Day 207: Roy Orbison – In Dreams
I know very little about Roy Orbison, so much so that the number one thing I could tell you about Roy Orbison is that his son Roy Orbison Jr. is an all-time guest on the yacht-based reality TV show Below Deck. I think song-wise I’ll know a whole lot more than I think I know, but I’ve never intentionally listened to him before now.
Album cover courtesy of Monument Records
Roy Orbison was a singer, songwriter and guitarist from Vernon, Texas. He got his first guitar from his father when he was seven years old and started his first band at 13, and said he knew he wanted to do it for a living when they got paid $400 to play at a school dance. He became known for being a shy, timid southern gentleman, who stood so still on stage that George Harrison compared him to marble, but somehow he still became an unexpected sex symbol of his generation.
In Dreams was released in 1963 and it was fairly successful, spending 23 weeks on the Billboard LP chart and peaking at 35. After its release, Orbison went on tour with some all-time greats after releasing the album, being invited to tour in England with the Beatles and touring in Australia, New Zealand and England with the Beach Boys after that. The year after, he went back to Australia to tour with the Rolling Stones.
It’s so easy to see why this man is held in such high regard. His voice is soft and powerful at the same time and it just hits you. The songs are lushly layered by pretty simple, and yet they’re in some sort of a sweet spot of pop perfection. I especially loved “Shahdaroba”, the Everly Brothers cover “All I Have to Do Is Dream”, and the titular track “In Dreams”, which featured heavily in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, and that has a music video that’s directed by Lynch.
Also, I love that much of the album is written with Orbison as a heartbroken lover who is yearning. I miss when men were outwardly sensitive, there’s such a strange “me man, me strong, me no like women”-culture prevailing at the moment that hearing a man singing sensitive lover boy stuff feels good. Remember when you guys were allowed to express feelings? That was nice, bring that back.
I get why people love him, he’s great. In Dreams isn’t going into any sort of regular rotation but I can see myself listening to it in the future. It’s a solid 8.5/10.