Over at my friend’s house in the early 80s, we would look at his dad’s singles from the early to mid-sixties. I couldn’t believe this man’s voice. It was like an alien…his voice was like no other.
Roy Orbison spent a couple of years at Sun as a good rockabilly artist. He was soon signed by Fred Foster who owned Monument Records in 1959. He had some good releases but no hits… but with this song, he found his strength. These slower operatic songs that he was so great at. This was the start of his commercial success.
Roy Orbison and Joe Melson wrote this song…one of the first they wrote together. The lyrics were inspired by a failed romance by Joe Melson. He said she took off in a Cadillac and the words just flowed after thinking of that.
The songwriting duo was going to try to give this song to Elvis or The Everly Brothers who already recorded a song by Orbison called Claudette. They talked Oribison into recording it himself thankfully. It ended up being one of his biggest hits. Orbison recorded this at RCA’s Studio B in Nashville with some of the best Nashville musicians. It featured Hank Garland and Harold Bradley on guitars, Bob Moore on Base, and Floyd Cramer on piano.
Fred Foster produced this song. He remembered listening to the playback with goosebumps on his arms. He turned to Roy and said, “There’s your big hit.” The producer was absolutely right. This song was Orbison’s first top-ten hit. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #2 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1960.
Roy Orbison: “I’ve always been very content when I wrote all those songs. By this I’m saying that a lot of people think you have to live through something before you can write it, and that’s true in some cases, but I remember the times that I was unhappy or discontent, and I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t communicate, and I certainly couldn’t write a song, no way. All the songs I wrote that were successful were written when I was in a contented state of mind.”
Only The Lonely (Know How I Feel)
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know the way I feel tonight (ooh yay, yay, yay, yeah)
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know this feeling ain’t right (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
There goes my baby
There goes my heart
They’re gone forever
So far apart
But only the lonely
Know why I cry
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah, ooh yay, yay, yay, yeah)
(Oh, oh oh oh oh ooh-ah-ah, only the lonely)
(Only the lonely)
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know the heartaches I’ve been through (ooh yay, yay, yay, yeah)
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Know I cry and cry for you (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
Maybe tomorrow
A new romance
No-o-o more sorrow
But that’s the chance
You’ve got to take
If your lonely heart breaks
Only the lonely (dum-dumb-dummy doo-wah)
…
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You are right, he had an amazing voice. I especially enjoyed hearing him in the Traveling Wilburys!
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We saw him in concert years ago, and he brought the audience to its feet whenever he’d hit a high note. He had an amazing voice.
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I would have loved to have seen him live…I can’t imagine.
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Visually, he did not fit anyone’s image of a rock star; evidence that, if you have the talent, you don’t need the look. He and Buddy Holly might have made thick black glasses cool (but since I lived through that era, I’ll say they didn’t – they were cool, but thick black glasses were not – nerdy on anyone else). I grew up with the Everly Brothers version of “Claudette” (on Cadence – I love the guitar part) but just listened to the original for the first time.
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Those glasses became so who they were that seeing them without glasses didn’t look right.
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Amazing that he thought maybe he wasn’t good enough for this song and wanted to farm it out! With a crew like that behind you it’s what makes a great song even better. I also like the background singing by Anita Kerr, she assembled some amazing voices to complement a lot of Nashville songs. I really didn’t know much about the background nor did I realize his position on his state of mind while writing. He certainly had more than his fair share of tragedy to write about.
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It’s hard to believe he actually thought that I know.
His life got awful quick in the 1960s… and it’s not like he signed to a crooked manager…it was just tragic life things.
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The emotional anguish and grief that is caused by the loss of someone to love is a powerful emotion.
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Good thing he didn’t sell it to Elvis or anyone else. A great song and his performance is peerless on it. To me, right there with ‘Cryin’ and ‘Pretty Woman’ as his best works.
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No offense against Elvis but only Roy could do this song this way…
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He made it look easy!
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Doesnt get any better for me. So much going on in this song. Man his vocals go down so good. When he hits the “Maybe tomorrow ..” part it is on a different level.
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“Only the Lonely” would have been a perfect fit for the Everly Brothers ! That said, I sure as heck am happy as well that is was Roy Orbison who ended up recording the song. His operatic voice really gave it something very unique.
“Cara Mia” by Jay & The Americans stylistically is similar. Freddie Mercury was a quite operatic vocalist as well. Still, I know of no other artist who sounds like Roy Orbison!
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Yea I’m glad Roy held on to this song…his voice was unique….no one had a voice like it…
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Much more familiar with the 2nd video’s version of it. I like the definitive drums with a pause on it much better. They added violins on it from the 1st one also. I have his Greatest Hits album and every song on it is a winner. Roy is a maestro and his songs stand the test of time.
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I love this one also:
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I forgot all about this song! When it first came up I thought…I don’t know that one…but after I heard it…yes! I forgot about that one!
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He really hits sustained high notes on this one. I love how his songs tell stories that everyone can relate to.
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He is so awesome….I just covered Roy not long ago but I had to put him in again.
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I’ve been listening to Traveling Wilburys album and watched the End of the Line video with the empty chair for Roy and had a moment to fight back tears.
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That video gets to me everytime…you can tell the other guys were so proud to be in a band with Roy.
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Really, can you imagine a more illustrious supergroup? I love their humility with each other. You can tell they felt comfortable with each other. Such a good album too!
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Oh they were great…I can’t believe no other older performers haven’t done the same.
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Roy is the greatest vocalist of all-time, dad could match him note for note, and Roy was hugely favoured in our house growing up. Only The Lonely is top level Roy, but not quite at the very top – That’s It’s Over, In Dreams, and a couple of others…
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His voice was truly one of a kind. I heard someone say one time…if Roy would have had a better “look” he would have been as big as Elvis…his voice was unequaled…even by Elvis.
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