If You Belonged to Me (1990) – The Traveling Wilburys

If You Belonged To Me from the Traveling Wilburys’ Volume III album is a whimsical and high-spirited song. I wasn’t so enamoured with their post Orbison output, but there are some good tracks on it, like today’s featured song. Their Volume I album seemed more focused and spotlighted each songwriter’s talent. Volume III seemed less well-honed and frivolous in its endeavour. And that’s fine and considering the recent departure of Orbison, I imagine the individuals in the group were not up to making another masterpiece rather settling for ‘mixing it up a bit and see what happens’.

You say, “Let’s go to the rodeo
And see some cowboy fall”
Sometimes it seems to me you’ve
Got no sympathy at all

You keep on going on and on
About how you’re so free
You’d be happy as you could be
If you belonged to me

Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 is the second and final studio album by the Traveling Wilburys. I always thought Vol. 2 was skipped in memory of Roy Orbison, but according to Jeff Lynne, “That was George’s idea. He said, ‘Let’s confuse the buggers‘. After Roy’s passing the remaining 4 members adopted new pseudonyms for Vol. 3 – Spike (George Harrison), Clayton (Jeff Lynne), Muddy (Tom Petty) and Boo (Bob Dylan). 

The album was less positively received than Vol. 1, yet still saw a fair measure of success. In the United States, “She’s My Baby” and “Inside Out” became radio hits, charting at number 2 album rock and number 16 album rock, respectively. The album peaked at number 14 in the UK and number 11 in the US, where it was certified platinum.

References:
1. Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 – Wikipedia

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