The only song that started The Traveling Wilburys

Why The Traveling Wilburys Never Traveled

(Credit: Wikimedia)

Friday 22 November 2024 21:18 UK

The whole story of Traveling in the Wilburys felt like one of the happiest accidents in music history. None of the group needed a push from their bandmates to step back into the spotlight, but when they all came together, it was like watching the old guard of rock and rollers come together to prove to everyone that they can still rock like they did back in the day. Although “Handle With Care” gets a lot of credit for getting everything off the ground, Roy Orbison’s “You Got It” should deserve the title as ground zero for the band.

Because of all the Wilburys, it was Orbison who was comfortable in the spotlight for years. While George Harrison intentionally limited the amount of music he put out and Jeff Lynne had moved on to the production side of life without ELO, Orbison had become almost a relic of the 1960s, being known as the inspiration for other rock legends and the little ones. of iconic songs like ‘Crying’, ‘(Oh) Pretty Woman’ and ‘Only the Lonely’.

Then again, the 1980s were a great time to be a living legend of yesteryear. Outside of the Wilburys making waves, John Fogerty had a hit later, and although no one asked for it, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young made a major return to the mainstream with The American Dream, which proves that these legends didn’t even need good songs to get back into the public eye.

As for Orbison’s album mystery girl however, the groundwork was being laid before Harrison got involved. The whole process of making “Handle With Care” came together by accident, but looking at the people working on “You Got It,” Orbison might as well have been the glue that held it all together in the first place.

So how did “You Got It” bring the Wilburys back together?

Given where Orbison was in his career, the real catalyst for the Wilburys began with Jeff Lynne. In addition to having connective tissue with the solo careers of Tom Petty and Harrison, Lynne helped achieve The mystery girl off the ground when he realized he was going to help write a song for his idol. Everything was in place, but looking back at how it all worked out, Petty was also instrumental in “You Got It,” including showing up to the studio to play guitar and sing background harmonies behind Orbison’s voice.

While not all the members were there yet, all the embers of The Wilburys’ best material are here. It’s got the same prototypical love song formula for Orbison’s other half, and while he doesn’t go quite as high on this one, there are subtle nods to “Not Alone Any More” from the group’s first album, especially in the way harmonies overlap one another.

And with Harrison getting an uncredited cameo on backing vocals, it’s easy to think of this as a basic Wilburys cut that just happened to be left off their album. Aside from being one of the forgotten gems from one of the world’s biggest supergroups, however, “You Got It” deserves more than that.

This was also Orbison, who was closing the chapter of his career after his sudden death after Wilbury’s first album came out, and to hear him sounding so full of life meant he knew his luck. He hadn’t lost an ounce of polish on those trademark pipes, and with The Wilburys just around the corner, “You Got It” became his final farewell wave to the world, as well as a happy precursor to “the other” band his

So how did “You Got It” bring the Wilburys back together?

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