Tuesday, October 28, 2008

MY FAVORITE ROY ORBISON SONG


It's hard to comprehend that it's been almost twenty years since we lost Roy - he passed away on December 6, 1988. The other day I heard "Blue Bayou" on the oldies station, and that got me thinking about all the other great songs he did that don't get played often enough. "Pretty Woman" gets played all the time, but great as that one is, I'm always glad to hear stations break out of their familiar programming ruts and play more variety. In the same spirit, I decided it was high time we listened to some here at Papa Do Run. The info on the video doesn't say so, but this footage is from the HBO concert, as described in Wikipedia:

In September of 1987, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night, a black-and-white HBO television special was recorded at the Coconut Grove in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Orbison was accompanied by a who's-who supporting cast organized by musical director T-Bone Burnett. All were fans and all were volunteers who lobbied to participate. On piano was Glen Hardin, who played for Buddy Holly as well as Elvis Presley for several years. Lead guitarist James Burton had also played with Presley and Ricky Nelson. Male background vocals, with some also playing the guitar or piano, came from Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther and Steven Soles. A "million-dollar" trio of Jennifer Warnes, k.d. Lang and Bonnie Raitt provided female background vocals. He was also joined by keyboardist Michael Utley, a long time member of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band. All members of this first-class group of supporting artists displayed great respect and admiration for Roy. This TV special performance brought Orbison to the attention of a younger generation.


So without further ado, here's the great Roy-O and "Blue Angel"







Video from YT member youralone
Photo at www.meanspeed.com

3 comments:

Kat said...

Deb,
It is so great to hear Roy Orbison again. I remember when I bought my first Orbison album and wore it out. Thansk!

Kat Mortensen said...

I'll be honest. I've never really spent much time listening to Roy Orbison, although I REALLY liked The Travelling Wilburys.

That picture looks like k.d. Lang.

I'll have to go back and listen again.

Kat

Deborah Godin said...

Poetikat - if you think that looks like k.d., go to YouTube and look and her with Roy on "Crying" - a great duet!