From: "Colin Kilgour" 
Date: Fri Apr 15, 2005  11:09 am 
Subject: This Is My Story: The Traveling Wilburys  
 
 
This Is My Story: The Traveling Wilburys

THE TRAVELING WILBURYS

I use the name of the group as spelled out on all records worldwide i.e. the
American spelling of ‘traveling’

The original Traveling Wilburys line-up:
Roy Orbison
Bob Dylan
George Harrison (of The Beatles)
Tom Petty (of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Jeff Lynne (of Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)

When George was in Los Angeles in the spring of 1988 putting together tracks
for a single to be released from his Cloud Nine album, he was seeking a
bonus track for the European twelve inch of 'When We Was Fab'

He contacted Jeff Lynne who was co-producing with him (including appearing
in the 'Fab' music video along with Ringo Starr) to participate in a
song-writing session. George had left his guitar at Tom Petty's house a few
nights earlier, so he invited Petty along. When Lynne arrived, Roy Orbison
accompanied him - Jeff had also been working on Roy's album Mystery Girl at
the time as well as working on tracks for Tom Petty (Tom and Jeff had
co-written the wonderful 'You Got It' for Roy and sang backing vocals on the
track).

George was impressed that Roy knew so much about Monty Python and delighted
when Orbison volunteered to sing with him on this extra track. "And so I
thought I'll just go into the studio tomorrow and do one and it happened
that Jeff was working with Roy and Roy wanted to come."

Arriving late the following morning, Roy shook hands with Tom Petty - who
Jeff, and to a lesser extent, George, had assisted in the production of a
Del Shannon album in 1987, after Petty's group had backed Dylan on the tour
that had terminated at Wembley.

It wasn't worth booking anywhere expensive so George telephoned Bob Dylan in
nearby Santa Monica and he had a little Ampex in the corner of his garage,
available the next day. "And the only studio that we could find available
was Bob's. So we thought, Bob’s got one, we'll just call him up."

While George and Jeff worked on the song, Dylan prepared a barbecue. George
recalled, `I looked behind the garage door and there was a cardboard box
with "Handle With Care" on it.'

From merely providing refreshments, Dylan lent a hand when Harrison - with
his ‘B-Side’ only half-finished - said, "Give us some lyrics, you famous
lyricist." It is said that Harrison had long admired Dylan and rated him a
better artist than either Lennon or McCartney.

George added what he called 'a lonely bit' for Orbison, while Dylan wheezed
the trademark harmonica on the fade. George: " ….. 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, 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."

All five musicians pitched in with suggestions for the number. George was to
recall, `I thought of the first line, then everyone was writing words with
Dylan saying some hysterical things”. The next day we added electric guitar
and bass and mixed it. It was instant.'

Roy had to leave for a one-nighter in Anaheim near Long Beach, Bob carried
on preparing for a summer tour and George slipped over to Warners with the
new tape.

When WEA Records heard `Handle With Care' they considered it to be too good
to throw away as a makeweight on a single so George put it aside. He then
thought it would be a good idea if they turned the collaboration of the five
into a full-scale album project so he discussed the prospect with Jeff over
a quantity of Mexican lager. All parties were keen so it was a runner,

Owing to Orby's tour, only ten days could be set aside for recording – this
was the summer of 1988. “It worked because it was so unplanned'". Most of
the composing took place at Dylan's then at producer, Dave Stewart’s.
Nourished by a continuous barbecue, George's team would "assemble at about
one in the afternoon and just sit around with acoustic guitars - then
someone would have a title or a chord pattern and we'd let it roll."
What developed was the album The Traveling Wilburys Volume 1. George and
Jeff returned to England, where they added the final overdubs.

Michael Palin wrote the sleeve notes for the album. The tracks are: `Handle
With Care', `Dirty World', `Rattled', `Last Night', `Not Alone Anymore',
`Congratulations', `Heading For The Light', `Margarita', `Tweeter And The
Monkey Man', `End of The Line'.

