When Tom Petty rose to fame, he had the possibility to meet a lot of his adolescent heroes, like George Harrison and Bob Dylan. He stated that he by no means actively sought them out, however he, considerably serendipitously, was in a position to meet and befriend them. Although he valued the friendships, he stated he not often spoke about them with others. He defined that he discovered it embarrassing.
Tom Petty was associates with George Harrison and Bob Dylan
Earlier than he labored with them in The Touring Wilburys, Petty befriended each Dylan and Harrison. Dylan invited the Heartbreakers on tour with him, so Petty acquired to know him properly.
“One of the nicest things about Bob is that he’s an honest guy. Really, really honest,” Petty stated, per American Songwriter. “Not someone who would ever lie. Not someone who would blow his own horn. And I enjoyed all those years of working with him, and I think we had a genuine friendship. Still do. We had a lot of long talks.”
He additionally thought of Harrison considered one of his closest associates. Petty stated they clicked instantly.
“I think I needed a friend really badly,” he revealed within the e book Petty: The Biography by Warren Zanes. “My friendship with the band was a different kind of friendship. And it was frayed. I’d become very lonely. George came along, and we got so close; it was like we had known each other in some other life or something. We were pals within minutes of meeting each other.”
Tom Petty stated it was a bit embarrassing to admit he was associates with George Harrison and Bob Dylan
When requested what it was like to carry out in The Touring Wilburys with musicians like Harrison and Dylan, Petty stated it felt like spending time with siblings.
“I’m seven years younger than them now,” he stated in 1999, per The Petty Archives. “They’re like my older brothers. It’s very strange, you know. I was telling a friend of mine the other day how odd it is that I never sought out any of those people. Any of my heroes. And somehow the ones that really matter to me, I got to know them all well.”
He stated that regardless of their closeness, he was hesitant to focus on their friendship with others. He discovered it embarrassing.
“I got to know them past what we’ve done. I got to know them really well as people and became really good friends with them,” he defined. “So it’s embarrassing. I never mention my friends to people because they think I’m bragging. But it is kind of cool.”
He knowledgeable his bandmates that he regarded up to them
Whereas Petty was a bit embarrassed about his friendships, he had no qualms about telling Harrison and Dylan that he admired them.
“I’ve always been up-front with them too, about how cool I think it is,” he stated. “And they’ve been a big help to me in many ways. Especially George because he’s someone who’s been through all this. And I don’t have an older brother, and he’s always been there to advise me. He’d tell me, ‘It’s like this,’ or says, ‘I wouldn’t take that seriously at all.’ It’s great to know someone who has been through all that. Because it’s an unusual way to live sometimes, and to know someone who has been through it, it’s great.”
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