0:00:02 > 0:00:04# Pretty woman, walking down the street
0:00:04 > 0:00:08# Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
0:00:08 > 0:00:10# Pretty woman
0:00:10 > 0:00:14# I don't believe you, you're not the truth
0:00:14 > 0:00:17# No-one could look as good as you... #
0:00:17 > 0:00:21My success came from the freedom I demanded.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25Go your own way, do what you want to do and you'll get that hit record.
0:00:25 > 0:00:29# Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
0:00:29 > 0:00:33# Pretty woman, I couldn't help see
0:00:33 > 0:00:35# Pretty woman
0:00:35 > 0:00:39# That you look lovely as can be
0:00:39 > 0:00:43# Are you lonely, just like me? #
0:00:52 > 0:00:56I remember the British tour of 1966.
0:00:56 > 0:01:01They advised me to steer clear of the motocross event, but I did it anyway.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05# I'll ride the highway
0:01:05 > 0:01:09# I'm going my way
0:01:09 > 0:01:13# I leave a story untold... #
0:01:13 > 0:01:16The will to go on is relentless.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18It's like the devil chasing me around.
0:01:18 > 0:01:22Sometimes it scares me. It's like a quest.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25When there's no limit, I would ride it all the way.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29# Ride on away from me... #
0:01:29 > 0:01:32In this particular race, I hit a sand pit.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36The bike came down and broke my ankle.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39Roy Orbison didn't easily give way to adversity.
0:01:39 > 0:01:41Music came first in his life.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Even with a broken ankle, the show had to go on.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51# When I fall asleep to dream
0:01:51 > 0:01:54# My dream's of you... #
0:01:56 > 0:01:58He was very competitive.
0:01:58 > 0:02:03Whatever it was that he was getting into, he would weigh the risk,
0:02:03 > 0:02:07and if he didn't think he could win, he may or may not do it.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10There was a very driven man underneath there.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16What was really distinctive was his enormous dignity.
0:02:16 > 0:02:21And I think a lot of sorrow, actually. But underneath.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27He could walk through a room, crowded with people,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29and no-one would even see him.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32He knew a way to find the darkened corners.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37He was a man whose eyes you couldn't see.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40There was that enigma about him,
0:02:40 > 0:02:43that you couldn't see behind the glasses.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48He was one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
0:02:48 > 0:02:51of rock and roll, you know?
0:02:51 > 0:02:56He had that desolation in his voice, that desolation of Northwest Texas.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Most of the songs I write are from personal experience.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06I try to relive something in the past.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11If my story is ever really told,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15I would include how my parents walked across Oklahoma in the Depression.
0:03:15 > 0:03:19Walked all the way, and how they found a cigarette they shared.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26When I was young, I would ask my dad about when he was young,
0:03:26 > 0:03:30and he explained to me that they lived, more or less,
0:03:30 > 0:03:34in the desert. And he lived in a place called Wink, Texas.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38And they lived in a shack that had a tin roof,
0:03:38 > 0:03:42and he loved to listen to it rain through that tin roof.
0:03:46 > 0:03:51That land out there in West Texas is awfully flat.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53You know, tumbleweeds
0:03:53 > 0:03:55and oil derricks.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00That's about the most exciting thing you see rolling through on the wind.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06It was so dusty, you could write your name on any surface in the house.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14My father gave me my first guitar for my sixth birthday.
0:04:14 > 0:04:19I told him I wanted a harmonica, and he said, "How about a guitar?"
0:04:19 > 0:04:23I equated size with value, and said, "I'll take the guitar."
0:04:27 > 0:04:30In 1943, the War was on,
0:04:30 > 0:04:35and a bunch of soldiers came over to my parents' home and played music.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39Our boys were leaving home to fight, and more than likely be killed.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43When they sang, they sang with all their hearts.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Their level of intensity made a lasting impression.
0:04:48 > 0:04:50None of us ever rose out of that.
0:04:55 > 0:04:58# Oh, give me land, lots of land
0:04:58 > 0:05:01# Under starry skies above... #
0:05:01 > 0:05:07During the war, my grandmother worked in the plant making planes.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10And I know that my dad had a love of mechanics.
0:05:12 > 0:05:17The miracle of flight was something that he was enthralled with.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21And he started building simple model aeroplanes from the time
0:05:21 > 0:05:24he was five or six, probably when he started playing guitar.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27And he kept building model aeroplanes his whole life.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36Seeing the aeroplanes made you dream of getting out of your little,
0:05:36 > 0:05:39small town onto bigger and better dreams.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Wink, Texas was a rough place,
0:05:45 > 0:05:49and inherently people in Texas are brash and loud.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52And brag.
0:05:52 > 0:05:54And my dad did not have those qualities.
0:05:57 > 0:06:04Even as a boy, he had to have the thick glasses early on.
0:06:04 > 0:06:08I imagine that caused for some ridicule, you know.
0:06:08 > 0:06:13Kids are mean that way.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17I think it just, in a way, probably drove him to music.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21That was the way he could have an artistic outlet.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24And be one of the cool cats.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32I learned to love Spanish fandangos and Mexican music.
0:06:32 > 0:06:34They were very popular at the time.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46My music is a composite of mariachi, country-western and blues.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52All of those influences probably settled into one thing,
0:06:52 > 0:06:53and I'm the result.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03I have a sense that he was Roy Orbison from the time he was
0:07:03 > 0:07:05six or seven years old.
0:07:05 > 0:07:10Playing the guitar was a good way for him to be different.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13I don't know what it is about being an Orbison,
0:07:13 > 0:07:16but I've experienced it myself, that we are just a little bit different
0:07:16 > 0:07:19and don't really fit entirely into one place.
0:07:22 > 0:07:26There are so many ways to be lonely in West Texas.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30It was macho guys working in the oil fields, and grease and football,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33and all about being a stud.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35So I got out of there as quick as I could,
0:07:35 > 0:07:39and I resented having to be there.
0:07:39 > 0:07:43It was tough as could be, no illusions, no mysteries,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45no dreams in Wink.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01I had formed a high school band called the Wink Westerners.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05But we quickly changed the name to the cooler-sounding Teen Kings.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14The Teen Kings were good, but Roy was the one that moved that beat.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18They all fell in line with his leadership.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22They were really popular, I really liked them.
0:08:22 > 0:08:23Very much.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26# They stood there trembling
0:08:26 > 0:08:28# And couldn't speak... #
0:08:28 > 0:08:30I didn't know what the stumbling blocks were,
0:08:30 > 0:08:35or how likely you are to succeed at singing, but it didn't matter.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38I thought my voice was sort of a wonder.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42It was great, and it didn't hurt anybody and it made me feel good.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46# True love, goodbye... #
0:08:46 > 0:08:48His appeal was that voice.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Cos he socked it home, man.
