Rock supergroup Traveling Wilburys recorded their hit 1990 song Wilbury Twist as a joke following the death of band member Roy Orbison, Parade magazine reported.
Surviving members George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne recorded the track at an improvised studio in Bel Air, Los Angeles, while coping with the loss of their co-founder.
The group rented a private house in the Bel Air neighborhood and named the temporary workspace Camp Wilbury. They chose to work in a private residence rather than a conventional recording studio to maintain an informal atmosphere during a difficult period.
The Traveling Wilburys were formed as a British and American supergroup featuring several of the biggest names in rock music. George Harrison was the former lead guitarist of the Beatles, while Bob Dylan was an acclaimed singer-songwriter. Tom Petty led the band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jeff Lynne was the co-founder and frontman of Electric Light Orchestra, and Roy Orbison was a legendary vocalist known for hits including Oh, Pretty Woman. Bel Air is a residential neighborhood in western Los Angeles known for secluded estates.
Creating Camp Wilbury and Vol. 3
The band recorded the track for their second and final studio album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, which was dedicated to Orbison. While much of the record reflected the grief of losing Orbison, the band deliberately created one track to be as lighthearted and absurd as possible.
The resulting song, Wilbury Twist, featured intentionally nonsensical dance instructions. The lyrics instructed listeners to place a hand on their head, raise a leg, and jump around the room in their underwear.
Tom Petty later explained that the track was never intended to be taken seriously. Petty said he wrote the first verse purely to make Harrison and Lynne laugh during the recording sessions.
Petty, who gained fame with hits such as Free Fallin and American Girl, enjoyed a reputation for combining humor with melodic songwriting. Harrison and Lynne liked the initial lines so much that the band expanded the joke into a complete song and created a comic dance diagram to accompany it.
Chart success and legacy of Wilbury Twist
Amid the sadness following Orbison's death, the upbeat track provided light relief for the band members. The group eventually chose Wilbury Twist as the final single released from the album.
Despite its nonsensical nature, the song became one of the most recognizable tracks by the Traveling Wilburys. It reached number 46 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and was later listed among the top 10 songs by the band by Far Out Magazine.
Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks is an American music industry trade chart tracking radio airplay on main rock stations across the United States. Far Out Magazine is a British digital publication covering music, film, and popular culture.
The creation of Wilbury Twist remains a notable moment in the group's history, showing how the musicians turned a playful studio joke into an enduring rock hit during one of their hardest times.
