3 Heartbreaking Ballads by Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison’s great voice was powered by loneliness. It projected both beauty and darkness from the soft-spoken singer.

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K.D. Lang once described it as a “powerful, high, flowing, liquid voice.” She would know. Lang won a GRAMMY with Orbison for their 1987 remake of his classic ballad “Crying.”

Born in Vernon, Texas, in 1936, Orbison and his family moved west to Wink, Texas, after World War II. He grew up on West Texas radio stations, and soon began learning the country and rockabilly songs he heard.

He eventually settled in Nashville, where he wrote songs for Acuff-Rose Music. But it wasn’t without setbacks. Two legends passed on one of his best songs. So he recorded it himself, and the rejected tune became a hit.

It’s impossible to choose only three Orbison tracks. But here are three heartbreaking ballads from one of America’s most unique and melancholic voices. Because so much of his emotional power comes from vulnerability, we’ll begin with the rejected song that forever changed his career.

“Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)” from Lonely and Blue (1961)

In 1959, Orbison signed with Monument Records and moved to Nashville. Living in a small apartment with his young family, he’d often escape to his car to write songs. Orbison wrote several hits with Joe Melson, including “Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel).”

They pitched the song to Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers. Both turned it down, but The Everly Brothers convinced Orbison to record it himself. It introduced Orbison’s emotional and epic balladry to a wide audience, reaching No. 2 in the United States. Presley later called Orbison “quite simply, the greatest singer in the world.”

“Crying” from Crying (1962)

Orbison and Melson intended “Crying” for country singer Don Gibson. But midway through writing the song, they decided to keep it for Orbison. His producer and Monument Records founder Fred Foster said it immediately sounded like a classic. Orbison sings about a woman he thinks he’s over until he sees her.

His emotional bolero swells toward a resounding conclusion where Orbison delivers a powerful and wailing aria. It’s one of his greatest vocal performances. The rework with Lang in 1987 is equally compelling.

“Blue Bayou” from In Dreams (1963)

Originally recorded in 1961, Orbison didn’t release “Blue Bayou” until 1963. The song became a hit just as the singer finished a UK tour with The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers. And an alternate version was released exclusively in Italy. It later became a signature song for Linda Ronstadt, who released her version in 1977.

But Orbison’s operatic vibrato shows his mastery of lonesome ballads. “Blue Bayou” was the second single from Orbison’s fourth album, In Dreams. You might remember the title track from David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet. Few pop voices fit Lynch’s dark noir as perfectly as Orbison’s. Lullabies are meant to soothe. And Orbison’s voice seems engineered to ease the pain of the brokenhearted.

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