Roy Orbison - Elvis Presley - Split

(Credits: Far Out / Jack de Nijs /Anefo / Nationaal Archief / MGM)

Wed 14 January 2026 10:00, UK

A cruel and unfeeling place which has crushed the dreams of countless individuals over the decades, the music industry is not a place for the faint-hearted; even a songwriter as legendary as Roy Orbison struggled to gain any traction during his early years, before his timeline was forever changed by one unsuspecting song. 

Although it’s difficult to imagine now, Orbison spent the vast majority of the 1950s as a hopeful yet failing young musician, struggling to find anybody interested in his distinctive vocal tones or rockabilly rhythms. After all, if you look at the prevailing stars of the first rock and roll age – the likes of Elvis or Little Richard, for instance – Orbison doesn’t exactly blend in. So, before the decade was out, the songwriter had all but given up on his dreams of musical stardom.

Instead of going out on the road and peddling his material to any record label that would listen, Orbison chose instead to pursue the thankless career of writing songs for other artists, hoping to support his blossoming young family with the royalty cheques that those songs would surely bring. In the end, though, it didn’t quite work out like that.

One such track that Orbison wrote – alongside his partner Joe Melson – in the hopes of selling it off to the highest bidder was 1960’s ‘Only the Lonely’. A pulchritudinous heartbreak anthem typical of that era in pop, the song was perfectly suited to Orbison’s deeply emotive performance style, but after more than a few failed attempts to break into the charts, he chose instead to sell the song to Elvis Presley.

As the biggest star on the face of the planet at that time, Orbison was far from being the only hopeful young songwriter to try to sell their wares to Presley, and it didn’t take long for ‘The King’ to refuse the track, despite it being tonally similar to some of his biggest hits, and almost written with his voice in mind. 

Instead, Orbison looked to The Everly Brothers as his next port of call, but the pair were equally unenthusiastic about the idea. To their credit, though, The Everly Brothers didn’t just turn down the song, they also reportedly convinced Orbison to record the track himself.

Seemingly, when The Everly Brothers give you a piece of advice, you stick to it. So, the songwriter went down to RCA’s studio in Nashville in 1960 and laid down ‘Only the Lonely’, which – unbeknownst to him at the time – would carve out the entire basis of his signature sound.

What’s more, the single quickly became a hit, peaking at number two on the US singles chart and spending two weeks at the top spot in the United Kingdom. Thus, the song that Orbison had tried desperately to sell or give away actually became his salvation, effectively launching his recording career as well as defining his iconic sound. 

Even Elvis Presley had to stand in utter admiration of Orbison’s recording, with the performer reportedly buying multiple copies of the single upon hearing it for the first time. Looking back, ‘Only the Lonely’ is not Orbison’s best recording of all time, but it nevertheless formed an essential moment in his musical career, responsible for giving the world one of its greatest performers. 

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