When George Harrison and Tom Petty first met, it was love at first sight. They felt as in the event that they’d been mates of their previous lives and instantly bonded. They performed collectively in The Touring Wilburys, and George helped Petty along with his solo work.
The previous Beatle even performed nurse for Petty, taking care of him whereas he was sick through the recording of “I Won’t Back Down.”
George Harrison and Tom Petty met in 1974
The previous Beatle and The Heartbreakers frontman first met in 1974 when Petty labored at Leon Russell’s.
“There were a few nights with sessions with George and Ringo,” Petty stated in a particular version of Rolling Stone referred to as “Remembering George.”
Petty continued, “It’s a scary factor assembly Beatles, however George was so good to me and included me in every thing. Then our paths didn’t cross once more till years later. This was most likely ’85 or ’86, when the Heartbreakers had been touring England with Bob Dylan. George got here one night time to see us in Birmingham. Bob was busy with one thing, and so we wound up simply speaking.
“I reminded him that we’d met, and there was some type of bizarre click on. It felt like we had identified one another all our lives, and in a very private approach. We wound up simply hanging a lot. I’ve a nice picture someplace — it was my birthday, and George introduced a little cake to my dressing room.
“In the photo, there is me with George and Jeff Lynne, Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan and Mike Campbell — all of my favorite people right there, and it was all so sweet. I think Ringo was there as well. That night there was a surprise hurricane in London, and my life never felt the same again after that hurricane.”
Petty began to really feel that he and George had been finest mates of their previous lives. After the unusual hurricane, they met once more by coincidence. They had been on the similar restaurant. George referred to as Petty over to his desk and advised him he’d simply requested Lynne for Petty’s quantity.
Then, George and Petty shaped The Touring Wilburys and have become life-long mates.
George took care of a sick Petty whereas they recorded ‘I Won’t Back Down’
Across the time George and Petty recorded each of The Touring Wilburys’ albums with their fellow Wilburys, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison, they labored on Petty’s 1989 hit “I Won’t Back Down.”
Nonetheless, whereas recording the track, Petty was sick. So, being the nice good friend that he was, George acquired some residence cures for Petty so they may proceed.
In 2010, Petty advised Mojo journal (per Song Facts), “At the session, George Harrison sang and played the guitar. I had a terrible cold that day, and George went to the store and bought a ginger root, boiled it, and had me stick my head in the pot to get the ginger steam to open up my sinuses, and then I ran in and did the take.”
George saved the day and helped get “I Won’t Back Down” recorded. That wasn’t the one time George did that for Petty.
The previous Beatle helped get ‘Free Fallin’ recorded
Petty defined that George helped get his track “Free Fallin’” recorded throughout his speech on the MusiCares Individual of the 12 months Gala in 2017.
He seemed out into the gang and gave shout-outs to report government Mo Ostin and George’s widow, Olivia Harrison. Seeing them reminded Petty of the second George helped him.
“And so much has happened to me that you wouldn’t believe,” Petty stated (per the Recording Academy’s Medium). “I’m not gonna attempt to inform all of it to you, however I’m pondering proper now about one explicit factor. I used to be wanting on the market — I do know so many individuals right here. Mo, Mo and Olivia are on the market. I like Mo and I like Liv.
“Me and George Harrison and Jeff Lynne one night time had been at Mo Ostin’s home — this was earlier than, we had been simply engaged on the concept of the Touring Wilburys — and I had written this track ‘Free Fallin’ and performed the report and brought it to my label, MCA. They usually rejected the report. And that had by no means occurred to me earlier than. I used to be like, wow, what do I do?
“So, we forgot about it. And we were at Mo’s house and dinner ended and George said, ‘Let’s get the guitars out and sing a little bit.’ And we sang and George said, ‘Let’s do that ‘Free Fallin” Tom. Play that.’
“So we had a kind of Wilbury arrangement of it with harmony. And we did it. And Lenny Waronker is sitting there, he said, ‘That’s a hit.’ With two acoustic guitars, you know? I said, ‘Well, my record company won’t put it out.’ And Mo says, ‘I’ll f***in’ put it out.”
Petty stated he discovered a lot from George and cherished making music with him. They’re jamming collectively wherever they’re.