Last Night

Album: Volume One (1988)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • The Traveling Wilburys were perhaps the most accomplished supergroup that ever formed. Their five members were all future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers: Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne. They first got together to record a song for Harrison that ended up being "Handle With Care." They had so much fun working together that they decided to become a band and record an entire album, which they called Volume One.

    They had less than two weeks to record the remaining nine songs for the album, so they were efficient, writing and recording roughly a song a day. "Last Night" was one of the first tracks they came up with, putting it together by throwing out ideas and making sure not to overthink it. This is obvious in the lyrics, where they rhyme like pre-schoolers:

    She was there at the bar, she heard my guitar
    She was long and tall, she was the queen of them all
  • The song tells the story of a very memorable night when our hero meets a lithesome lady at a bar and earns an invitation to her room. It all goes according to plan until he asks her to marry him, perhaps in jest. She pulls out a knife and robs him.

    The story ends with the singer back in the bar, telling his tale. At least he got a song out of it.
  • Tom Petty sang the verses on this one, with Roy Orbison taking the chorus. According to Petty, when the Wilburys wrote a song, they would each try singing lead and George Harrison would decide who sounded best.
  • Session man Jim Keltner played drums on the album and came up with opening clangs, which sound like he's banging on kitchen items with a drumsticks. That's because he was. They recorded at the home studio belonging to Dave Stewart of Eurythmics. The studio itself was very small, so they did a lot of recording in his kitchen, where Keltner improvised.

    Keltner, who also played on George Harrison's Living In The Material World album, wasn't a Wilbury, but did his own band name: Buster Sidebury.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Mark Arm of Mudhoney

Mark Arm of MudhoneySongwriter Interviews

When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.

Al Jourgensen of Ministry

Al Jourgensen of MinistrySongwriter Interviews

In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.

Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots

Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple PilotsSongwriter Interviews

Stone Temple Pilots bass player Robert DeLeo names the songs that have most connected with fans and tells the stories behind tracks from their Tiny Music album.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

David Sancious

David SanciousSongwriter Interviews

Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.

Mike Campbell

Mike CampbellSongwriter Interviews

Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."