‘Handle With Care’: Who played the solo on the Traveling Wilburys song?
The formation of the Traveling Wilburys wasn’t something anyone could have predicted. The thought of having some of the biggest giants of classic rock together in one group is virtually unthinkable, but it was the happiest of coincidences that George Harrison and Jeff Lynne developed their idea for an imaginary supergroup that somehow resonated with their friends. And the minute they hit on ‘Handle With Care’, they knew it was far too good for any of them to let go of after one tune.
Because when you think about it, the whole reason why the Wilburys existed was to get a song finished for Harrison’s Cloud Nine album. He had gone through working on the record with Lynne, but after needing a B-side, Harrison figured that he would throw something together at Bob Dylan’s studio and get Roy Orbison to sing a handful of bits on the final version. After swiping his guitar from Tom Petty’s house and having him tag along, the label knew it was far too good to be a B-side.
Which is strange, because the construction of the song feels like something that was thrown together. The only reason the band landed on that title was because Harrison couldn’t think of anything and noticed a box in the studio with the words ‘HANDLE WITH CARE’ on it, but when it came to the rest of the lyrics, there was a round-robin mentality to every single line that got thrown out.
When Petty talked about putting the tracks together, it seemed like one of the most honest collaborations anyone could ask for, saying, “We took a break to eat and he said, ‘Well, we need some words, guys. I got all these songwriters here. (claps hands) Let’s write a song.’ Everyone would throw a line out and you would hear, ‘NO’, but sometimes a line would come out and you’d hear, ‘Oh that’s good, I like that’. That’s how we did it.” And while any sensible person may have had Bob Dylan write all of their lyrics if they could, there was no doubt who was laying down the guitar solo during the final section.
So who played the solo on ‘Handle With Care’?
After all, this was Harrison’s song to begin with, and that meant him taking a solo spot with his slide guitar. And despite Orbison’s vocals sounding absolutely heavenly on the bridge of the tune, hearing Harrison’s slide licks overshadow almost everything else, as if he finally found a way to make his guitar speak.
A lot of what the Wilburys had been doing had more to do with the rock and roll of days gone by, but Harrison’s solo reminded everyone of the kind of music they had built up since those pre-rock and roll days. He could have easily thrown in a traditional Carl Perkins-style solo, but after his massive infatuation with Indian music, ‘The Quiet Beatle’ had started to view his slide guitar as an inherent part of his personality whenever he played, being almost as identifiable as his voice.
And that was far from the last time Harrison would help out some of his fellow Wilburys with a few slide licks. He would be around for the video for Petty’s ‘I Won’t Back Down’ a few months after the album was released, and even when he got back together with his “other band” for The Beatles Anthology, his slide guitar licks on ‘Free As A Bird’ reminded everyone that this was a more mature version of Harrison than the one who stormed out of the studio during the Get Back sessions all those years ago.
The slide guitar gave him the opportunity to make his guitar gently weep, but there’s no sadness to be found in ‘Handle With Care’. From the moment the solo starts to the song’s fade out, you can tell that Harrison’s days of being jaded about the music business were over and he was happy to be making music with his friends.
