It’s difficult to avoid thinking of Tom Petty as the new kid among legends among The Traveling Wilburys. Although he had enough hits to be regarded as a legend in his own right, few performers could have competed with the likes of Bob Dylan and George Harrison. But there’s a good chance Petty would have been left out of one of the best supergroups ever if Harrison had kept track of where all his instruments were.
However, the band’s entire formation was entirely accidental. Harrison only originally came up with the concept while collaborating with Jeff Lynne on the album Cloud Nine. Up until they required one more B-side, everything appeared to be going smoothly, so Harrison assumed he would record the song in Bob Dylan’s studio.
However, Lynne would never limit herself to working with a single artist as a producer. Harrison thought that this was an unbeatable chance to collaborate with one of his heroes, Roy Orbison, on the song “You Got It,” which he was also working on with Petty. Harrison told Runnin’ Down a Dream that he realized he was missing one guitar when he started work on his new song, so he decided to quickly grab one. Bob’s studio was utilized.There were several odd coincidences, including the fact that my guitar was at Tom’s house for an unknown reason. Harrison assumed that because Petty was at home, he would inquire if his friend would like to visit the studio and perhaps collaborate on the song.
“The one thing I learned was I got to see a bunch of my favourite writers write,” Petty recalled, reflecting on his amazement at seeing all of his heroes in one room, even if it’s likely that no one would turn down the chance to work with a Beatle. It wasn’t, however, going to be your typical songwriting session.
