‘Handle with Care’: The song that formed The Traveling Wilburys
On the October 17th, 1988, the ultimate supergroup emerged. What do you get when you combine the musical power of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison? The answer is, inevitably, greatness and their debut single as The Traveling Wilburys, ‘Handle With Care’ proved that perfectly.
The Traveling Wilburys is the type of band that people would even dare to dream about. For three years, five titans of rock and roll came together, joining their incredible talents for a group. When it was first announced, people were rightfully baffled. It was the sort of troupe that should only exist in imaginations as the combination of so much musical power seemed too good to believe.
Some worried that too much of a good thing could go bad, as if all of these talented musicians in one place would somehow cancel each other out. But they put all doubt to bed when they released their debut single.
‘Handle With Care’ was not only the song that launched the band into the world, met with obvious excitement and acclaim. It was also the track that brought the band together, as slowly they all got involved, member by member, until it seemed right to release it as a unit.
But at the beginning, this was just a George Harrison song. He penned it thinking it would be nothing more than a b-side to his single ‘This Is Love’, which was released only in Europe to a relatively small fanfare. Harrison was taken aback when his record label rejected the track, telling him that it was too good of a song to be a mere second side to a single.
But soon after he played it to the first future band member, it became something else. Jeff Lynne was the first to hear it, agreeing with Harrison’s label after the ex-Beatle told him the story. He agreed to help him out. At the time, Lynne had just co-produced Harrison’s album Cloud Nine, and was currently working on Roy Orbison’s Mystery Girl, so they invited him along to the session too.
In need of a last-minute studio to work on the song, Harrison called up another friend, Bob Dylan. He had a home studio in Malibu, so they all gathered there, roping him into helping when Harrison said, “Give us some lyrics, you famous lyricist.” The final piece of the puzzle came on the day of the session when Harrison needed to go collect one of his guitars back from a friend who had been borrowing it. That friend was Tom Petty, who, after hearing about this meeting of minds, wanted in too.
So all five were in the studio, all putting their musical heads together to build something bigger of ‘Handle With Care’. Halfway through, Harrison had a strike of genius in the form of a wild suggestion; “We should have a group”, he said. So they did.
By the time the song was finished, all five members had contributed so much that it needed to be credited to all of them. By that point, why not just start a band? And so, The Traveling Wilburys was born, acting as a supergroup made from five of music’s finest, as well as five friends all keen to collaborate and help each other out.