0:08:52 > 0:08:53There's no doubt about it.
0:08:54 > 0:08:59Roy Orbison, he's the only man that Presley said could out-sing him.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04Elvis said, "He can out-sing me."
0:09:04 > 0:09:09# Then they parted, both brokenhearted... #
0:09:09 > 0:09:14Roy wasn't there for the money, because the money wasn't that good.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17So who do you play? You play for them good-looking little old gals
0:09:17 > 0:09:19running round out there.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23Yeah, I think Roy, he was playing with the girls too.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32So I grabbed my group together
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and went on the road for two or three months.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38That was the beginning of my professional career.
0:09:40 > 0:09:42I made a demo of Ooby Dooby
0:09:42 > 0:09:45and sent it to Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54When my dad heard Ooby Dooby,
0:09:54 > 0:09:59he heard something unusual in Roy Orbison's voice.
0:09:59 > 0:10:02He was always listening for the artist, and I think he heard
0:10:02 > 0:10:05something different in Roy Orbison, just like he heard in Elvis.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08# Well, you been struttin', cos now you know
0:10:08 > 0:10:11# How to do the Ooby Dooby, better let go... #
0:10:11 > 0:10:14The Teen Kings had left him right in the middle of a session
0:10:14 > 0:10:16and pretty much devastated Roy.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19And the Teen Kings, part of them,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22I don't know if all of them did or not, but according to Roy,
0:10:22 > 0:10:27Little Willy and the big bass player decided they ought to be stars.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31So they up and quit Roy.
0:10:31 > 0:10:33And went back to Texas to be stars,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36or whatever they thought they would be.
0:10:36 > 0:10:40They didn't realise what they had.
0:10:40 > 0:10:42Roy thought it was maybe the end of his career.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46According to my father, Roy was a pretty sensitive individual.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50And it really... I think he even said he teared up a couple times
0:10:50 > 0:10:52when they were having a conversation.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55He really was conscientious about his music.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59I think that's one of the things that he was disappointed in
0:10:59 > 0:11:02in his latter recordings at Sun.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Because they were feeding him material that he didn't like.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08He didn't like Chicken Hearted.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11He was very, very upset, because he wanted his music perfect.
0:11:14 > 0:11:16# I'd like to be a hero
0:11:16 > 0:11:19# But I ain't got the nerve
0:11:19 > 0:11:22# I'm chicken hearted
0:11:22 > 0:11:26# I'm chicken hearted... #
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Chicken hearted was recorded for Sun.
0:11:31 > 0:11:34It was one of the worst recordings in the history of the world.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41I spent a lot of time on the road away from Sun,
0:11:41 > 0:11:46because I was wanting to sing ballads, but my very own ballads.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Whereas they wanted me to record R&B,
0:11:49 > 0:11:51like the other acts that were making it big.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57That last year or so, he was pretty disappointed,
0:11:57 > 0:12:00even though he had contract obligations to fill.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I don't think he was a happy camper.
0:12:04 > 0:12:06There was a little friction.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08I think it was basically that we were independent
0:12:08 > 0:12:10when we came to Sun Records,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13from Elvis to me to whoever recorded there.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16And that same independence wouldn't let us stand still.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Everyone from Sun gravitated towards Nashville,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26where they had proper studios and string players and engineers.
0:12:26 > 0:12:30I couldn't believe it. It was like a goldmine.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33So we all came to Nashville.
0:12:38 > 0:12:40I was ready to faint.
0:12:40 > 0:12:45I was just a kid, really, and I had always been fairly inhibited and shy,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and now I had a chance do it all, and I did.
0:12:49 > 0:12:55# Uptown, in penthouse number three
0:12:57 > 0:13:04# Uptown, there lives a doll just made for me... #
0:13:04 > 0:13:06So when we wrote Uptown,
0:13:06 > 0:13:09we began to put the pretty music in with the rock.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13We were changing rockabilly into the more pop feel
0:13:13 > 0:13:16which he would be eventually singing.
0:13:20 > 0:13:27# Uptown, but she never, ever looks my way. #
0:13:27 > 0:13:32I was going to college in Odessa, Texas. I got out one night.
0:13:32 > 0:13:33They had these little drive-ins,
0:13:33 > 0:13:36where the girls come up on skates and bring you Cokes...
0:13:36 > 0:13:41So I was drinking a Coke, and here come this big Cadillac.
0:13:41 > 0:13:46And I looked over, and I say, "That's got to be Roy Orbison."
0:13:46 > 0:13:50He said, "I been looking for you. Can we take a little ride and talk?"
0:13:50 > 0:13:52So I got in this Cadillac with him
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and we drove out under the stars of Texas.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00He said, "You know, you write a pretty good song.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03"And I write a pretty good song."
0:14:03 > 0:14:07He said, "I bet if we put them together, we'd have some great songs."
0:14:09 > 0:14:13Joe was the instigator.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18Roy was kind of like, laid-back and shy.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21And I said to somebody once,
0:14:21 > 0:14:23"When I get my record company,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27"I'm only going to sign people who don't sound like anybody else."
0:14:29 > 0:14:32And Roy didn't sound like anyone else.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36Fred Foster was very instrumental in picking the songs.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40He had a very tight relationship with Roy.
0:14:40 > 0:14:44And they trusted each other. And they worked together beautifully.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48Let me tell you what some people said...
0:14:50 > 0:14:53"You're wasting your money.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57"He's never going to make it, he's too ugly."
0:14:57 > 0:15:03This was the age of pretty boys like Fabian and Frankie Avalon.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05And I didn't even know how to respond to that.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10I thought, "Man, is that superficial or what?"
0:15:12 > 0:15:14We were a winning combination.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18We brought out the best in each other. I think.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22# Only the lonely
0:15:22 > 0:15:28# Know the way I feel tonight
0:15:28 > 0:15:30# Only the lonely
0:15:30 > 0:15:35# Know this feeling ain't right... #
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Only The Lonely evolved...
0:15:37 > 0:15:42because I was lonely, down there in Texas.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47I always had a girlfriend, but I was basically a loner.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52So we were writing one night, and I said, "How about Only The Lonely?"
0:15:52 > 0:15:57He didn't say anything. He just looked at me. And...
0:15:57 > 0:15:58In a little bit he said,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01"You know, Only The Lonely would be a good title for that."
0:16:01 > 0:16:05I said, "That's what I said!" He said, "No, I came up with that."
0:16:05 > 0:16:07I said, "No, you didn't."
0:16:07 > 0:16:08I said, "OK, let's just compromise,
0:16:08 > 0:16:10"We'll say we both thought up the title."
