Michael Howitt

George Harrison needed a bonus track for the European release of his “This is Love” single. Harrison was in Los Angeles, where he met up with Jeff Lynn, who had co-produced one of his previous albums, and Roy Orbison, whose album Lynn was producing at the time. Lynn agreed to help record the track the following day, with Orbison agreeing to “come along and watch”. No studios were available on such short notice, so Harrison phoned Bob Dylan, who agreed to let them use his garage studio in Malibu. Harrison had to retrieve his guitar from Tom Petty’s house, so he was invited as well. Harrison started to write this song the morning of the session, with a section in mind for Orbison to sing, and had the chord sequence essentially completed. Harrison came up with the opening line but then the others joined in and wrote the lyrics together and all chipped in on guitars and vocals. When Dylan asked what the title of the song would be, Harrison looked around the garage and spotted a box labelled “handle with care”. When Harrison and Lynn presented the song to the record company, they said it was too good for a bonus track and the Traveling Wilbury’s were formed. A cover of their song “Handle With Care”.

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