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Last Night

Written by: Tom Petty (main composer), with group contributions Lead vocals: Tom Petty (verses), Roy Orbison (bridges) Length: 3:48 Album: Vol. 1, track 4

"Last Night" is the Traveling Wilburys at their most easygoing: a loose, shuffling tale of good love gone bad, built around Caribbean-inflected percussion and horns, with Tom Petty's plainspoken storytelling handed an extra layer of gravity every time Roy Orbison takes the bridge. It's the sound of two very different voices, one wry and conversational, one operatic, sharing a song without either one having to shrink to fit.

Petty gets the songwriting lead here, in keeping with the band's usual method of one member sketching the foundation and everyone else filling in details, but the finished track leans heavily on the chemistry between him and Orbison specifically. The two had already spent real time together by this point (Petty and the Heartbreakers had backed Dylan on tour with Orbison-adjacent circles for years), and it shows in how naturally their vocal handoffs land.

Nothing about "Last Night" is trying to be a statement. It's the sound of a bar band that happens to include two of the best storytellers in American rock, working through a shuffle beat because the shuffle beat was fun that day.

Previous track: Rattled. Next track: Not Alone Any More. Or see the full Vol. 1 tracklist.