0:16:10 > 0:16:13# There goes my baby
0:16:15 > 0:16:17# There goes my heart
0:16:19 > 0:16:21# They're gone forever
0:16:22 > 0:16:24# So far apart
0:16:26 > 0:16:30# Only the lonely
0:16:30 > 0:16:37# Know the way I feel tonight
0:16:37 > 0:16:41# Only the lonely
0:16:41 > 0:16:47# Know this feeling ain't right... #
0:16:48 > 0:16:51Later on, he coloured his hair black.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54And the black hair just suited him. It seemed like once
0:16:54 > 0:16:59he got that formula, and then he added the dark glasses, he was safe.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03I think he felt safe. You know.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05And he just kept that image.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10# Only the lonely
0:17:10 > 0:17:16# Know the way I feel tonight
0:17:16 > 0:17:21# Only the lonely
0:17:21 > 0:17:26# Know this feeling ain't right...
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Most performers have two sides to them.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32They might be shy, retiring types, but they're able to summon up
0:17:32 > 0:17:37the brazen self confidence you need to perform to an audience.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Often it seems that chronic insecurity breeds creativity.
0:17:40 > 0:17:44Maybe I need that pressure, but it doesn't make for an easy life.
0:17:44 > 0:17:46# There goes my baby
0:17:48 > 0:17:50# And there goes my heart
0:17:52 > 0:17:54# They're gone forever
0:17:56 > 0:17:58# So far apart
0:17:59 > 0:18:03# But only the lonely
0:18:03 > 0:18:07# Know why I cry
0:18:07 > 0:18:12# I cry, only the lonely
0:18:12 > 0:18:15# Dum, dum, dum-be-doo-wah... #
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Roy became so popular.
0:18:17 > 0:18:20I mean, really, that song went straight to the top
0:18:20 > 0:18:23and put him on the road, performing.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27Because it was just such a nailer of a song, the crowd loved it.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29They wanted to see him.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31# No more sorrow
0:18:32 > 0:18:34# But that's the chance
0:18:36 > 0:18:42# You gotta take
0:18:42 > 0:18:46# If your lonely heart breaks
0:18:46 > 0:18:49# Only the lonely. #
0:18:49 > 0:18:55The songs were, also, as in Only The Lonely, first-person narrations.
0:18:55 > 0:19:00So that he begins to build a persona from song to song
0:19:00 > 0:19:07about himself as this suffering male character
0:19:07 > 0:19:11who experiences these intense emotions
0:19:11 > 0:19:13linked to extreme loneliness.
0:19:13 > 0:19:19Crying, suffering, pain at a level of intensity that was not
0:19:19 > 0:19:23the norm for men at that point of time in the early '60s.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27All those things together helped define him.
0:19:30 > 0:19:35Roy had the guts to put into words
0:19:35 > 0:19:38what everybody felt, or was thinking.
0:19:39 > 0:19:43And couldn't admit it, openly.
0:19:43 > 0:19:48In the period between 1960 and 1964, which is when he rose to
0:19:48 > 0:19:54great fame, he wasn't a big media presence, at least in the
0:19:54 > 0:19:58United States in fan magazines and so forth, like many stars were.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02And little was known about his personal life and his private life.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08Roy had quietly dated
0:20:08 > 0:20:12and then married Claudette Frady from Wink, Texas.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14For four years or so,
0:20:14 > 0:20:18they managed to keep their family life out of the spotlight.
0:20:19 > 0:20:20Claudette was that first love,
0:20:20 > 0:20:25and he was totally consumed by her, totally in love with her.
0:20:25 > 0:20:27She was kind of a quiet girl,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29she just stayed in the background all the time.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32Her and Roy, love affair, I can tell you.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35When we were writing, he said, "I got to break now,
0:20:35 > 0:20:38"I got to go home and love on that sweet woman."
0:20:39 > 0:20:41That was always his phrase.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44He was always ready to get back to Claudette.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46She was so gorgeous.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48He was a little different-looking.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51It was a little odd, I thought, that was an odd couple.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54But they seemed like they were really in love, you know?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56Roy talked about her all the time on the road,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58and talked about how much he loved her.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01And wrote a song called Claudette.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04# Well, I got a brand-new baby and I feel so good
0:21:04 > 0:21:07# She loves me even better than I thought she would
0:21:07 > 0:21:11# I'm on my way to her house and I run out of breath
0:21:11 > 0:21:14# When I see her tonight, I'm gonna squeeze her to death
0:21:14 > 0:21:16# Claudette
0:21:16 > 0:21:19# Pretty little pet, Claudette... #
0:21:19 > 0:21:23Back then, a promoter would buy Orbison for two weeks,
0:21:23 > 0:21:25and then he'd try to fill in the dates.
0:21:25 > 0:21:29We were playing all the sororities and fraternities at the colleges.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32When we first got with Roy, he was kind of shy,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34like everyone knows him to be.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38But once he got to know us, he became one of the guys.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41And Roy just loved to be around us,
0:21:41 > 0:21:45telling stories and telling jokes and being funny.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Every time we were on the road and we had a day off,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51which was rare, we'd go to a movie.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57I'd give up a good meal, even when I'm hungry, to see a movie.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I like the kind of picture that entertains without necessarily
0:22:00 > 0:22:02showing life at its rawest.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13Roy definitely loved movies.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16That would've also been where Roy heard a lot of
0:22:16 > 0:22:19more complicated music. Some of the orchestral parts.
0:22:19 > 0:22:20Some of the classic...
0:22:20 > 0:22:25People ask if Roy listened to classical music - almost never.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28And you go, where did he get some of these influences?
0:22:28 > 0:22:31And a lot of it came from the cinema. The drama of this music.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34MUSIC: Bolero by Ravel
0:22:42 > 0:22:45# What would I do?
0:22:47 > 0:22:52# If he came back
0:22:52 > 0:22:56# And wanted you?
0:22:57 > 0:23:02He's an artist whose work is focused on a kind
0:23:02 > 0:23:08of psychological dimension that's very inward-looking.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12# Running scared...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14I, for example,
0:23:14 > 0:23:21feel that it reverberates deeply in the realm of fear and dark desires.
0:23:27 > 0:23:32It was a time when teenage audiences were confronting, not just
0:23:32 > 0:23:37their own growing pains, personal tensions and sexual anxieties,
0:23:37 > 0:23:42but also broader fears about threats to the American way of life.
0:23:42 > 0:23:45# Feeling low
0:23:47 > 0:23:51# Running scared
0:23:52 > 0:23:56# You loved him so... #
0:23:57 > 0:24:00He worked at a very dark palette.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02He certainly wore dark glasses,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06black everything, and had a black guitar.
