Hvad var roy orbisons første nummer et hit?
Running Scared
Roy Orbison
Orbison kunne nu flytte permanent til Nashville med sin kone Claudette og sine to sønner Roy DeWayne og Anthony King. Tilbage i studiet arbejdede Orbison på en ny sang, "Running Scared", som var baseret løst på rytmen i Ravels Boléro, og som handlede om en mand, der var på udkig efter sin kærestes tidligere kæreste, som han frygtede ville forsøge at tage hende fra ham. Orbison havde problemer, da han ikke kunne ramme sangens højeste tone, uden at hans stemme gik i stykker. Han blev bakket op af et orkester i studiet, og Porter fortalte ham, at han var nødt til at synge højere end akkompagnementet, fordi orkestret ikke kunne være blødere end hans stemme. Fred Foster satte derefter Orbison i et hjørne af studiet og omgav ham med garderobestativer, der dannede en improviseret isolationskabine for at fremhæve hans stemme. Orbison var utilfreds med de to første optagelser. I den tredje opgav han imidlertid tanken om at bruge falset og sang det sidste høje "A" naturligt, hvilket overraskede alle tilstedeværende så meget, at de ledsagende musikere holdt op med at spille. På dette tredje take blev "Running Scared" færdiggjort. Fred Foster huskede senere: "Han gjorde det, og alle kiggede rundt i forbløffelse. Ingen havde hørt noget lignende før." Få uger senere nåede "Running Scared" op som nummer 1 på Billboard Hot 100-listen og nummer 9 i Storbritannien. Sammensætningen af Orbisons følgende hits afspejlede "Running Scared": en historie om en følelsesmæssigt sårbar mand, der står over for tab eller sorg, med et crescendo, der kulminerer i et overraskende højdepunkt, hvor Orbisons dynamiske stemme blev brugt.
Running Scared
Roy Orbison
Orbison was now able to move to Nashville permanently with his wife Claudette and two sons Roy DeWayne and Anthony King. Back in the studio, seeking a change from the pop sound of "Only the Lonely" and "I'm Hurtin'", Orbison worked on a new song, "Running Scared", based loosely on the rhythm of Ravel's Boléro; the song was about a man on the lookout for his girlfriend's previous boyfriend, who he feared would try to take her away. Orbison encountered difficulty when he found himself unable to hit the song's highest note without his voice breaking. He was backed by an orchestra in the studio and Porter told him he would have to sing louder than his accompaniment because the orchestra was unable to be softer than his voice. Fred Foster then put Orbison in the corner of the studio and surrounded him with coat racks forming an improvised isolation booth to emphasize his voice. Orbison was unhappy with the first two takes. In the third, however, he abandoned the idea of using falsetto and sang the final high 'A' naturally, so astonishing everyone present that the accompanying musicians stopped playing. On that third take, "Running Scared" was completed. Fred Foster later recalled, "He did it, and everybody looked around in amazement. Nobody had heard anything like it before." Just weeks later "Running Scared" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 9 in the UK. The composition of Orbison's following hits reflected "Running Scared": a story about an emotionally vulnerable man facing loss or grief, with a crescendo culminating in a surprise climax that employed Orbison's dynamic voice.
Roy Orbison