“I remember playing shows [with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in the ‘80s] and looking out
[thinking] I didn’t have that many fans coming to see me,” he says. “They were coming to see
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.”
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Hilburn, December 1997)“Well I won’t back down
No I won’t back down
You can stand me up at the gates of hell
But I won’t back down”
~Tom Petty (I won’t back down)
I Won’t Back Down:
The Traveling Wilburys was a “supergroup” consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. The song is supposedly co-written by all 5 members – all of the album’s songs are credited to The Traveling Wilburys. However, it is believed that Bob Dylan was the primary writer of this song, which is one of the very few Traveling Wilburys tracks that has Dylan singing lead vocals on while the rest of the band singing backup. Roy Orbison is not singing at all on this track. Here is Goerge Harrison’s take on who wrote the song:
“‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’ was by Tom Petty and Bob. Well, Jeff and I were there too, but we were just sitting there around in the kitchen, and he was for some reason talking about all this stuff that didn’t make much sense to me, you know, it was that Americana kinda stuff and we got a tape cassette and put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.”
– George Harrison (The Travelling Wilburys, the true story)
Tweeter and The Monkey Man – The Travelling Wilburys:
Continue reading The Best Songs: Tweeter and the Monkey Man by Bob Dylan and Tom Petty