Yet despite the outrageous talent on display, Petty often takes center stage among them. However, things could have been very different. As it happens, Petty’s involvement is akin to someone getting injured during warmups and their replacement going on to score a hat trick.

As Petty once opined, “None of this would have happened without (George Harrison). It was George’s band— has always been George’s band and it’s been a dream he’s had for a long time.” When it comes to Petty’s involvement, that held even more truth. For starters, Petty is out of the picture.

However, when the original four members went to Dylan’s home studio to record the B-side of their planned debut single, “This is Love”, Harrison suddenly realized that he had left a guitar girlfriend at Petty’s house nearby. The two had become friends by chance while Petty and The Heartbreakers were touring Europe with Dylan himself in 1987.

When Harrison arrived at Petty’s house, he asked if he wanted to sit in on the session, after all, it would be rude not to — it would be even ruder for Petty to say no, given the talent present. So with that, Petty was on his way to the studio. After that, it almost immediately slid into place.

The group was still working on the barebones B-side material “Handle with Care” provided by Harrison. As legend has it, Dylan was attending a barbecue for the group when Harrison asked, “Give us some lyrics, famous lyricist.” When Dylan later asked him for the title to at least give him something to blow off, Harrison looked to his left at the folk troubadour garage and, as if the man were mystically offering poetry, the first thing Harrison spied was a sign that read: “Maneuver be careful ‘.

Petty then took it upon himself to help out further, and the group had such a great time creating the song together that they decided to create an entire album of the material. Petty could never leave after that, could he? “Handle with Care” went on to be the group’s most successful single.

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