Traveling Wilburys facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The Traveling Wilburys
A guitar signed by all the Traveling Wilburys
Background information
Origin	Malibu, California, United States
Genres	Classic rock
Years active	1988-1990s
Labels	Warner Brothers Records
Associated acts	Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne

The Traveling Wilburys was a super cool rock band made up of famous musicians from America and England. This group had five amazing singers who teamed up to create two albums. An album is a collection of songs sold together. The members of The Traveling Wilburys were Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne.

They released two albums: The Traveling Wilburys: Volume 1 and The Traveling Wilburys: Volume 3. Rolling Stone magazine even called Volume 1 one of the 100 best albums ever!

How the Band Started

The Traveling Wilburys began in 1988. It all started when George Harrison, who used to be in The Beatles, was asked by Warner Brothers Records to write a song. They wanted a "B-side" song for his single called This Is Love.

Back then, music was often sold on vinyl records. These records had two sides. The "A-side" usually had the main, popular song. The "B-side" had another song, often a new one. Harrison wrote a song called Handle with Care to be the B-side.

Some of Harrison's friends were with him while he was working. They decided to sing Handle with Care together. The record company thought the song was too good to be just a B-side! So, they asked the musicians if they would make a whole album together. And that's how the band was born!

They recorded some of their music in Bob Dylan's own studio, which was in his garage. They also worked on songs in the kitchen of Dave Stewart, who was a member of the band Eurythmics.

What's in a Name?

The name "Traveling Wilburys" came from a funny phrase: "We'll bury." When George Harrison was recording his album Cloud Nine, he noticed some small mistakes. He joked that they would "bury them in the mix" of the song.

At first, the band thought about calling themselves the "Trembling Wilburys." But they decided to change it to "The Traveling Wilburys."

The musicians also used funny fake names for the album. This was just a joke!

• George Harrison was "Nelson Wilbury."
• Bob Dylan was "Lucky Wilbury."
• Roy Orbison was "Lefty Wilbury."
• Tom Petty was "Charlie T. Jr."
• Jeff Lynne was "Otis Wilbury."

They pretended to be five fictional brothers. All of them had the same father, Charlie T. Wilbury Sr., but they each had different mothers.

Inside the album's packaging, there was even a made-up history for the Wilburys. It said, "The original Wilburys were a stationary people who, realizing that their civilization could not stand still for ever, began to go for short walks – not the ‘traveling’ as we now know it, but certainly as far as the corner and back."

Their Songs

The Traveling Wilburys' first album, Traveling Wilburys: Volume 1, came out in 1988. It was a huge hit! It reached number 3 on Billboard's list of popular albums. It sold so many copies that it went "triple platinum," which means it sold millions of copies.

Here are some of the songs from Volume 1:

• Handle with Care
• Dirty World
• Rattled
• Last Night
• Not Alone Any More
• Congratulations
• Heading for the Light
• Margarita
• Tweeter and the Monkey Man
• End of the Line

The song Tweeter and the Monkey Man was written to playfully make fun of the style of songs that Bruce Springsteen often wrote.

The Traveling Wilburys' second album, Traveling Wilburys: Volume 3, was released in 1990. The title is not a mistake! George Harrison purposely skipped the number 2.

See also

In Spanish: Traveling Wilburys para niños