Splendid Isolation: 4 Big Hits With “Lonely” in the Title

Feeling a little bit isolated? Vexed by your solitude? Well, you have company, at least figuratively anyway. Songwriters have been mining loneliness for subject matter since pretty much the creation of music.

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Many of those songs have turned into big hits on the pop charts. Here are four songs with the word “lonely” in the title that soared in their day and still sound fantastic now.

“Only The Lonely (Know The Way I Feel)” by Roy Orbison

We start off with the song that set the standard by which all other “lonely” songs will always be compared. Because he hadn’t yet enjoyed success as a recording artist when he wrote “Only The Lonely” with Joe Melson, Roy Orbison tried to sell the song off to someone else. Among others, Elvis Presley turned him down. As wonderful an interpreter as Presley was, it’s a good thing he passed. Otherwise, it’s possible that Orbison might have continued on the writer-for-hire path. Instead, the world was treated to his towering voice. This song also gave us the first taste of the Orbison ballad style, with those ever-rising melodies and the bolero-style rhythmic flourishes.

“Lonely Boy” by Andrew Gold

Andrew Gold had earned a solid reputation in the industry as one of the key members of the studio team that helped make Linda Ronstadt’s 70s albums so airtight. When he went solo, he utilized Peter Asher, Ronstadt’s longtime producer. From the album What’s Wrong With This Picture?, “Lonely Boy” finds Gold telling a story of family heartbreak played out over many years. Interestingly, the birth dates of Gold and his sister match up with the dates of the siblings in the song, although the artist claimed the song wasn’t autobiographical. The track benefits from an all-in vocal performance by Gold and a thrilling modulation from the instrumental break back to the main section.

“You’re Only Lonely” by JD Souther

The late, great JD Souther wrote songs that popped up all over the place in the 70s. It’s just that other artists, like Linda Ronstadt and Eagles, were the ones who took those songs to the mainstream. Souther’s solo career often flew under the radar, at least until “You’re Only Lonely” came along. Among the backing vocalists on the track are Jackson Browne and Phil Everly. But Souther’s own vocals steal the show. He’s clearly riffing on Roy Orbison’s “Only The Lonely” with the title. Why not include some Orbisonian falsetto throughout the track? This would be Souther’s lone solo Top 10 hit, although he also reached that rarefied air with the James Taylor duet “Her Town Too”.

“Lonely Ol’ Night” by John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp had already conquered the pop charts with songs like “Jack And Diane” and “Hurts So Good”. Scarecrow, released in 1985, found him delivering a brilliant, no-filler album for the first time in his career. And the hits kept right on coming from that LP as well. “Lonely Ol’ Night” introduced the record to the world as his first single. While maybe not as substantial as other songs from Scarecrow like “Small Town” and “Rain On The Scarecrow”, it’s a crackerjack piece of heartland pop. The song does an excellent job of showcasing the potency of the band that Mellencamp had backing him in that era. And it also demonstrates his ability to make a simple slice-of-life narrative resonate.

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