In 1964 there was a song incessantly on the radio, and I didn’t know much about the world but lemme tell you this song was creepy even by the standards of a poorly-socialized 10-year-old boy.
I dunno that Roy Orbison had another hit between then and 1988, and I’d be lying if I said I gave him much thought for going on 30 years or so. Turns out, though, that he’d had twenty or more hits before Pretty Woman – a song I still can’t stand – and some of them were perfect listening for a guy whose life seemed to be over before he’d even properly hit middle age.
This one is positively eerie…
And of course this one’s Bolero with lyrics…
I judge my own mental health by its inverse relationship with tequila and Roy Orbison. When I get down on the world, I crave both.
The cool thing (well, not for him: He kicked it at age 52) is that just around the time I discovered his old hits, he had one last one almost 25 years after his heyday. It was pretty much posthumous.
And it’s not creepy. And I like this one, too.
Not set up to see your vid links with this machine – but if you want to see flat-out eerie – you’d want to see Dennis Hopper covering one of Orbison’s songs in the movie “Blue Velvet”. I think the song was “In Dreams”. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t on yootoob.
Roy lived long enough to see his last song become a hit. I grew up during his big years and loved his songs. I believe “Only the Lonely” is my favorite followed by his last song “You Got It”.
This is the first pop song that ever registered in my consciousness, never to be dislodged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woSbJxeJRNs