I think I read here a few months ago a funny anecdote from the recording session of “Running Scared”. Apologies for not giving proper credit for the original poster.
I found some background info at Wikepedia:
Orbison was unhappy with the first two takes, but in the third, he abandoned the idea of using falsetto and sang the final high G sharp naturally, so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing. On that third take, “Running Scared” was completed. Fred Foster later recalled, “He did it, and everybody looked around in amazement. Nobody had heard anything like it before.”
The story I remember is that Mr. Foster told the recording engineer “if you didn’t get that on tape, don’t bother coming into work tomorrow.”
To amaze fellow musicians into silence - what a measure of his talent.
If you get a chance, definitely see him in concert. Since he’s much less well-known than Chris Isaak, tickets are cheaper. I’ve seen him live three times and shot the last two. Here is a show with a full band, and one with just Raul and his accordion player (audio problem with the latter, only right channel).
And no real training. Some people just have talent, and it comes out. He wasn’t the handsomest singer in the world, but his voice was truly incredible.
I just had to pop in and give my props to Roy. I’ve loved him since I was 8 years old (I’m 30 now), and learned about him only after his passing. I began as a fan of the Traveling Wilburys, and latched right on to Roy. His voice just melted my little 8 year old heart. I knew all the lyrics to his more recent tunes (not so much the oldies). My friends thought I was completely bonkers. I used to come home from school and watch VH1 alllll evening until dinnertime just so that I could catch one of his videos. My mother allowed the indulgence - I think because she thought it was cute - but she made me promise to leave the room whenever Madonna came on, since her popular tune at that time was “Express Yourself” - raunchy video for an 8 year old!
Ohhh, I thought his dark look was really classy and handsome. I still do.
Then New Kids on the Block came around. That was the end of my innocence. (sigh)
There was a bio of him written a couple of years after he died that I picked up on the discount table and read some of but couldn’t get into. A critic in Rolling Stone put it best- I’m paraphrasing, but a rockabilly superstar who had no major sex scandals* or drug dependancy and was basically a family man and homebody makes for an admirable person but a boring read.
*Both of his wives were really young when he married but not Jerry Lee Lewis young, and his first wife was unfaithful and his second is evidently a greedy widow, but no scandals on par with the private life of most stars of his magnitude
If you love Roy Orbison, you owe it to yourself to check out Black and White Night. An amazing performance with an unbelievable band! When you have k.d. lng, Bonnie Rait, and Jennifer Warnes as your “back up singers,” doing the “sha-la-la-la’s” during “Dream Baby,” you know you’ve got something special!
I’m pretty sure that was it. I remember there being a part about his final conversation with his oldest surviving son about how odd it was that Roy, the father, had long hair and wore sunglasses while his son had short hair and dressed conservatively.
I understand that his wife and her stepson fought viciously over his estate, the great lion’s share of which was left to her and their sons. At one point it was in the newspapers that Roy’s mother was in a charity nursing home because Widow Orbison wouldn’t pay for a private one, though these things can get really twisted by the press.
At the time it was said the Wilburys were considering Del Shannon (Runaway) as Roy’s replacement, but he died before it was officialized. After that it was just left open and then the group disbanded. The Wilburys then did a cover of Runaway without anybody in the “Roy Orbison Chair”. (I always thought Johnny Cash would have been a great fit for Roy’s chair; totally different voice of course, but just as distinctive.)
*Probably suicide- not sure if it was ruled that way. He shot himself and some claimed it was accidental. He was doing well career wise and financially but had suffered from major depression for some time.
Oh, man…two of the Great Voices in one song. I’ve always felt that both of their voices have almost a presence of their own, completely beside the presence of the singer. It’s like their voices are whole separate people…there’s just that much substance to them.
This thread has me on a Roy kick and I was watching YouTubes. I never realized how much- later in his life- he looked like Larry “Bud” Melman in a Beatles wig.
The single greatest thing about Blue Velvet was that it introduced Roy Orbison to many of his Second Generation of fans, though it ruined In Dreams for me for all time. I still can’t hear it without thinking of a glam Dean Stockwell singing it into a light mic.
