(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Sun 22 February 2026 19:15, UK
Oh, to be surrounded by talent all the time and having the luxury of kicking about with some of the most illustrious figures of your craft. What a blessing it must have been to be in the Traveling Wilburys.
This isn’t even an attempt at sarcasm or facetiousness; this is a genuine expression of jealousy that the five musicians who made up the band had the privilege of working with each other on a project with absolutely no expectation behind it, and that didn’t come with any pressure to deliver whatsoever. It could have turned out to be a disastrous vanity project that didn’t do any justice to the names involved, but their debut album proved to be anything but a flop.
This wasn’t just aided by the fact that every constituent part of the group was an exemplary songwriter, but more by the fact that all of them had incredible chemistry, knew how to utilise their differences as a weapon to combine all of the parts that worked well together, and, mostly, that they all had complete and utter respect for one another.
Had, for example, Bob Dylan absolutely hated being in the same room as George Harrison, then perhaps things would have collapsed before they even had a chance to get off the ground, but the Wilburys managed to assemble a collection of songs for their debut album in 1988 as though it was child’s play.
Frankly, for a quintet of musicians of this calibre, it shouldn’t be anything but child’s play, but that doesn’t mean that a project like this can’t come with teething problems where they have to figure out how things are going to function.
Fortunately for them, and rather sickeningly for anyone hoping to see them crash and burn, this also didn’t happen, and the spark was there from the outset when they first came to work together.
In fact, Jeff Lynne went as far as to suggest that their very first session together produced their finest song, and that the essence of what the band could become was born from the moment they stepped into the room as a group for the first time. In an interview that was eventually used as part of a documentary on the band’s history, Lynne called ‘Handle With Care’ the greatest song that they ever worked on.
“That was probably the very first one that George had half written, and we went over to Bob’s studio to record it,” Lynne revealed. “That was the first time we ever did a Wilburys session, so that one, for me, contains all the elements of the Wilburys at their best. On our best behaviour as well. It was really good, what a thrill that first one was, because when we struck up and there was the vocals going down, and Roy Orbison was singing harmony with Tom Petty, what a thrill it was to sing with Roy.”
Evidently thrilled at the idea that he’d not only had the opportunity to work with some of his idols and fellow songwriting greats, but that it had come out just as perfect as it could possibly be, it’s clear that Lynne relished being in the Traveling Wilburys, and that magic spawned right from the get-go with ‘Handle With Care’.