Roy Orbison's Oh Pretty Woman

Royal Orbison’s “Oh Pretty Woman” was released in 1964 and was one of the biggest records of that year. The song has received great recognition since including, Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Orbison’s hit record was also named one of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it was ranked #222 in Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 500 greatest songs of all time. “Oh Pretty Woman” is considered to be Roy Orbison’s last hit song and the peak of his career. Even though covers use the same lyrics, they can show variations in sound, feel and tone as a result of this a cover song could produce an entire completely different perception. A driving beat. A harsh 3/4 harmonization. Roy Orbison’s exemplary breakthrough
hit secures its classic status within the area of ten seconds, before he’s even began to sing. Orbison co-wrote oh, Pretty woman with Bill Dees in 1964. The lyrics tell the story of a man who sees a pretty woman walking by. He craves for her and wonders if, as beautiful as she is, she might be forsaken like he is. At the very last moments, she turns back and joins him. The inspiration behind the famous record came from his first wife, Claudette, after the two had separated, divorced and then reunited. He used typical instrumentation of a Epiphone Bard 12-string acoustic. Roy Orbison’s original version of “Oh Pretty Woman” appears in the 1990 film of the same name. This early performance includes a high tom, medium tom, snare drum, low tom and bass drum the— classic rock band accompaniment. From the outset, the sound of this iconic instrumentation transports the listeners back in time to the age of the ’60’s. This was a time when people were doing the “hully gully” and the “madison” to the rhythms of rock and roll artists like Roy Orbison. Orbison opens into the melody of the song at 0:42 at a steady tempo that then begins to pick up. The instruments accompaniment— heartening with rubato playing from all instruments— artistically assist the musical compliment. “Fifty years on from release, Orbison’s best-known song and defining classic still sounds fresh.” (The Telegraph) Many of the greatest “guitar heroes discovered Roy Orbison through his pioneering rock guitar solos at Sun Records Others zoned in on his songwriting or learned guitar tricks from seeing him on tour.”(Music Time).
Van Halen is an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California in 1974. The Rock band decided to take a long overdue break from each other after being on an exhausting tour. This plan soon changed when band member Eddie Van Halen suggested covering a sixties classic, Roy Orbison’s “Oh Pretty Woman”.“Orbison's lonesome moans” that turn “into hyper-sexual David Lee Roth howls” (Music Time) is a major contrast between the original and this cover. Davis Roth’s howl turns the tone of the song to be more sexual. In fact the music video of the song was so sexually explicit that it had to be banned. At 0:09 is when the dynamics of the song start to increase , the song starts real low and then at a certain point in the song, builds to a loud crescendo, with a full arrangement. The song begins with an electric guitar accompanied by a medium top hat, to really introduce the beat for the rest of the song. Just like the original the song became a sudden hit and was their highest charting single, even though Van Halen forgot a major piece of the song. The band decided to add in synth effects which gave it more of a “updated disco feel” (Classic Rock Review). The songs meaning is driven by a gradual drum beat that backs up many riff variations before settling in with a uneven riff and additional attention-grabbing rudiments and passages throughout the
song.