It was issued in America and Britain on 25 October 1988 soon after the
release of the single `Handle With Care'. The name Wilbury had been a
suggestion from George and Jeff. While they had been recording Cloud Nine,
when there were any technical problems with their equipment, they said that
gremlins were at work and they called them 'Wilburys' - it was an in-joke.

First, 'The Trembling Wilburys' was suggested as a name when, remembered
Lynne, he and George had "this fantasy idea. We'd start inventing a group
that would have all our favourite people." Ultimately the vote went to
Traveling, which was certainly the preference of the persuasive Dylan.

Harrison was the most avid Wilbury plugger. Later, he'd chew over the
likelihood of a full-length movie based on the sleevenotes attributed to
Michael Palin from a brainwave of Derek Taylor's.

Masquerading as half brothers sired by the same father - Charles Truscott
Wilbury, Senior - the five appeared under their chosen pseudonyms. They
decided to create a little history. They would masquerade as half-brothers,
all sons of Charles. Bob Dylan was Lucky or Boo Wilbury. Jeff Lynne was Otis
or Clayton Wilbury. Tom Petty was Charlie T. Jr or Muddy Wilbury. Roy
Orbison was Lefty Wilbury and George was Nelson or Spike Wilbury.

The other musicians who participated were referred to as `the Sideburys'.
They comprised Jim Keltner on drums, Jim Horn on sax and Ray Cooper on
percussion. Ian Wallace played tom-toms on the `Handle With Care' track.
After the death of Orbison it was rumoured that Del Shannon might replace
him in the group. When told about the rumours, Shannon said, `At the moment
it's not likely to happen until the band gets back together from doing their
own individual stuff. If they decide on a second album, I'd be interested.'

The Wilburys did go ahead and make a second album but only as a quartet as
they felt that Roy Orbison couldn't be replaced. George said, `You can't
really replace somebody like Roy. As far as another member goes, I don't
think it's that important. If some magic little thing happens, maybe there
will be somebody. You could really have any number of Wilburys. The basic
idea is attitude. For now, it's just us four.'

The recording took place at Wilbury Mountain Studio, Bel Air, California
between Friday 27 April until Tuesday 15 May 1990 and at FPSHOT in July
1990. It featured Tom Petty as Muddy Wilbury on acoustic and lead and
backing vocals; Bob Dylan as Boo Wilbury on acoustic guitar, harmonica and
lead and backing vocals; Jeff Lynne on acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards and
lead and backing vocals; and George Harrison as Spike Wilbury on acoustic
and electric guitars, mandolin, sitar and lead and backing vocals.

George only submitted one of his numbers, 'Maxine' but this was rejected and
so he had none of his own compositions on the album. The first number
recorded was `Nobody's Child', a number that The Beatles had originally
backed Tony Sheridan on in Hamburg in 1962. This was at the suggestion of
Bob Dylan when George mentioned his wife Olivia's Romanian Angel Appeal and
the idea that they should donate a track, so this was excluded from their
own album content.

Gary Moore, under the name Ken Wilbury, played lead guitar on the actual
opening track, `She's My Baby'. The other tracks were: `Inside Out', `If You
Belonged To Me', `The Devil's Been Busy', `7 Deadly Sins', `Poor House',
`Where Were You Last Night?', `Cool Dry Place', `New Blue Moon', `You Took
My Breath Away', `Wilbury Twist', `Runaway.'

It appears that `Like A Ship' was also recorded but like `Maxine', didn’t
make the cut.

The album wasn’t titled Traveling Wilburys Volume 2. This second and final
album was called Traveling Wilburys Volume 3, due to the fact that a bootleg
album called Traveling Wilburys Volume 2 had already been released. Vol.3
was released on 29 October 1990 in both Britain and America and is dedicated
to ‘Lefty Wilbury’.

