S$# 008 Traveling Wilburys | Nobody's Child

After Roy Orbison's death, the Traveling Wilburys returned as a foursome in 1990 with the follow-up album, Vol. 3. Just a couple of months before that album was issued, they released Nobody's Child, a charity single, and an accompanying album by various artists, called Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal.

The charity had been set up by the four Beatle wives (Olivia (who was the prime mover), Yoko, Linda and Barbara, in case you didn't know) to support children affected by HIV/AIDS in Romania. Visit their web site.

To support the cause, the Wilburys recorded Nobody's Child, a song written by Cy Coren and Mel Feree. It had some very à propos lyrics:

In ev'ry town and village
There are places just like this,
With rows and rows of children,
Baby's in their cribs.
They've long since stopped their crying,
As no one ever hears,
And no one's there to notice them
Or take away their fears.

The track featured each of the guys on vocals, and it's really vibrant with the Wilbury treatment. George had a history with the song too, since the Beatles had backed Tony Sheridan on a recording of the song in Hamburg back in 1961. (Jeff had written and recorded a completely different song of the same name with Electric Light Orchestra on the Eldorado album too.)

As with the other Wilbury works, the single and album are out of print.