Roy Orbison was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his stratospheric vocals and his ability to blend rock and roll sounds with deep vulnerability. His voice is what stands out to most listeners first\u2014a voice that Dwight Yoakam described as \u201cthe cry of an angel falling backward through an open window.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His songwriting was also imbued with a unique emotional rawness, and helped him stand out from other rockers at the time. Orbison \u201c[built] a persona from song to song about himself as this suffering male character who experiences these intense emotions linked to extreme loneliness, crying, suffering, and pain, at a level of intensity that was not the norm for men at that point of time in the early \u201960s,\u201d biographer Peter Lehman wrote<\/a> of the artist.\u00a0<\/p>\n Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23, 1936, and broke out as a songwriter before releasing a number of Top 40 hits of his own in the early 1960s. However, his career stalled in the late \u201860s. During this time, he lost his first wife, Claudette, in a motorcycle accident, as well as two of his children in a house fire. <\/p>\n Yet by the 1980s, his songs had been covered by a number of famous artists. Some of his tracks were used in famous films, such as \u201cIn Dreams,\u201d which was featured in David Lynch\u2019s Blue Velvet. In 1988, he joined the band Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty. Because of all this, Orbison\u2019s career began to thrive again. He finished recording his final album, Mystery Girl, shortly before his death in 1988 at the age of 52. <\/p>\n Since then, Orbison\u2019s legacy has only grown more respected. His transportive, almost mystical songs have soundtracked many a movie scene and have provided solace for the heartbroken across decades. The artist was also a skilled songwriter with a knack for weaving musically complex compositions that sounded effortlessly simple\u2014and occasionally, he lent his skills to other artists. That was the case with the following nine songs.<\/p>\n \u201cSee Ruby Fall\u201d \/\/ Johnny Cash<\/a>\u201cYou Tell Me\u201d \/\/ Johnny Cash<\/a>\u201cYou\u2019ve Got Love\u201d \/\/ Buddy Holly and the Crickets<\/a>\u201cAs Long As I Can Dream\u201d \/\/ Expos\u00e9<\/a>\u201cClaudette\u201d \/\/ The Everly Brothers<\/a>\u201cSo Long I\u2019m Gone\u201d \/\/ Warren Smith<\/a>\u201cPrecious\u201d \/\/ Arlene Harden<\/a>\u201cWhen the Blue Hour Comes\u201d \/\/ Rodney Crowell<\/a>\u201cBlue Bayou\u201d \/\/ Linda Ronstadt<\/a>\u201cSee Ruby Fall\u201d \/\/ Johnny Cash<\/p>\n Music legends Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison first crossed paths when Cash was on tour with Elvis Presley<\/a>. At the time, Cash suggested Orbison reach out to Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, which helped kickstart his career. The pair shared a long friendship and supported each other throughout their lives. \u201cIt was a particularly close friendship, too,\u201d Cash said<\/a>. \u201cWe became like brothers right from the start, and we stayed that way until the end.\u201d<\/p>\n The pair collaborated a number of times and even lived near each other in Tennessee at one point, yet they only wrote one song<\/a> together. That song was \u201cSee Ruby Fall.\u201d The pair pulled the title from a phrase written on signs that directed visitors to an underground waterfall in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who leaves a relationship to pursue a more thrilling life downtown. The song was released in 1969 as the first single off Cash\u2019s 1970 album Hello, I\u2019m Johnny Cash.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou Tell Me\u201d \/\/ Johnny Cash<\/p>\n While Cash and Orbison only wrote one song together, Orbison also penned a song specifically for his friend: the track \u201cYou Tell Me.\u201d Written while they were both signed to Sun Records, the track was released in 1958 just after Cash left for Columbia Records. The song, which is about someone wondering why their partner left them, helped cement their friendship. Orbison, for his part, released his version of Cash\u2019s song \u201cYou\u2019re My Baby\u201d in 1961.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Love\u201d \/\/ Buddy Holly and the Crickets<\/p>\n Buddy Holly<\/a> died at just 22 in a 1959 plane crash sometimes referred to as \u201cThe Day the Music Died.