Singles:
Overall there were a number of singles released. `Handle With Care' c/w
`Margarita' was the first (and, in the British release, a bonus track on an
extended `Handle With Care' issued in October 1988). `End Of The Line' was
released in February 1989 with an extended mix of 'End Of The Line', plus
`Congratulations'. `Nobody's Child' was released in aid of the Romanian
Orphans appeal in June 1990. `She's My Baby' c/w the instrumental `New Blue
Moon' and `Runaway*' followed the same year and the final single was issued
in March 1991 with `Wilbury Twist' c/w `New Blue Moon (Instrumental)' and
`Cool Dry Place'.

* any information on this version of ‘Runaway’ gratefully received

Following his tour of Japan, his first in seventeen years, George began to
talk of a Traveling Wilburys tour, but it never happened. He commented,
`That would be something I'd like to experience. I've always played around
in my own mind what a Wilburys tour could be. Would each person do a solo
set and then do Wilburys at the end, or would we all go right on from
beginning to end and make everything Wilburys? It's an intriguing thought.
We could have a great band up there and the four of us could play acoustic
if we wanted to. We could all sing `Blowin' In The Wind' and Bob could sing
`Something'. Or we could just sing our individual songs and make them
Wilbury tunes, as if we'd recorded them that way. Whatever it was, we could
do it.'

Tom Petty also commented on the lack of a tour, since people said they were
the Traveling Wilburys: `I think it would work, if we wanted to do it. I
don't think we ever considered it, really. There were a lot of nights when
the conversation would roll around to that. But I don't think anybody ever
took it seriously. I think it would ruin it in a way. Then you're obligated
to be responsible and it's not in the character of that group. It would make
it very formal and that would be the wrong spirit.'

A third album also wasn't to be, even though George said, `There is
definitely going to be another Wilbury album - volume 5. Each one of us
enjoyed it so much.' Sadly, it wasn't to be. Following the death of Roy
Orbison, the rumours of Del Shannon replacing him and doing another album
never materialised.

In June 1999 that was an announcement regarding using Carl Perkins' voice on
a third Wilburys’ album. Carl Perkins had been Harrison's one-time idol
and in the early days he borrowed his Christian name. His son Stan said he
would be handing over four unreleased songs by his late father which could
be utilised in the same way George, Paul and Ringo had used John Lennon’s
demos for 'Free As A Bird' and 'Real Love'. Sadly, the plan never comes
off.

At least there was consolation that two platinum-selling albums had
materialised.

Neither was there a Wilburys film. George was to say, `We were trying to
make a Wilbury film. We were going to film all the songs, it was all read -
we had the studios booked, we had director David Leland, and every song
filmed in a different location. Unfortunately Roy died but I'd still like to
do it sometime.'

Tom Petty said the various Wilburys had a real ball, effectively making the
records for themselves. Any commercial spin-off was incidental. One quote
has the arrival of The Wilburys ‘a breath of fresh air, so different from
the climate of the late 80s. In fact, almost a throwback to George’s
skiffle past ……… like a Viking ship docking in a hovercraft terminal’

There are a few bootlegs going around – see website but these are generally
made up of solo songs which one or two of the Wilburys worked on.

A Couple of Questions:
Why is Carrie Fisher thanked for 'You Took My Breath Away' on Volume 3?
Carrie says: "I gave George Harrison that lyric (you took my breath away and
now I want it back) ......and he used it in that song. It was from a poem I
wrote when I was in my late teens.

Is there a Traveling Wilburys mailing list?
Yes - run by Clemma Wilbury. It's a reasonably quiet mailing list with
people writing to deliver Wilbury related news and just asking questions and
the like. You can join at the yahoogroups website.

Websites:
http://www.wilburys.info/

For everything the band has officially released to date. Now includes
bootlegs
http://www.wilburys.info/disc.html

http://www.searchingforagem.com/Wilburys.htm

The second CD isn’t a patch on the first ........... basically owing to the
absence of the Big O in the whole scheme of things. That voice – as big as
a cathedral – could never be replaced, either as a solo artist or as part
of this ensemble. Also the quality of the second batch of songs is
inferior.

