Margarita

Written by: The Traveling Wilburys
Recorded: May 1988
Producers: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne

Released: 17 October 1988

Available on:
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1

Personnel

Lucky Wilbury (Bob Dylan): vocals, acoustic guitar
Charlie T Wilbury Jr (Tom Petty): vocals, acoustic guitar
Otis Wilbury (Jeff Lynne): vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
Nelson Wilbury (George Harrison): vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Lefty Wilbury (Roy Orbison): vocals, acoustic guitar
Jim Horn: saxophone
Buster Sidebury (Jim Keltner): drums
Ray Cooper: percussion

‘Margarita’ is the eighth song on Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1.

It was primarily written by Tom Petty, with lead vocals by Bob Dylan with Petty and Jeff Lynne.

The ‘ching, ching, ching’ on ‘Margarita’ – it’s back to my roots. It’s skiffle really. But also, I was trying to think of a song that would feel a bit like a Bob Dylan tune, so I got on the chord D – all the guitar players will know that – and you go ‘ching, chinga-ching ching…’ That was that, really, and after half an hour we knocked it into shape.

‘Margarita’ was the b-side of the Traveling Wilburys’ debut single ‘Handle With Care’. It was released on 17 October 1988.

‘Handle With Care’ was a top 10 hit in Australia, Belgium, Canada, and New Zealand. In the US it peaked at number 21 on the single chart, and in the US it peaked at 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 39 on the Cash Box Top 100.

I think [the synthesizer part] was Dhani’s idea. He would only be about seven or eight.

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