It’s been nearly a year since we last looked at Roy Orbison, so it’s probably a good idea to quickly catch up with where we were up to. This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. The Monument Singles Collection is the originals. There are many Orbison collections available, but many have rerecordings rather than the original versions of his hits. I have relied for biographical information mostly on two books - The Authorised Roy Orbison written by Jeff Slate and three of Orbison’s children, and Rhapsody in Blackby John Kruth.įor the musicological analysis, I referred a lot to the essay “Only the Lonely: Roy Orbison’s Sweet West Texas Style,” by Albin Zak, in Sounding Out Pop: Analytical Essays in Popular Music. Check out Tilt’s irregular podcasts at and Īs usual, I have put together a Mixcloud mix with every song excerpted in this podcast. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Patreon backers also have two bonus podcasts - part one of a two-part Q&A and a ten-minute bonus on “Walk Don’t Run” by the Ventures. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Episode eighty-three of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Only the Lonely” by Roy Orbison, and how Orbison finally found success by ignoring conventional pop song structure.

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