Thursday, 6 Dec 2007
Nineteen years ago the world lost Roy Orbison at the age of 52. Growing up he was a constant fixture in the early days of music television, at least in my house, especially the black and white captures below. My dad, being the Springsteen fan that he was and is today, always enjoyed pointing out the now very young looking Boss as he sings back up on “Sweet Dreams Baby” and “Oh, Pretty Woman.” The all-star cast of favorites doesn’t end with the Boss. Keep watching for the likes of Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Waits.
I also got to know Orbison from his contributions as a founding member of the super group The Traveling Wilburys, and must have listened to my copied from radio to cassette version of of “End of the Line” constantly in my late elementary years. That video is worth watching, as it was filmed shortly after Roy’s death and features a guitar in a rocking chair in his memory as the rest of the band plays on a moving train.
Roy Obrison – “Sweet Dreams Baby”
Roy Obrison – “Oh, Pretty Woman”
December 6th, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Great post.. “Oh Pretty Woman” is the first rock song I remember hearing – on a jukebox in my grandmother’s restaurant. It is still an exciting record everytime I hear it, not only because of the unforgettable downbeat but especially for Orbison’s soaring vocal. Your readers owe it to themselves to check out his hits of the ’60′s – very influential. Orbison was a hero to all the musicians you mentioned, and their respect is shown in their appearance on “A Black & White Night” – well worth searching for on DVD. A few years before the Willburys, I was at Summerfest wondering around late one night by the side stages and saw Roy was going to play a 10:00 set. I hadn’t heard much from him in years, and thought he would be nothing but a nostaglia act, but was I wrong! Man the guy could still bring it live and the voice octave had not wavered a bit, despite the fact that he had had a heart attack and open heart surgery in 1978 (a very complicated and life threatening procedure at the time as opposed to the advanced heart techniques of today). Anyway, the fact that titans like George Harrison and Bob Dylan invited him to the Willburys project says alot. In the last year of his life, he really hit the commercial and artistic jack-pot. Besides the Willburys record and the “Black & White Night” concert, “The Big O” released a fantastic solo record called “Mystery Girl” with songs penned by him as well as Bono & The Edge, Elvis Costello, and Jeff Lynne & Tom Petty. The man behind the famous Ray-Bans is in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame for good reason. While I enjoy the poignancy of the “End of The Line” video (especially George’s nod at the photo and chair – which is really bittersweet now), also take a look at the first Willburys single, “Handle With Care” to see Roy at the mike taking turns with his “brothers.” Here’s a great link that, among alot of other things, allows you to view that song’s video:
http://www.squidoo.com/thetravelingwilburys