AUDIO REVIEW: The Essential Roy Orbison

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"Only the Lonely," by Texas-born singer Roy Orbison (1936-1988), was one of the most resounding hits of 1960, arguing that compassion is best felt by those who share our experiences: "Only the lonely / Know the heartaches I've been through." The message itself dates back at least to the eighteenth-century poet Goethe's lines, "None but the lonely heart / Can know my sorrows," memorably set to music by Tchaikovsky and later recorded as a pop tune by Frank Sinatra. Unlike those downbeat versions of the same message, Orbison's spiffily bouncing melody and triumphant high notes make "Only the Lonely" into a far more upbeat celebration of enchanted co-existence. The heightened sensitivity of solitude is a benchmark of Orbison's songwriting in the tenderly wistful hits "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Running Scared," and "In Dreams." In the last song, personal loss is transfigured in imaginative visions: "I softly say / A silent prayer / Like dreamers do. / Then I fall asleep to dream / My dreams of you." Orbison braved personal tragedy in his own life, losing his first wife in a 1960s motorcycle accident, followed by a tragic fire in his family home in Tennessee, which cost the lives of two of his sons. Orbison was idolized by rock stars like George Harrison, U2's Bono, and Bob Dylan, who explained that Orbison "transcended all the genres. With Roy, you didn't know if you were listening to mariachi or opera." Indeed, his clear, fearless singing makes songs with otherwise sober messages into exalting, thrillingly special occasions.