George Harrison’s 1990 bid to keep the Traveling Wilburys together: “I worked so hard”
George Harrison has a rather bizarre relationship with band breakups.
Of course, let’s start with the primary one, The Beatles, undoubtedly the biggest band on the planet at the time and near undeniably the biggest band of all time. You would be within your rights to think Harrison wanted the Beatlemania ride to endlessly run, and on the surface, what was there to hate? Endless sonic innovation, global adulation and a bountiful treasure of riches.
But even though many would like to paint Harrison as a passenger, he was anything but. Really, of all the band members, it was Harrison who needed the break-up more than any other. He was beginning to prove that his songwriting ability rivalled that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, yet he never got a look in. No amount of songs like ‘Here Comes The Sun’ was going to change that in the long run, and so he needed liberating. The Beatles’ break-up set Harrison free, and after seven gruelling years in the mix, not even the tight sense of brotherhood could sadden the reality that his famous band was no longer. He just wanted out.
By the time his next band formed, Traveling Wilburys, Harrison’s career was in a completely contrasting state. His solo music had become somewhat directionless, and he needed an injection of creativity, namely in the form of collaboration. He was clever enough to know that it wasn’t in the form of three-piece Beatles, but he was bold enough to believe it was in a supergroup. And they didn’t get more super than the Traveling Wilburys.
Yet against all odds, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty became the perfect bandmates for this superstar, and a refreshing new group was formed. A DIY recording ethos underpinned this glamorous unity, and two stellar records were laid down before, once again, it all came to a crashing end, but this time in the form of Roy Orbison’s tragic passing.
That second album was recorded without Orbison, in both a state of honour and curiosity, wondering whether this band could continue on without him. It was something Harrison desperately wanted, treasuring this unique sense of camaraderie that he felt was missing in his time during The Beatles, and so to his surprise, he found himself clinging on.
He recalled, “From my point of view, I just tried to preserve our relationship. I worked so hard to make sure that all the guys who were in that band, and consequently on record and film, that their friendship wasn’t abused. Just to preserve our friendship, that was the underlying contribution, I think, that I was trying to do.”
Harrison was acutely aware of what made this band tick. He wasn’t trying to preserve the friendship in spite of the music but rather in unison with it, because despite Traveling Wilburys being made up of the biggest names in music, their sound was built solely off the trust and camaraderie they had built. Which differed wildly from The Beatles, come their break up.
But also, there was an important element of trauma and grieving that was taking place after Orbison’s death, and so Harrison realised, if the band and its music could serve as a healing tool, then he would do his best to honour that.
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