The Traveling Wilburys - Handle with Care (1988)

Looking to create a B-side for his upcoming solo release, “This Is Love,” George Harrison got together with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty to work on some ideas. Needing a place to record, they went to the home of Bob Dylan, who had a home recording studio nearby where they all happened to be. That session resulted in such a good track (heard below), that Harrison suggested they form a supergroup and release an entire album. All of them agreed and what resulted was the greatest commercial supergroup of the decade.

The title of this song came about when Harrison saw a box that had been lying around in Dylan’s garage. It was used as the first track on their first album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, and was the most success Dylan, Lynne, and Orbison had seen in years. Sadly, it was also the last release in Orbison’s lifetime, as it came out less than two months prior to his passing.



The Traveling Wilburys - Handle with Care (1988)

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Lyrics:

Been beat up and battered around
Been sent up and I've been shot down
You're the best thing that I've ever found
Handle me with care

Reputations changeable
Situations tolerable
But baby, you're adorable
Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody's got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on

I've been fobbed off and I've been fooled
I've been robbed and ridiculed
In daycare centers and night schools
Handle me with care

Been stuck in airports, terrorized
Sent to meetings, hypnotized
Overexposed, commercialized
Handle me with care

I'm so tired of being lonely
I still have some love to give
Won't you show me that you really care?

Everybody got somebody to lean on
Put your body next to mine and dream on

I've been uptight and made a mess
But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
Oh, the sweet smell of success
Handle me with care

Roy Orbison - Yo Te Amo Maria (1964)

The Beatles once gave credit to this man for showing them you didn’t have to write a song as “verse, chorus, verse, chorus.” Elvis Presley and Bono claimed that he had the greatest voice they had ever heard. He was known to wear all black, including sunglasses, and stand motionless as he sang each song. One of the most critically acclaimed singers and songwriters of all time, this small paragraph cannot do him justice. Unfortunately, he passed away at the height of his comeback in 1988.

This song is frequently heard by my poor girlfriend, whom I serenade with it at every embarrassing chance I get. Originally, the B-side to his best known song, "Oh, Pretty Woman," it has never been held in the upper echelon of his song catalog.



Roy Orbison - Yo Te Amo Maria (1964)

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Lyrics:

I'm a poor peasant boy, I'm a dirt farmer's son
And I feel like a king when I know that my work is all done
For at twilight I know, there's a place I must go
And sing my song of love for one who waits all alone

Yo te amo Maria, Maria amor
Yo te amo Maria, Maria mi amor

Oh, the beautiful sights of the great city lights
Where most people must run to try to have fun, not for me
For this woman of mine is much sweeter than wine
And I spend all the time I can find with my Marie

Yo te amo Maria, Maria amor
Yo te amo Maria, Maria mi amor

Oh, the joy of my life will one day be my wife
And we'll spend all our days watching the world roll on by
When her time comes to fly to that home in the sky
I pray the angels above will love her as much as I

Yo te amo Maria, Maria amor
Yo te amo Maria, Maria mi amor