0:24:06 > 0:24:08You know.
0:24:08 > 0:24:10He was serious.
0:24:11 > 0:24:16I'm sure he was a complicated cat.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17I'm certain of that.
0:24:17 > 0:24:23So I think darkness was the underlying
0:24:23 > 0:24:25tone of all of Roy's work.
0:24:25 > 0:24:29# So sure of himself
0:24:29 > 0:24:32# His head in the air
0:24:34 > 0:24:37# While my heart was breaking
0:24:37 > 0:24:40# Which one would it be?
0:24:40 > 0:24:48# You turned around and walked away with me. #
0:24:52 > 0:24:55That big sound of mine wasn't planned, it just evolved
0:24:55 > 0:24:59from the freedom I had, because I never took music lessons, and I
0:24:59 > 0:25:02didn't know you should write a verse and then a verse and chorus.
0:25:02 > 0:25:04I just took the melody where I felt it should go.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08Structure,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10I don't think he probably knew the meaning of the word.
0:25:10 > 0:25:15What he was doing was putting down a message, he wrote so great.
0:25:15 > 0:25:19And whatever the melody and the meter was, he went with it.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23# I was all right, for a while... #
0:25:23 > 0:25:26Each of my early hits is a piece of storytelling.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30In Crying, I was dating this girl and we broke up.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32# But I saw you last night
0:25:32 > 0:25:35# You held my hand so tight... #
0:25:35 > 0:25:37I went to a barber shop to get a haircut
0:25:37 > 0:25:41and looked across the street, and there was the girl I'd split up with.
0:25:41 > 0:25:44But I just got into the car and drove on down the street.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49# That I'd been crying... #
0:25:49 > 0:25:52I had tears in my eyes, I'll go that far.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56But whether I was physically crying or just crying inside,
0:25:56 > 0:25:58it's the same thing.
0:25:59 > 0:26:02So he shows up one night and plays me Crying.
0:26:05 > 0:26:07He said, "Well, what's wrong with it?"
0:26:08 > 0:26:11I said, "There's only one thing wrong with it."
0:26:12 > 0:26:15He said, "What's that?" I said, "It's not out yet."
0:26:15 > 0:26:21# I thought that I was over you
0:26:21 > 0:26:25# But it's true, so true
0:26:25 > 0:26:30# I love you even more than I did before
0:26:30 > 0:26:35# But, darling, what can I do?
0:26:35 > 0:26:39# For you don't love me
0:26:39 > 0:26:45# And I'll always be
0:26:45 > 0:26:48# Crying
0:26:48 > 0:26:49# Over you
0:26:49 > 0:26:52# Crying
0:26:52 > 0:26:54# Over you... #
0:26:54 > 0:26:59If you listen to the phrasing of Crying, you'll hear black singers.
0:26:59 > 0:27:03He don't sing the blues, we wouldn't put the sevenths in,
0:27:03 > 0:27:05because that would be too bluesy.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11So we did it so that it was a white man's version of black.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13# Crying... #
0:27:13 > 0:27:15It's all black.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18And that was part of his popularity,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20we had the black phrasing with a white guy.
0:27:20 > 0:27:24# I love even you more than I did before
0:27:24 > 0:27:29# But, darling, what can I do? #
0:27:29 > 0:27:32Roy Orbison did not, in any way,
0:27:32 > 0:27:36invent any of his main subjects or themes.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Crying, dreaming, loneliness -
0:27:39 > 0:27:44those are deeply embedded in the American song tradition.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48So what he did is inflect them in different ways.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Crying was written at a time when people were mostly macho.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Not only did guys not talk about it, but you were not supposed to cry.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03So there I was, coming out with Crying
0:28:03 > 0:28:06and talking about feelings when the whole age was macho.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11I've always gone against the grain.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16# Crying
0:28:16 > 0:28:27# Over you. #
0:28:29 > 0:28:32He was able to touch those emotions
0:28:32 > 0:28:38that just destroyed you when he sang.
0:28:38 > 0:28:39He made you cry.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43I was one of those kids who got picked on and bullied and all that,
0:28:43 > 0:28:45and I stuck up for myself.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49But Roy's music just resonated with me.
0:28:49 > 0:28:54I was that lonely kid who, you know,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58nobody I had an interest in was interested in me.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01He speaks for me, he speaks for the lonely.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03He speaks for the heartbroken.
0:29:04 > 0:29:09He speaks for all the tragedies that happened in my life.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15# Well, I got a woman, mean as she can be
0:29:17 > 0:29:20# Sometimes I think she's almost mean as me... #
0:29:20 > 0:29:23I came to England and played with the Beatles,
0:29:23 > 0:29:24worried whether I'd go down well.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29I agreed because I would be singing ballads,
0:29:29 > 0:29:31and they were singing songs like Twist And Shout,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33so it all made sense.
0:29:36 > 0:29:41Anyway, I was making four or five times as much money as they were.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43So I gave them a break.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46He loved Britain,
0:29:46 > 0:29:51because he actually did much better in Britain than he did in America.
0:29:51 > 0:29:53He had many more hits over here.
0:29:53 > 0:29:57He looked totally different from anybody else, that's for sure.
0:29:57 > 0:30:00He never moved an inch off the spot he was standing on.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Strummed his guitar, never opened his mouth,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05and yet everybody loved him.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07He was, erm...
0:30:07 > 0:30:10Courteous, charming...
0:30:10 > 0:30:13He did not lay his troubles on other people.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19He kept them underneath and the great difference between him
0:30:19 > 0:30:25on stage and off was his intensity on stage
0:30:25 > 0:30:27and his passion,
0:30:27 > 0:30:31and it was incredible to see.
0:30:31 > 0:30:32# She gotta ruby lips
0:30:32 > 0:30:34# She got shapely hips, yeah
0:30:34 > 0:30:37# Boy, she makes old Roy-oy flip
0:30:37 > 0:30:42# I got a woman mean as she can be
0:30:43 > 0:30:47# Some-a-times I think she's almost mean as me... #
0:30:47 > 0:30:49When I went to Europe with Roy for the first time,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53we did The Beatles tour and as big as The Beatles were and as much
0:30:53 > 0:30:58pandemonium as there was, Roy would do three and four encores a night.
0:30:58 > 0:31:00And people were just screaming for more,
0:31:00 > 0:31:02and not wanting The Beatles yet,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05cos they hadn't got enough of Roy yet.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08John Lennon was getting fed up cos they couldn't get on.
0:31:08 > 0:31:10He said, "Get off, Yank!"
0:31:10 > 0:31:11HE LAUGHS
0:31:12 > 0:31:16Roy had carved out his own niche.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19He was a gentleman, a true gentleman,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24and people liked him for that.
