“And, like we just talked about, the next Wilbury album’s going to be more, because everybody knows about it now, it’s not going to be…” Rowland added, “Less spontaneous.”
George replied, “Yeah. And I think to start, like, planning it, I don’t think you need a fifth Wilbury for a start. And if we do, it will be the fellow, the woman, or whoever it is, who happens to walk in the door and be right. And not because they read in the article and figured out where—knock, knock—like that.”
Good things happen when you’re least expecting them, and that’s what happened with The Traveling Wilburys. Thankfully, the band was committed to making it as fun and carefree as possible. It made the music more authentic. It also showed the record companies that miracles like the supergroup can happen without being too serious.
