These are the Traveling Wilburys. They are Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison. What follows is taken directly from the Traveling Wilburys’ website:
“The birth of The Traveling Wilburys was a happy accident. Warner Bros. Records’ International Department had asked that George Harrison come up with a B-side for “This Is Love,” a single from his Cloud Nine album. At the time, it was customary to couple an A-side with a never-before-heard track, giving the single extra sales value.
This was mid-1988. Cloud Nine was just out. George, along with co-writer Jeff Lynne and their friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison, had been hanging out in Dylan’s studio. I suppose George figured that as long as his pals were hand, why not use them to knock off this flip side.
A couple of days later, George came by my office to play the new B-side. We went next door to A&R head Lenny Waronker’s office so he could hear it, too. George played us “Handle with Care.” Our reaction was immediate. This was a song we knew could not be wasted on some B-side. Roy Orbison’s vocal was tremendous. I really loved the beautiful guitar figure that George played. The guys had really nailed it. Lenny and I stumbled over each others’ words, asking “Can’t we somehow turn this into an album?” (I also had a suspicion that, perhaps, George had been hungering for another band experience.)
We urged him on. George felt the spontaneity of it, felt its driving force. He always had great instincts. Being as smart as he was, he had a remarkable ability to pull people together. Think about The Concert for Bangladesh - only George Harrison could have made that happen.
Once the idea of a full, collaborative album was in front of us, George took over. The five front men (Harrison, Lynne, Petty, Dylan, and Orbison) decided not to use their own names. George and Jeff had been calling studio equipment (limiters, equalizers) “wilburys.” So first, they named their fivesome The Trembling Wilburys Jeff suggested “Traveling” instead. Everyone agreed.
The group was born: five guys who had star stature in their own rights, but it was George who created this Wilbury environment where five stars could get into an ego-free collaboration. Everybody sang, everybody wrote, everybody produced - and had great fun doing so.
You can hear George’s humility and good nature reflected in the Wilburys and their music. To my thinking, this was a perfect collaboration. All give were good friends who admired and respected one another. Roy Orbison was somebody they all idolized. Of course, they revered Bob Dylan, too. But Bob was closer to being their contemporary, so it was Roy who gave the project that special glow from rock and roll’s early formative years.
Reflecting on all this, I recall a few years before, when my wife Evelyn and I had been in London. George had invited us to his house, Friar Park, to celebrate Evelyn’s birthday. Roy was a house guest there at the time, so perhaps this could have been an early hint leading to the Wilburys. So, too, might it have been the time Tom, George, and Jeff came to dinner at our house a year or so before “Handle with Care.” For us, Tom had played a new song, as yet unrecorded, called “Free Fallin,’” backed by his two future Wilbury mates. Lenny and I loved the song so much we asked Tom and the guys to do it at least three times than evening.
Perhaps even then, they all were Wilburys, just didn’t know their last name yet.
With the huge international success - over five million copies sold - of The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 1, a follow-up was inevitable. George being George, titled the second album The Traveling Wilburys, Volume 3. Sadly, by this time, Roy had died, but there was still great excitement when we visited the Wilburys, recording in the Wallace Neff-designed house at the top of Coldwater Canyon. Being with those guys, in that setting - truly memorable.
I’m glad that a song that early on had been destined for semi-obscurity as a B-side became the catalyst for something so lasting and joyful. Rolling Stone magazine named The Traveling Wilburys one of the 100 Best Albums of All Time.”
—-Mo Ostin
Chairman Emeritus
Warner Bros. Records
2007
Serendipity is defined as an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. Was George Harrison gifted with it? How about Tom Petty? In his recently released film, “Runnin’ Down A Dream” he speaks of how the Wilburys were formed and it seems very much accidental - a bunch of talented musicians running into each other at the same time. Luck? Serendipity?
I’m no expert on luck or serendipity. But it’s interesting to hear stories like this. Stories of people falling into happy accidents.
“Runnin’ Down A Dream” is full of such accidents. But no sane person would claim that Tom Petty is merely lucky. He’s talented. He was talented at 19. It wasn’t luck that caused him to seek other talented Gainesville musicians. It wasn’t luck that caused him to spend hours practicing the guitar - and writing songs. It wasn’t luck that caused him to spend hours playing school dances. It wasn’t luck that caused him talk his bandmates into a cross-country roadtrip from Gainesville, Florida to Hollywood, California.
Perhaps it was luck - or serendipity - that a major record producer heard his demo tape and urged him to stop in Tulsa en-route to Hollywood. That visit resulted in a cash advance of $5000, which enabled the Heartbreakers to complete their trip.
Study any successful person and you’ll likely find all sorts of examples of happy accidents. But I wonder if they really are accidents. Rather, I tend to think they may be favorable circumstances brought about by talent, desire, pursuit, passion and determination.
And once again I’m reminded of a popular quote attributed to Goethe, although he didn’t really say it.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back– Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”
Is there anybody who has experienced success - and not had happy accidents help them along the way? Not likely.
The Traveling Wilburys was the result of decisions made by the players to collaborate. Perhaps some happy accidents were created because these talented men had put themselves in the position to encounter such accidents. Each was committed to their craft. Each had made a series of decisions that resulted in their own individual fame and success. These were not men looking to get lucky. They were players with a commitment to music. Luck or serendipity found them because they were in the best position to be found.
What decisions and actions are you taking so happy accidents will find you?
In 1995 I read this book by Donald Clifton and Paula Nelson, Soar With Your Strengths. Clifton’s work was the impetus for Tom Rath’s book. This wasn’t my first foray into the world of considering how people should go with their strong suit rather than concentrating on overcoming their weaknesses. It was, however, one of the first times I had read anything so focused on that notion. My interest in the subject has always stemmed from my own needs and challenges, but these ideas have entered into my coaching, parenting and managing, too.