0:31:24 > 0:31:25# She gotta ruby lips
0:31:25 > 0:31:26# She got shapely hips... #
0:31:26 > 0:31:32Roy was now enjoying all the rewards of his hard-earned success
0:31:32 > 0:31:35on both sides of the Atlantic.
0:31:35 > 0:31:39We knew about his family of three kids back home in Nashville,
0:31:39 > 0:31:45and his collection of antique cars, not to mention the new house.
0:31:45 > 0:31:49I have a swimming pool in the living room, a drawing room,
0:31:49 > 0:31:52and six baths and that's just for convenience
0:31:52 > 0:31:55if you're on a certain level. There are three levels. And, er...
0:31:58 > 0:32:01I have a couple of waterfalls beside the staircase that go into
0:32:01 > 0:32:06the swimming pool and this is for a pretty sound rather than for show.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08Like I say, I don't have that many guests.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14Roy was proudest of all of his beautiful wife Claudette
0:32:14 > 0:32:18and he would write his biggest hit yet about her.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25# Pretty woman walking down the street
0:32:25 > 0:32:29# Pretty woman, the kind I like to meet
0:32:29 > 0:32:31# Pretty woman
0:32:31 > 0:32:35# I don't believe you, you're not the truth,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39# No-one could look as good as you... #
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Mercy! That's my line.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50# Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
0:32:50 > 0:32:52# Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see
0:32:54 > 0:32:57# Pretty woman
0:32:57 > 0:33:00# That you look lovely as can be
0:33:00 > 0:33:04# Are you lonely just like me? #
0:33:06 > 0:33:09ROY PURRS, JOHNNY LAUGHS
0:33:12 > 0:33:16# Pretty woman, stop a while
0:33:16 > 0:33:20# Pretty woman, talk a while
0:33:20 > 0:33:23# Pretty woman, give your smile to me
0:33:27 > 0:33:28# Pretty woman... #
0:33:28 > 0:33:31But as so often with Roy, just as success or happiness
0:33:31 > 0:33:34was in reach, fate seemed ready to intervene.
0:33:36 > 0:33:43Through the mid-'60s from 1964 and '5...
0:33:43 > 0:33:46er, my dad and Claudette
0:33:46 > 0:33:49had gone through a rough period and had gotten divorced
0:33:49 > 0:33:51after Pretty Woman.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53She was having an affair with...
0:33:53 > 0:33:57He was a builder, he was, you know, worked on a building site.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01And she was having an affair with him.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04And so Roy got mad.
0:34:05 > 0:34:08She left, she walked out and left him with the children...
0:34:10 > 0:34:14..but I think he blamed himself to a certain extent about being
0:34:14 > 0:34:16away from his family so much.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23Most of the songs I write are from personal experience.
0:34:23 > 0:34:27It's Over is the sort of a thing whereby you know that a love affair
0:34:27 > 0:34:31is over before anyone actually says it's finished.
0:34:32 > 0:34:37# It breaks your heart in two
0:34:38 > 0:34:42# To know she's been untrue
0:34:43 > 0:34:47# But oh, what will you do?
0:34:49 > 0:34:51# When she says to you
0:34:51 > 0:34:54# There's someone new
0:34:54 > 0:34:58# We're through
0:34:58 > 0:35:01# We're through
0:35:01 > 0:35:05# It's over
0:35:05 > 0:35:10# It's over
0:35:10 > 0:35:14# It's over... #
0:35:18 > 0:35:21Within 18 months, Roy and Claudette had gotten back together
0:35:21 > 0:35:23and remarried.
0:35:29 > 0:35:31BIRDS CAW
0:35:36 > 0:35:39Claudette died in an accident riding behind Roy.
0:35:45 > 0:35:46I drove up to his house...
0:35:49 > 0:35:51..and the door was open,
0:35:51 > 0:35:54so I walked in and he's sitting, staring at the floor.
0:35:57 > 0:36:00And Wesley was there and his dad was there.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08And Mr Orbison said, "I'm glad you're here, Fred."
0:36:09 > 0:36:14And Roy heard him say that, and he looked up and saw me, and he
0:36:14 > 0:36:17jumped up and ran.
0:36:17 > 0:36:24Wow, toughest moment...I can ever remember, and he just kind
0:36:24 > 0:36:31of leaped on me and just started beating his fists on me and crying.
0:36:33 > 0:36:35And, erm...
0:36:35 > 0:36:40I heard Mr Orbison say, "Thank God, he's crying at last."
0:36:42 > 0:36:43And that's...
0:36:43 > 0:36:45It was...it was awful.
0:36:46 > 0:36:53It very much affected him and I think he wouldn't speak to
0:36:53 > 0:36:58those things really, other than if I were to ask him outright,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01you know, "What was my mother like?" or something.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07He would say, "Well, she was really beautiful and very sweet," you know,
0:37:07 > 0:37:10and he said, "You remind me a lot of her,
0:37:10 > 0:37:12"so it's a little hard to, erm...
0:37:15 > 0:37:18"..to talk to you about this." And, er...
0:37:22 > 0:37:28# It's too soon to know
0:37:31 > 0:37:37# If I can forget her... #
0:37:38 > 0:37:41I wanted to be able to remove myself
0:37:41 > 0:37:44and look at what had happened objectively before I quit or
0:37:44 > 0:37:47became convinced that life was not worth living.
0:37:50 > 0:37:56# And it's too soon to know... #
0:37:58 > 0:38:02After Claudette's death, he was really at a loss.
0:38:02 > 0:38:07I think he did welcome the fact that he was taken away from Tennessee
0:38:07 > 0:38:11for a while to get away while his parents looked after the kids.
0:38:14 > 0:38:18Roy left his old colleagues like Fred Foster behind as he was
0:38:18 > 0:38:22enticed to MGM by the offer of 1 million
0:38:22 > 0:38:25and a Hollywood acting career in their studios.
0:38:25 > 0:38:28GUNSHOTS
0:38:28 > 0:38:32The film he was given was rumoured to be an Elvis Presley reject.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35It was a risky venture for his first starring role.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48- FILM VOICEOVER: - Sharpshooter...vagabond...
0:38:48 > 0:38:53Roy Orbison is travellin' west with seven of his brand-new songs.
0:38:53 > 0:38:55# Pistolero
0:38:55 > 0:38:59# 5,000 pesos they put on your head... #
0:38:59 > 0:39:02I think it embarrassed him.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05I thought it was a terrible movie.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11Roy probably, after the movie he probably thought,
0:39:11 > 0:39:15"Well, now I'll go back to singing, to doing what I do best!"
