About The Song
On their rollicking debut album in 1988, the Traveling Wilburys needed just the right song to send the album out on wistful, yet upbeat note. George Harrison, the man who started the group, came up with the idea for “End of the Line,” a perfect closer that fate would render way too prescient.
It’s mind-boggling to consider the hypotheticals surrounding the creation of the Traveling Wilburys. What if George Harrison hadn’t needed to churn out an extra song to fill out the 12-inch single of one of the songs from his 1987 Cloud Nine album? And what if one of the participants had, say, a dentist’s appointment that day and couldn’t join Harrison?
Instead, he and Jeff Lynne, in search of a studio, contacted Bob Dylan. Roy Orbison, who was having dinner anyway with Lynne, came along for the ride. A guitar Harrison wanted to use was at Tom Petty’s, so he was called to join in the fun.
When Harrison heard “Handle with Care,” the spur-of-the-moment song that they had produced that day, he realized it was far too good to waste on just a glorified B-side. But what to do with it? It was only after sitting with the tape for a few days he decided he should ask the other members if they wanted to make this collective a bit more official. The Traveling Wilburys were born.
When the Traveling Wilburys released their debut album in 1988, the oldest of its members, Roy Orbison, was 52. That seems like nothing today, considering rockers in their 80s are touring the world. But it’s important to remember that Orbison, Harrison, and Dylan came up in the first wave of rock and roll. Thus, at the time, they were as old as any active star musicians out there, which gave the Wilburys the feel of a tried-and-true veteran outfit.
That’s why “End of the Line” serves such a crucial purpose. It touched on that veteran vibe, and the title could easily refer to that figurative location where they would be hanging up their guitars and calling it a day. When Roy Orbison died suddenly just a few months after the release of the song on The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, the song felt far more bittersweet than its original intent.
When the surviving Wilburys gathered to make the video for “End of the Line,” they decided they needed to pay tribute to Orbison. The video takes place on a train, as the four men with their guitars mime the track. At the moment that Orbison’s vocals in the song kick in, a rocking chair with a guitar on it is shown on screen swaying back and forth, implying that the legendary vocalist was there with them in spirit.
The vocals are divided up just right on “End of the Line.” Harrison, Lynne, and Orbison take the verses, characterized by the It’s all right refrain that makes the song feel so laid-back. They dispense easygoing wisdom throughout: Every day is judgment day; Even if you’re old and gray / You still got something to say; and The best you can do is forgive.
In the connecting sections, Petty takes over on lead vocals and offers a more sardonic take on aging. (Although Harrison started writing “End of the Line,” the other members of the Wilburys contributed, and it’s easy to imagine Petty contributing these parts of the song.) When the narrator talks to a former lover, he imagines that she’ll think of him, Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays / “Purple Haze.”
The song goes out with Harrison’s well-meaning words: Even if the sun don’t shine / Well, it’s all right / We’re going to the end of the line. What a way to end one of the finest supergroup albums ever made. “End of the Line” sends a message that’s funny, helpful, and heartfelt all at once, even if you’re not an aging veteran who can see that part of the journey a bit clearer than others.
Video
Lyric
Well, it’s all right riding around in the breeze
Well, it’s all right if you live the life you please
Well, it’s all right doing the best you can
Well, it’s all right as long as you lend a hand
You can sit around and wait for the phone to ring (at the end of the line)
Waiting for someone to tell you everything (at the end of the line, of the line)
Sit around and wonder what tomorrow will bring (at the end of the line)
Maybe a diamond ring
Well, it’s all right even if they say you’re wrong
Well, it’s all right, sometimes you gotta be strong
Well, it’s all right as long as you got somewhere to lay
Well, it’s all right, every day is Judgment Day
Maybe somewhere down the road aways (at the end of the line)
You’ll think of me and wonder where I am these days (at the end of the line, of the line)
Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays (at the end of the line)
Purple haze
Well, it’s all right even when push comes to shove
Well, it’s all right if you got someone to love
Well, it’s all right, everything’ll work out fine
Well, it’s all right, we’re going to the end of the line
Don’t have to be ashamed of the car I drive (at the end of the line)
I’m just glad to be here, happy to be alive (at the end of the line, of the line)
It don’t matter if you’re by my side (at the end of the line)
I’m satisfied
Well, it’s all right even if you’re old and gray
Well, it’s all right, you still got something to say
Well, it’s all right, remember to live and let live
Well, it’s all right, the best you can do is forgive
Well, it’s all right (all right), riding around on the breeze
Well, it’s all right (all right), if you live the life you please
Well, it’s all right, even if the sun don’t shine
Well, it’s all right (all right), we’re going to the end of the line
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