\u201d Before then, the rising star managed to record a few Orbison-penned compositions, including \u201cYou\u2019ve Got Love,\u201d which was released in 1957. Other songs by Orbison that Holly recorded include \u201cA True Love Goodbye\u201d and \u201cAn Empty Cup (And a Broken Date),\u201d the latter of which Orbison co-wrote with Norman Petty. <\/p>\n Holly and Orbison were both from the same area of Texas, and the two shared a friendship and helped inspire each other at the start of their careers. \u201cI was frustrated as a singer for a long time, particularly when some friendly rivalry broke out between me and a young guy in Texas named Buddy Holly, who, within a couple of months, had a couple of number one singles and soon had stardom that reached to the moon,\u201d said<\/a> Orbison. Of course, the artist would have his own number one hit a few years later with \u201cOnly the Lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs Long As I Can Dream\u201d \/\/ Expos\u00e9<\/p>\n Roy Orbison joined forces with songwriter Diane Warren for this tune, which was written for the girl group Expos\u00e9. It was first released in 1992, and is an uplifting song that urges the listener to look into their heart for hope when things get hard.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cClaudette\u201d \/\/ The Everly Brothers<\/p>\n This song was written<\/a> by Orbison for his wife, Claudette, whom he had married the year before penning the track. In the hands of the Everly Brothers, it became Orbison’s first major songwriting success. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were backstage. I met the boys and Ike Everly, their father,\u201d Orbison recalled<\/a> of how he came to give the Everly Brothers the song. \u201cEverybody backstage was pitching songs. They would sit down and say, \u2018Sing four or five songs for the boys.\u2019 I said, \u2018I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll do that; I won\u2019t impose on them.\u2019 I started to leave the dressing room and they said, \u2018Roy, do you have any songs?\u2019 I said, \u2018I\u2019ve got one song.\u2019 So, I sat down to sing that (Claudette) for them and they liked it very much and wrote the lyric down on the top of a shoebox. Took it back to Nashville and recorded it and it was a co-number one with \u2018All I Have to Do is Dream.’\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo Long I\u2019m Gone\u201d \/\/ Warren Smith<\/p>\n Warren Smith was a friend of Orbison\u2019s while they were both at Sun Records, and Smith recorded<\/a> Orbison\u2019s song \u201cSo Long I\u2019m Gone\u201d in 1957. Smith\u2019s band also accompanied<\/a> Orbison during some of his tours and recording sessions, and on one 1956 tour that featured both Smith and Orbison, the band would play a set with Orbison, change their clothes, and join Smith, usually without any audience members being the wiser.<\/p>\n \u201cPrecious\u201d \/\/ Arlene Harden<\/p>\n Orbison wrote this track in the late \u201860s, and it was covered by Arlene Harden on her 1970 tribute album Arlene Harden Sings Roy Orbison. Orbison\u2019s version, meanwhile, wasn\u2019t released until 2008, when it appeared posthumously on his box set The Soul of Rock and Roll. Harden also found great success with a cover of \u201cLovin\u2019 Man (Oh Pretty Woman),\u201d a take on Orbison\u2019s classic hit \u201cOh, Pretty Woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the Blue Hour Comes\u201d \/\/ Rodney Crowell<\/p>\n Orbison partnered with Rodney Crowell and Will Jennings to pen this track, which was released in 1986. The song blends R&B with country-folk and pop stylings and finds the singer promising someone he loves that he\u2019ll always be there for them in a time of need, even if they’re no longer close.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cBlue Bayou\u201d \/\/ Linda Ronstadt<\/p>\n Orbison\u2019s ethereal version of this song was released in 1961, but it became even more famous when Linda Ronstadt released her cover as a single in 1977. The song became a smash hit for Ronstadt and turned into her signature track, though of course, many fans associate it mostly with Orbison. <\/p>\n The tune has a distinctly melancholy quality, and its lyrics describe longing for a beautiful place, a bygone time, and a lost love. But for Orbison, the whole thing was always meant to be somewhat joyful. \u201cThat\u2019s simply a song about being on the road,\u201d Orbison said<\/a>. \u201cAnd that is really a happy song. It probably sounds very strange to you for me to say that. The fellow\u2019s bound and determined to get back to where you sleep all day, and the catfish play, and the sailing boats and the girls and all that stuff. It\u2019s a beautiful thought. Now granted that it is a sad song, a lonely song, but it\u2019s a loneliness that precedes happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roy Orbison was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his stratospheric vocals and his ability to blend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[64,63,134,136],"class_list":["post-853569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=853569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}