0:39:16 > 0:39:20# Twinkle toes, you must dance on, girl... #
0:39:20 > 0:39:25Having failed to conquer Hollywood, Roy returned to his comfort zone,
0:39:25 > 0:39:26the London stage.
0:39:26 > 0:39:31# Yeah, twinkle toes, you must dance on, girl... #
0:39:31 > 0:39:37# If you work it right, they'll never know
0:39:37 > 0:39:38# Now go. #
0:39:44 > 0:39:49But while touring England in 1968 and escaping his problems back home,
0:39:49 > 0:39:52fate would again intervene in Roy's life.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57We were at the Birmingham Theatre doing a show.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59I was in the dressing room talking with him, and that was
0:39:59 > 0:40:03the first time that he said, "Did I ever show you my children?"
0:40:04 > 0:40:07And he got his billfold out and he had all these
0:40:07 > 0:40:09pictures of his boys in there
0:40:09 > 0:40:11and also a picture of his house,
0:40:11 > 0:40:15and he said to me, "You know what's good about this house, Terry?"
0:40:15 > 0:40:16And I says, "What?"
0:40:16 > 0:40:20He says, "It's virtually fireproof."
0:40:21 > 0:40:26And he actually said those words to me, I'm not making that up.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28But as we were speaking,
0:40:28 > 0:40:33in Tennessee it was two o'clock or thereabouts in the afternoon,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35and the house was burning.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39As we were speaking.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41Very sad.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47'I had reasoned that if you take all that is good in life,
0:40:47 > 0:40:49'you must accept tragedy if it comes along.
0:40:51 > 0:40:54'It was a dark period.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56'All I was doing was surviving.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59'I was trying to work my way out of the turmoil.'
0:41:00 > 0:41:03It hit him pretty hard. That was his two boys, you know?
0:41:03 > 0:41:08Bad. And, um... Really bad.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13'Your own life can't stop.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16'You can only go on doing the things you did before
0:41:16 > 0:41:20'and learn to live with the memories.'
0:41:20 > 0:41:23There is a love of God, there is a love of woman,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26there is a love of children, there is a love of music.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31I think the love of music was Roy's first real love.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38And so, instead of turning to someone to get you through it,
0:41:38 > 0:41:40he turned to music.
0:41:40 > 0:41:45# I'm cold inside
0:41:45 > 0:41:48# The day just died
0:41:48 > 0:41:54# The night has just begun... #
0:41:54 > 0:41:59In 1969, my dad went to the studio
0:41:59 > 0:42:02to work through and help him deal
0:42:02 > 0:42:05with the pain of losing Roy Dewayne and Tony.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09# ..The rising sun
0:42:10 > 0:42:17# I run with the lonely ones... #
0:42:17 > 0:42:22One of the only songs that really has my dad's heart on his sleeve,
0:42:22 > 0:42:28and he talks about being one of the lonely ones and it's quite sad.
0:42:28 > 0:42:29And, um, you know,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32that probably was not released
0:42:32 > 0:42:34because of the sensitivity.
0:42:34 > 0:42:38You can see a glimpse of the tragedies there.
0:42:39 > 0:42:43'So, I was in this dark place when I met Barbara,
0:42:43 > 0:42:47'and she said she'd never heard of me and I didn't believe that.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50'I didn't know what to make of this young girl, but anyway,
0:42:50 > 0:42:53'we started a courtship over the phone,
0:42:53 > 0:42:58'and she was very sweet and she said she missed me and this and that.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02'So, I flew to her native Germany and met her parents,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05'and then we were married in 1969.'
0:43:05 > 0:43:09By the time we got married, all that was important
0:43:09 > 0:43:12was to have a great relationship
0:43:12 > 0:43:15and to live life and to sort of,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17like, mend, you know,
0:43:17 > 0:43:22those incredibly painful times and to really enjoy life.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27She was there with him, she was willing to, um, you know,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29dwell in the darkness.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32Her role was just as his only friend.
0:43:33 > 0:43:37His only friend, the only one that he let into his life.
0:43:37 > 0:43:43We had Roy Kelton Jr, who was born in 1970, then Alex in '74,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46then we had Wesley from the marriage with Claudette.
0:43:47 > 0:43:52If you would have seen Roy with the kids, you would have never
0:43:52 > 0:43:56suspected that he had lost two kids in a house fire.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00My mom had a real gusto for life,
0:44:00 > 0:44:04and while being respectful of losing Claudette
0:44:04 > 0:44:06and Roy Dewayne and Tony,
0:44:06 > 0:44:10she had a way about her that wouldn't allow any complete
0:44:10 > 0:44:14stopping of life because these tragic things had happened.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18She had a wonder built into her and she wanted to go
0:44:18 > 0:44:23and experience life and she wanted to take my dad with her.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26I didn't think he would ever come back, I thought
0:44:26 > 0:44:28that would finish him,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32having lost Claudette and having lost now two of his children.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34And I really thought that he would not come back
0:44:34 > 0:44:37to England again to tour.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# I still can see her smile... #
0:44:40 > 0:44:44'In the '70s, I got to the point where I just didn't want to go on.
0:44:44 > 0:44:50'You begin another tour, you get a bit ill and a bit confused,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53'and finally you couldn't see the point in touring or not touring.'
0:44:56 > 0:45:00In the States, he had more or less been written off,
0:45:00 > 0:45:04but over here in England, people were there
0:45:04 > 0:45:06to listen to him.
0:45:06 > 0:45:09Batley Variety Club, they would just book him
0:45:09 > 0:45:11and book him every year, they wanted him there.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13It was Roy!
0:45:13 > 0:45:19It's my very great pleasure and privilege to present Roy Orbison!
0:45:23 > 0:45:26Hey, excuse me, Mr Orpington?
0:45:26 > 0:45:31- Yes?- Why do you wear your sunglasses when it's not sunny?
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Same reason you wear your hat when it's not raining.
0:45:34 > 0:45:37LAUGHTER
0:45:38 > 0:45:43# Oh, beautiful Lana, I told my mama
0:45:43 > 0:45:48# And my dad, what I had
0:45:48 > 0:45:52# Was the sweetest and the neatest
0:45:52 > 0:45:57# Little girl in the world... #
0:45:57 > 0:46:02It was during this directionless period that Roy's life
0:46:02 > 0:46:05was interrupted by a news story.
0:46:11 > 0:46:15'At a point between Brentford and Zion Lane station,
0:46:15 > 0:46:18'Michelle was thrown out of the speeding train
0:46:18 > 0:46:22'and lay beside the line unconscious and undiscovered for 13 hours
0:46:22 > 0:46:26'throughout the bitter cold of a March night.'
