How a run of covers saved Roy Orbison’s career
Not many people can say that they were there for the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, and even fewer people can say that they were a pioneer in the movement itself. Well, Roy Orbison was always one of the exceptions. Even for new music fans, his songs will ring familiar as poetic lyricism and catchy choruses continue to turn heads today.
There are issues with being an early star in such significant movements, though. Many artists who helped define genres often get lost as they establish ahead of them. They are looked upon as the foundation as opposed to an actual building block, and with such an obstacle, it’s no surprise that Roy Orbison’s career was one of both highs and lows.
Though trying to stay relevant in a new genre is hard enough, issues with his personal life also saw Orbison struggle to write songs in the late ’60s. He tragically lost his wife in a motorcycle accident, and then later on, two of his children also passed away in a house fire. He could barely bring himself to write, and even when he did, the sound he was famous for was slowly falling out of fashion. A wave of new artists came through, and Orbison’s career started to fizzle out.
He did have a resurgence in the 1980s, though, as he was given a second bite at the cherry, which would eventually see him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and join the supergroup The Traveling Wilbury’s. Interestingly enough, some newer artists were the frontrunners of this resurgence, as a string of covers put Orbison back in the spotlight.
“I think the renaissance started with Linda Ronstadt recording ‘Blue Bayou,’” he told The Rolling Stone, “Which wasn’t even the A side in America. It sold 7 to 10 million for her, and I guess I felt validated or something. That was in ’77, and then Don McLean did ‘Crying,’ and it was a hit. Then Van Halen did ‘Pretty Woman,’ and I won a Grammy with Emmylou Harris, for the single ‘That Loving You Feeling Again.’”
These covers not only brought the music of Roy Orbison back into the spotlight, but they gave him a new air of confidence. It acted as a reminder of how much people loved his music and how there was still space for him in the industry. It was enough to get him back on the road, although he focused mainly on shows in the US at the time. “At the same time I started touring in America almost exclusively and realised that you could tour America forever, almost.”
The tradition of artists covering other artists is something that has been passed down through generations, but few covers have been as successful as those done of Roy Orbison songs, a testament to his ability as a songwriter. Certainly, no modern cover has ever been so popular that it has seen the writer be able to take their music back on the road at a bigger level.
“Being someone who was there at the founding of rock and roll, it’s good that at the age I am I’m being accepted and recognised,” he said. “We used to say, ‘I don’t wanna be jumping around and going crazy when I’m thirty,’ you know? Even Mick Jagger said, ‘well, I can’t see myself at forty jumping around.’ Well, here we are, you know?”
This is a mindset that Orbison carried with him until the very end. He went on to keep performing, with his last gig being December 4th, 1988, only two days before he passed away. To this day, his legacy as an artist stands, covers or not, and we continue to listen.
