The Traveling Wilburys was a welcomed, but certainly not necessary stop on the careers of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison. None of these musicians needed the leg up in the industry, but it appeased fans of each of them greatly. Their combined strengths were aptly greater than the sum of the band’s parts.
Petty loved many things about The Traveling Wilburys. He felt their music was routinely up to snuff with their individual projects. However, he did have one regret. Find out what that is, below.
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Tom Petty’s Biggest Regret About the Traveling Wilburys
Been beat up and battered ’round
Been sent up, and I’ve been shot down
You’re the best thing that I’ve ever found
Handle me with care
Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
Baby, you’re adorable
Handle me with care
The Traveling Wilburys never toured. In fact, they never played any shows what so ever. We’re sure a trek featuring all of these artists would’ve been successful, but they never got around to putting something together. It wasn’t for lack of trying, according to Petty.
“It was considered often,” Petty once said. “We talked about it many nights and then never really did it. We might have some beers and plan it all night and then in the morning we’d be like, ‘Well, no.’ Especially when we became successful, there were all kinds of people trying to get us to do tours.”
Petty got a taste for what a Wilburys tour might have been when he performed alongside Lynne at the Concert for George, a tribute show for the late, great Beatle. Their lack of touring remained one of Petty’s biggest regrets after seeing what could’ve been.
“When we did ‘The Concert for George,’ and Jeff came out with us and we did ‘Handle with Care,’ I remember thinking at that moment that George would have loved this so much,” he continued. “But there was a lot of pressure on us all to go out on the road together.”
Elsewhere in the same conversation, Petty was asked what it was like for Harrison being apart of a band again. “He absolutely loved it,” was his answer.
“He always said to me that he never really intended to be a solo act, he just found himself in that position, so when he finally did get in a band again he loved it,” Petty once added. “He was certainly more enthusiastic than anyone. We were all enthusiastic, of course, but he was the leader of the band. And he managed the band and did all the business. I think he was very proud of the Wilburys.”
Everybody’s got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine, and dream on
I’ve been uptight and made a mess
But I’ll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care
(Photo by Richard Isaac/Shutterstock)
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