0:46:27 > 0:46:31# Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
0:46:31 > 0:46:34# Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see... #
0:46:34 > 0:46:36'For the past ten days,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39'Michelle has lain in a coma at this West London hospital,
0:46:39 > 0:46:42'her room alive with the songs of her idol, Roy Orbison,
0:46:42 > 0:46:45'in the hope that they will revive her.
0:46:45 > 0:46:47'And this afternoon,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49'Michelle's family broke their bedside vigil to receive
0:46:49 > 0:46:53'a get well message specially recorded by the American singer.'
0:46:53 > 0:46:57'Dear Michelle, this is Roy Orbison.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02'I would very much like to wish you all the very best for the future.
0:47:04 > 0:47:06'Health, wealth and happiness, OK?'
0:47:06 > 0:47:08Well, on the tape, he'd always promised that
0:47:08 > 0:47:11when I came out of the coma, I would be able to go backstage
0:47:11 > 0:47:13and meet him at one of his concerts.
0:47:14 > 0:47:18Roy Orbison came to my house in a Daimler and when he drew up,
0:47:18 > 0:47:20I just looked out of the window
0:47:20 > 0:47:22and I was absolutely dumbfounded, really.
0:47:22 > 0:47:24But it was lovely to see him,
0:47:24 > 0:47:27he came into my house and we had a nice cup of tea,
0:47:27 > 0:47:29then we went up to the London studios
0:47:29 > 0:47:32and he actually picked me up outside the radio studios and gave me
0:47:32 > 0:47:35a kiss, which is unbelievable
0:47:35 > 0:47:40and I'll never forget that for the rest of my life. It was just so...
0:47:40 > 0:47:44I don't know, life-changing, I suppose.
0:47:44 > 0:47:49Roy's music didn't just bring about a change in Michelle's life.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51After almost a decade in the wilderness,
0:47:51 > 0:47:56it continued the revival of his own stagnating career.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01A new generation of American artists were discovering Roy
0:48:01 > 0:48:05and carrying his '60s hits back into the charts.
0:48:05 > 0:48:12# When you sleep all day and the catfish play on Blue Bayou... #
0:48:14 > 0:48:23# I'm going back someday, come what may, to Blue Bayou
0:48:25 > 0:48:27# Where the folks are fine
0:48:27 > 0:48:33# And the world is mine on Blue Bayou... #
0:48:35 > 0:48:39'I think the first one to start my revival was Linda Ronstadt.
0:48:39 > 0:48:42'I had sold about a million of that song,
0:48:42 > 0:48:46'but she sold four or five million albums.
0:48:46 > 0:48:49'And that made me feel very now!'
0:48:50 > 0:48:56# Maybe I'll feel better again on Blue Bayou... #
0:48:56 > 0:48:59He had so much admiration from people,
0:48:59 > 0:49:04fans that didn't even know that that was his music.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07I had a whole generation of people that I would meet kids
0:49:07 > 0:49:09and they would say, "Your dad wrote that Van Halen song?"
0:49:09 > 0:49:14# Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
0:49:14 > 0:49:18# Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see
0:49:18 > 0:49:20# Pretty woman
0:49:20 > 0:49:25# Oh, you look lovely as can be
0:49:25 > 0:49:30# Are you lonely just like me?
0:49:30 > 0:49:33# Rarr! #
0:49:36 > 0:49:39But the most unlikely landmark in Roy's career revival
0:49:39 > 0:49:42came from a disturbing and controversial film noir.
0:49:42 > 0:49:49When David Lynch used Roy Orbison's In Dreams in his film
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Blue Velvet, it was done in a very unexpected
0:49:53 > 0:49:59and unusual way to use it, which is why, I think, it is so memorable.
0:49:59 > 0:50:03It's not a predictable context to use the song.
0:50:03 > 0:50:07# I close my eyes
0:50:08 > 0:50:10# Then I drift away
0:50:12 > 0:50:16# Into the magic night
0:50:17 > 0:50:20# I softly say
0:50:21 > 0:50:24# A silent prayer
0:50:25 > 0:50:29# Like dreamers do
0:50:30 > 0:50:33# Then I fall asleep
0:50:33 > 0:50:37# To dream my dreams of you
0:50:40 > 0:50:42# In dreams I walk... #
0:50:42 > 0:50:46'It was like everyone was starting up my career without me.
0:50:46 > 0:50:50'And my life again climbed mountains.'
0:50:50 > 0:50:55# In dreams I talk to you... #
0:50:55 > 0:50:58'I suppose I have a feeling for the aristocratic way of life.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01'And to have been in Berlin or Paris in the '20s
0:51:01 > 0:51:04'would have been my cup of tea.'
0:51:04 > 0:51:06HE KNOCKS AT THE DOOR
0:51:06 > 0:51:10He had started playing guitar for hours a day
0:51:10 > 0:51:13and just kind of strumming and listening to the tone
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and working on his approach
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and what the new Roy Orbison was going to be,
0:51:18 > 0:51:20and lucky for all of us,
0:51:20 > 0:51:23the new Roy Orbison wasn't too far off the original Roy Orbison.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27The competitive edge never went away.
0:51:29 > 0:51:34Suddenly, my dad found himself surrounded by a galaxy of stars,
0:51:34 > 0:51:37competing to help him celebrate his past.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41A Black & White Night was a live show
0:51:41 > 0:51:44filmed as a testament to Roy's greatest hits.
0:51:44 > 0:51:51# Le-Leah, Leah
0:51:54 > 0:51:57# Le-Leah... #
0:51:57 > 0:52:00Everybody was united behind the idea of, you know,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03we're just here for Roy, this is about, we are putting Roy
0:52:03 > 0:52:06out front, we are all going to stay in the back.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10None of us knew who we were working for, you see?
0:52:10 > 0:52:13We just showed up for Roy!
0:52:13 > 0:52:17# Oh, how long must I dream? #
0:52:19 > 0:52:22And we had, I think, one rehearsal in the afternoon,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25or something like that, too!
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Yeah, I mean, where we just did it was, like...
0:52:27 > 0:52:29- Oh, this? - Not this, this is Blue Bayou,
0:52:29 > 0:52:31this is coming up to the record.
0:52:31 > 0:52:34But certainly, for all of us that were on that show,
0:52:34 > 0:52:37he was like a cowboy hero.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41# I gotta go diving in the bay
0:52:41 > 0:52:47# Gotta get a lot of oysters, find some pearls today
0:52:47 > 0:52:51# To make a pretty necklace for Leah
0:52:52 > 0:52:56# Le-ee-ah... #
0:52:56 > 0:53:00'There was some fear involved, because there was a legend in
0:53:00 > 0:53:05'the background, haunting me, and no way would I be able to live up to it.
