{"id":491861,"date":"2026-03-24T02:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/491861\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T02:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:53:09","slug":"the-most-american-song-traveling-wilburys-ever-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/491861\/","title":{"rendered":"The most American song Traveling Wilburys ever made"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ The Traveling Wilburys)<\/p>\n

Mon 23 March 2026 20:30, UK <\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots of talk about supergroups in music history, but there aren\u2019t perhaps any as powerful as The Traveling Wilburys<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Made up of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty, the band were something of a rock and roll avengers, defying all expectations that combined egos make for a toxic creative environment. <\/p>\n

In fact, the moment the band agreed<\/a> to embark on this uncharted journey of supergroup recording, there was an unspoken agreement to put all things glamorous to one side. Their individual egos simply had no room to dominate, for high-tech recording studios and expensive riders were abandoned for DIY kitchen studios and a reliance on the trusted acoustic guitar. <\/p>\n

In fact, the third track from their debut album, The Traveling Wilburys Vol 1, \u2018Rattled\u2019 was recorded in a kitchen<\/a>. OK, it was the kitchen of a Californian villa, owned by Eurhythmics\u2019 Dave Stewart, but a kitchen devoid of engineering desks and glamorous green rooms nonetheless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat track, the sound, I think, is just so close to a good old rock \u2018n\u2019 roll thing from the late 1950s,\u201d George Harrison recalled when asked about the track, going a long way to proving that the band\u2019s sole intention was to keep it old school. <\/p>\n

You could argue then, that in many ways \u2018Rattled\u2019 epitomises the transatlantic chemistry of the band. But then there is \u2018Tweeter And The Monkey Man\u2019 which lets the storytelling master Bob Dylan run free on the track, thrusting into a state of rock and roll iconography. <\/p>\n

It was one of the songs written in Stewart\u2019s Californian kitchen and doesn\u2019t stray too far from the trusted formula they had conjured up in those loose sessions. But with Dylan on lead vocals, it dives deeper into the sense of storytelling that he was famed for and with the help of compatriot Tom Petty, became something of a gritty American tale. <\/p>\n

George Harrison remembered that he and Lynne felt somewhat confused by the track, and \u201cwere just sitting round in the kitchen and he for some reason was talking about all this stuff which didn\u2019t make much sense to me. You know, it was that Americana kind of stuff. And we got a tape cassette, put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The song tells the dramatic and poetic story of two drug dealers in New Jersey, with a catalogue of truly Dylan-esque characters: Mr Jones, Jack of Hearts, and Dr Filth, as well as the two protagonists. While many suggest the song is a tongue-in-cheek ribbing of New Jersey native Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, it\u2019s nevertheless a compelling tale full of dark humour and drama, designed to uncover the jilted social make-up of modern America.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the Wilburys were largely concerned with making carefree music that universally spoke to their broad audience, made up of their individual fans, this was the one track that used the American ground on which they all lived as inspiration, and allowed American hero Bob Dylan to lead them in doing so.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

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