The information used herein is from the websites quoted and the CD sleeve
notes
=======================
Finally here’s some nonsense from the two album sleeve notes

The etymological origins of The Traveling Wilburys have aroused something of
a controversy amongst academic circles. Did they, as professor "BOBBY"
Sinfield believes, originate from the various Wilbury Fairs which travelled
Europe in Medieval times, titillating the populace with contemporary
ballads, or rather, were they rather derived from "Ye Travelling
Willyburys", who were popular locksmiths during the Crusades used to picking
or unlocking jammed chastity belts (rather like today's emergency plumbers.)

Dr. Arthur Noseputty of Cambridge believes they were closely related to the
Strangling Dingleberries, which is not a Group but a disease, an unpleasant
form of crotch-rot; arguing that a "WILBURY" is often used as an expression
for a piece of crud found in the crevice of an ancient pair of y-fronts; but
I think this can be discounted, not only because of his silly name but also
from his habit of impersonating Ethel Merman during lectures. Some have even
gone on to suggest tenuous links with The Pillsburys, the group who invented
Flour Power.

Dim Sun, a Chinese academic, argues that they may be related to "The
Strolling Tilburys", Queen Elizabeth the first's favourite minstrels, and
backs this suspicion with the observation that The Traveling Wilburys is an
obvious anagram of "V. Burying Will's Theatre", clearly a reference to the
closing of Shakespeare's Globe theatre by Villiers during an outbreak of
plague. This would account for the constant travelling.

Indeed, many victims of plague and St. Vitus' dance literally danced
themselves to death and it is this dancing theme that resurfaces with The
Wilbury Twist. Not a cocktail but a dance craze, reminiscent of The Wilbury
Quadrille made famous at Bath in 1790 by Beau Diddley, and the Wilbury
Waltz, which swept Vienna in the 1890's. One thing, however, remains
certain. The circumambulatory peregrinations of these itinerant mundivagrant
peripatetic nomads has already disgorged one collection of popular lyrical
cantata, which happily encapsulated their dithyramble antiphonic
contrapuntal threnodies as a satisfactory auricular experience for the
hedonistic gratification of the hoi polloi on a popular epigraphically
inscribed gramophonic recording. Now here's another one. Tiny Hampton.

(Professor "Tiny" Hampton is currently leading the search for Intelligent
Life amongst Rock Journalism, at the University of Please Yourself,
California.)
--------------------------
“ The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realising that their
civilisation could not stand still for ever, began to go for short walks -
not the "traveling" as we now know it but certainly as far as the corner and
back. They must have taken to motion, in much the same way as penguins were
at that time taking to ledges, for the next we hear of them they were going
out for the day (often taking lunch or a picnic).

Later - we don't as yet know how much later - some intrepid Wilburys began
to go away for the weekend, leaving late Friday and coming back Sunday. It
was they who evolved simple rhythmic forms to describe their adventures.

A remarkable sophisticated musical culture developed, considering there were
no managers or agents and the further the Wilburys traveled the more
adventurous their music became and the more it was revered by the elders of
the tribe who believed it had the power to stave off madness, turn brunettes
into blondes and increase the size of their ears.

But as the Wilburys began to go further and further in their search for
musical inspiration they found themselves the object of interest among many
less developed species - nightclub owners, tour operators and recording
executives. To the Wilburys, who had only just learnt to cope with wives,
roadies and drummers, it was a blow from which many of them never recovered.
They became hairdressers or tv rental salespersons.

But a tiny handful survived the last of the traveling Wilburys - and the
songs gathered here represent the popular laments, the epic and heroic tales
which characterise the apotheosis of the elusive Wilbury sound. The
message of the music travels, as indeed they traveled and as I myself must
now travel for further treatment. Good listening, good night and let thy
Wilbury done ............

Sleeve note: Hugh Jampton”

Pulled together by Colin Kilgour: April 2005