0:53:05 > 0:53:08'And then, I realised it didn't matter.
0:53:08 > 0:53:12'What mattered was jumping in with both feet and being committed.'
0:53:12 > 0:53:19# Le-Leah, Leah
0:53:21 > 0:53:26# Here I go
0:53:27 > 0:53:32# Back to sleep and in my dreams, I'll dream
0:53:32 > 0:53:40# With Leah, Leah, Leah. #
0:53:43 > 0:53:47'I have been taken aback by the way things are going.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51'It's very nice to be wanted again, but I still can't quite believe it.'
0:53:53 > 0:53:56There was a sense, I have to say, that he had
0:53:56 > 0:54:01had at least one heart attack at the time and he was frail,
0:54:01 > 0:54:04you could feel it in his handshake, not frail,
0:54:04 > 0:54:07but you could feel the strength in his hand, like...
0:54:07 > 0:54:12Wow, he's, you know, something being pulled out of him, or something.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16I think he had settled for, maybe this is the end of it,
0:54:16 > 0:54:19you know, that's my big-time stuff.
0:54:19 > 0:54:21But... I think...
0:54:21 > 0:54:25I sort of nudged him a lot, you know,
0:54:25 > 0:54:28to remind him how great he was.
0:54:28 > 0:54:30# I was all right... #
0:54:30 > 0:54:33'It's the life of rock and roll that takes its toll.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37'Always travelling and playing and then trying to rest.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40'I could alter my lifestyle and stay home for a few years,
0:54:40 > 0:54:43'but I've never been tempted to.
0:54:43 > 0:54:46'Whatever drove me to it in the first place is still burning
0:54:46 > 0:54:51'away in there, somewhere. It's like the devil's chasing me around.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54'I mean, what kind of song can I write that would equal Crying?
0:54:56 > 0:54:59'It has to do with my being as credible
0:54:59 > 0:55:01'and viable today as when I started.'
0:55:01 > 0:55:04# Crying over you... #
0:55:06 > 0:55:10I wanted the good old-fashioned Roy Orbison again.
0:55:10 > 0:55:12The great Roy Orbison.
0:55:12 > 0:55:16So, I managed to coax him into singing like he did
0:55:16 > 0:55:19when he did some of those great ones.
0:55:19 > 0:55:26# It hurts like never before
0:55:26 > 0:55:29# You're not alone
0:55:29 > 0:55:31# Any more... #
0:55:31 > 0:55:34What happened about the start of the Travelling Wilburys,
0:55:34 > 0:55:36I was recording George's album, Cloud Nine...
0:55:39 > 0:55:42..and he said, "You know what? Me and you should have a group."
0:55:42 > 0:55:44And I said, "Well, can we have Roy Orbison, then?"
0:55:44 > 0:55:46He said, "Yeah, I love Roy."
0:55:46 > 0:55:49And we both liked Tom, he said, "We'll have Tom Petty."
0:55:49 > 0:55:51And Bob Dylan.
0:55:51 > 0:55:55And of course, we asked them all, they all said yes, immediately!
0:55:55 > 0:55:58'We didn't ask any record companies or managers,
0:55:58 > 0:56:01'we just went ahead and did it, kept it secret.
0:56:01 > 0:56:04'And when we finally mentioned it, one executive said,
0:56:04 > 0:56:09' "I'm not going to stand in the way of history," and hung up the phone.'
0:56:09 > 0:56:13It was amazing, the camaraderie with the Wilburys.
0:56:13 > 0:56:16He would come home and say, "Look what Jeff did on this!"
0:56:16 > 0:56:19You know, he was having so much fun.
0:56:19 > 0:56:23She's dressed to kill... Yeah, that's good.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25- She give me a thrill... - She had a car...
0:56:25 > 0:56:28- Oh, because she was long and tall... - Or short and fat!
0:56:28 > 0:56:33So, George had started Handle With Care on the Wilburys album,
0:56:33 > 0:56:38and that's the first one we recorded, in Bob Dylan's garage.
0:56:38 > 0:56:43Like you would, you know! The bridge was written for Roy.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46You know, that... # I'm so tired of being lonely... #
0:56:46 > 0:56:51# I'm so tired of being lonely
0:56:51 > 0:56:54# I still have some love to give
0:56:54 > 0:57:00# Won't you show me that you really care? #
0:57:02 > 0:57:04For the first time in 30 years,
0:57:04 > 0:57:08my father was no longer the frontman, alone in the spotlight.
0:57:08 > 0:57:10He was now an integrated member of a band,
0:57:10 > 0:57:14as the Wilburys carried him back to the top of the charts.
0:57:15 > 0:57:18# And dream on
0:57:19 > 0:57:24# I've been uptight and made a mess
0:57:24 > 0:57:28# But I'll clean it up myself, I guess
0:57:28 > 0:57:32# Oh, the sweet smell of success
0:57:32 > 0:57:36# Handle me with care. #
0:57:36 > 0:57:40'When I started, rock and roll was not part of our culture.
0:57:40 > 0:57:43'It wasn't acceptable as an art form.
0:57:43 > 0:57:47'But there again, had I seen any limitations back in the '50s,
0:57:47 > 0:57:49'like, "You are only as hot as your latest record,"
0:57:49 > 0:57:53'had I listened to any of that, I might have cut the dream short.
0:57:58 > 0:58:01'You set out to beat the world and you get beat up a little.
0:58:01 > 0:58:06'I knocked the tops off mountains, but I also filled in the valleys.
0:58:07 > 0:58:13'I never forgot I was a working man's son from West Texas.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16'I was lucky to hang onto my innocence.
0:58:17 > 0:58:21'Somewhere in the history of music, whether in rockabilly,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24'pop or rock and roll, I would like to be remembered.'
0:58:26 > 0:58:30# Oh, oh, oh, oh, ah
0:58:30 > 0:58:33# Only the lonely
0:58:34 > 0:58:37# Only the lonely
0:58:38 > 0:58:40# Only the lonely
0:58:40 > 0:58:42# Dum, dum, dum, dummy-doo-wah
0:58:42 > 0:58:46# Know the heartaches I've been through
0:58:46 > 0:58:49# Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
0:58:49 > 0:58:51# Only the lonely
0:58:51 > 0:58:53# Dum, dum, dum, dummy-doo-wah
0:58:53 > 0:58:56# Know I cry and cry for you
0:58:56 > 0:58:59# Dum, dum, dum, dummy-doo-wah
0:58:59 > 0:59:02# And maybe tomorrow
0:59:04 > 0:59:08# A new romance
0:59:08 > 0:59:11# No more sorrow
0:59:11 > 0:59:14# But that's the chance... #