"Crying"

[TC Chris]

Maybe everybody's favorite Roy Orbison song? Hard to choose. But today I drove to work (14 degrees out when I was ready to go). So I drove, and on the way home made a pass by the grocery store while the truck engine was warm. As I pulled in I was listening to NPR's "All things Considered." They use musical snippets between segments and one of them was a guitar guy playing a cool version of "Crying." Hey, I thought, that's wonderful, and it sounds like Julian Lage. Later I looked it up (they credit their music snippets online) and damned if I didn't nail it. Here's Julian playing great music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYRYhAGt14A

He always looks like playing music is the thrill of his life. And listening, it must be true.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

Never heard of him, a nice understated version of one of RO's best.
PBS had a great show about RO some years ago called Black & White that features some of current music's greatest playing alongside him, Clapton, McCartney, Costello &c., not long before he died.

[Hi-Fi-Mogul]

For a song with Roy's vocal range featured, I would vote
for "Only the Lonely".

I recommend Monument SLP 18045,
"The very best of ROY ORBISON".

There are some brief complimentary liner notes
from Boudleaux Bryant.

It's kind of amazing to see that only 3
people birthed this album.
A producer, engineer, and a technician.

[electra225]

I have that album in mono. Along with the songs already mentioned, I like "Pretty Paper".

[TC Chris]

Never heard of him, a nice understated version of one of RO's best.
PBS had a great show about RO some years ago called Black & White that features some of current music's greatest playing alongside him, Clapton, McCartney, Costello &c., not long before he died.

I passed along a link to the Lage piece the host of the public radio blues show, and he shot back a recommendation for "Black and White" also.

This is still driving-to-work weather: about 12 degrees this a.m., too chilly for 3 miles on a bicycle. So I was out brushing the snow off the windshield (hey, I'm an American; my garage is full of stuff and the truck lives outside) and Roy Orbison singing "Crying" was playing in my head. They say that in dementia, memories of music persist the longest. All that music is stored in our heads. And he was singing "Crying" in my head and I was almost ready burst into tears. It's extraordinary music and he was a singular musician. Rock bands are a dime a dozen, a various crooners too, but there was just one Roy Orbison.

Well, I got to work and turned on the computer and pulled up Julian Lage, and then I pulled up Roy himself and pretty soon I was wiping the eyes. One of the great privileges of getting old is being greatly moved by good things.

I read the Orbison Wikipedia entry. The saddest part was the period when he was forgotten. We were all fascinated by newer music. Beatles, Stones, Animals. And Roy Orbison was just bypassed, But not for all that long. Quality reasserts itself. I recall hearing the occasional Orbison recording and thinking, that's good stuff.

And on the subject of the brain and music... one of the most unusual experiences I had was in Ann Arbor in grad school. I'd wake up to the clock radio. One morning the radio was playing Strauss's waltz "The Blue Danube." It had been used in the film 2001. Lying there half-awake, I visualized the entire scene it had been used in. Amazing what's stashed in our brains....

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

He was sort of put on the shelf for awhile but it's interesting that some of rock's greats clearly still really appreciated him, like you say quality will out. If y'all can find it "Black & White" has some great RO performances with the aforementioned Clapton, McCartney, and Costello standing in with his band, probably the best one was with Springstein, who's a big fan of many great folksingers like Woodie Guthrie as well. What made it particularly poignant was that I believe he died shortly after it was filmed, but before it aired, it's almost as if they foresaw it and wanted to show their understanding and appreciation of him while they could. B&W is probably still out there, our VT PBS station used it as a pledge fundraiser for a number of years.

[TC Chris]

Here's an excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

"Running Scared", based loosely on the rhythm of Ravel's Boléro; the song was about a man on the lookout for his girlfriend's previous boyfriend, whom he feared would try to take her away. Orbison encountered difficulty when he found himself unable to hit the song's highest note without his voice breaking. He was backed by an orchestra in the studio and Porter told him he would have to sing louder than his accompaniment because the orchestra was unable to be softer than his voice.[44] Fred Foster then put Orbison in the corner of the studio and surrounded him with coat racks forming an improvised isolation booth to emphasise his voice. Orbison was unhappy with the first two takes. In the third, however, he abandoned the idea of using falsetto and sang the final high 'A' naturally, so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing.[32] On that third take, "Running Scared" was completed.

Read that again: "...so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing." The highest praise is that from your peers.

Chris Campbell

[Motorola minion]

I hate to admit it, but I first heard of Roy Orbison about the same time my folks got a cabin near Orbisonia PA. Not sure how the town got the name, but I recognized it from those TV commercials for records. There was one for Roy's greatest hits, which played clips and listed almost all his hits to date (then 1975?) with some imagery including a yard statue with his signature shades on it.

I have two CD's from the Black and White night collection and a Traveling Wilburys CD, both excellent examples of his work. IMHO this was one of his best: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=ro ... &FORM=VIRE