"Claudette" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Everly Brothers | ||||
B-side | "All I Have to Do is Dream" | |||
Published | March 7, 1958 | |||
Released | April 1958 | |||
Recorded | March 6, 1958 | |||
Studio | RCA Studios, Nashville | |||
Genre | Rock and roll, rockabilly | |||
Length | 2:12 | |||
Label | Cadence | |||
Songwriter(s) | Roy Orbison | |||
Producer(s) | Archie Bleyer | |||
The Everly Brothers singles chronology | ||||
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"Claudette" is a 1958 song which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart that year in a recording by the Everly Brothers. [1] It was the first notable success as a songwriter for Roy Orbison, who named it after his first wife. Orbison also recorded his own version of the song. [2] [3] Although originally released as the B-side to the Everly Brothers' number 1 hit "All I Have to Do is Dream", their recording of "Claudette" reached number 30 in its own right, and the two songs were jointly listed at number 1 in the UK. [1] [4]
The song "Claudette" was written by Roy Orbison in the early days of his career, prior to him achieving fame as a singer. Written about his wife of the same name, whom he had married the previous year, the song was recorded by Orbison but unreleased. [5] He cut a demo version at the Sun Studio in Memphis on January 10, 1958, accompanying himself on guitar, in addition to another unreleased version with drums. [6]
Orbison would later record two versions of the song for commercial release: firstly, in a version included on his 1965 MGM album There is Only One Roy Orbison, and then in 1986 for In Dreams: The Greatest Hits , an album composed mostly of re-recordings of his hit songs. [5] [6] "Claudette" was also included as part of his set for Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night , a Cinemax television special filmed on September 30, 1987, at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles and first broadcast on January 3, 1988. [7] The song was not included in the broadcast due to time constraints, but was on a 1999 re-issue of A Black & White Night Live , an album version of the show. [6]
According to Phil Everly, when the brothers were in Chicago, they asked Orbison if he had a song for them, and he gave them "Claudette". [8] It was recorded by the Everly Brothers on March 6, 1958, at RCA Studios in Nashville, with the backing conducted by Archie Bleyer. [8] [9] [10] The song was originally published by Orbison himself on March 7, 1958, and then by Acuff Rose Music on April 29 that year. [7] Orbison used the royalties from the song to buy himself out of his contract with Sun Records. [11]
The Everly Brothers' manager, Wesley Rose, signed Orbison to Acuff Rose, and became his manager. [3] The song was later performed by the Everly Brothers at their September 23, 1983 concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London, a recording of which was issued on The Everly Brothers Reunion Concert album. [10] [12]
Cadence Records released the Everly Brothers' version of "Claudette" as the B-side to "All I Have to Do is Dream", a song which reached number 1 on the US Billboard chart. "Claudette" reached number 30 in its own right, however, in May 1958, and the two songs were jointly listed at number 1 in the UK's New Musical Express chart, a position the record held for seven weeks, starting in July that year. [1] [4] [13] The Record Mirror also listed both titles at number 1 together, although Melody Maker listed "All I Have to Do is Dream" on its own; [12] [14] Disc magazine did not list "Claudette" at number 1 in its Top Twenty, but did show both sides together at number 1 in the Juke Box Top Ten. [15]
"Claudette" was one of the few UK number 1 singles chart hits from the 1950s not to appear on the sheet music charts, which were broadcast at the time on Radio Luxembourg (the others being the "Let's Have Another Party" medley, "Rose Marie", and "Gamblin' Man"). [14]
In 1997, "Claudette" was released as the lead single from Dwight Yoakam's Under the Covers album, and it made the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. [16] Other cover versions include:
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's music is mostly in the rock music genre and his most successful periods were in the early 1960s and the late 1980s. He was nicknamed "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O". Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers projected machismo. He performed with minimal motion and in black clothes, matching his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses.
There Is Only One Roy Orbison is the seventh album recorded by Roy Orbison, and his first for MGM Records, released in July 1965. It features his studio recording of "Claudette", an Orbison-penned song which had become a hit for The Everly Brothers in 1958. Ironically, at the time he recorded the song in 1965, he had divorced his wife Claudette, who had inspired the lyrics. Orbison later re-recorded the song for In Dreams: The Greatest Hits in 1985. The single taken from the album was "Ride Away", which reached no. 25 in the US charts, no. 12 in Australia and no. 34 in the UK. Cash Box described "Ride Away" as a "rhythmic teen-angled ode about a somewhat ego-oriented lad who cuts-out on romance."
In Dreams: The Greatest Hits is a two-record album set by Roy Orbison songs released in 1987 on Virgin Records. It was produced by Orbison and Mike Utley, except for the song "In Dreams", produced by Orbison with T-Bone Burnett and film director David Lynch. All songs are re-recordings by Orbison from 1986, except "In Dreams" from April 1987.
"Only the Lonely (Know the Way I Feel)" is a 1960 song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson. Orbison's recording of the song, produced by Fred Foster for Monument Records, was the first major hit for the singer. It was described by The New York Times as expressing "a clenched, driven urgency". Released as a 45 rpm single by Monument Records in May 1960, "Only the Lonely" went to No. 2 on the United States Billboard pop music charts on 25 July 1960 (blocked by Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry") and No. 14 on the Billboard R&B charts. "Only the Lonely" reached number one in the United Kingdom, a position it achieved on 20 October 1960, staying there for two weeks (out of a total of 24 weeks spent on the UK singles chart from 28 July 1960). According to The Authorized Roy Orbison, "Only the Lonely" was the longest charting single of Orbison's career. Personnel on the original recording included Orbison's drummer Larry Parks, plus Nashville A-Team regulars Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on bass, and Hank Garland and Harold Bradley on guitars, Joe Melson and the Anita Kerr Singers on backing vocals. Drummer Buddy Harman played on the rest of the songs on the session.
"In Dreams" is a song composed and sung by singer Roy Orbison. An operatic rock ballad of lost love, it was released as a single on Monument Records in February 1963. It became the title track of the album In Dreams, released in July of the same year. The song has a unique through-composed structure in seven movements in which Orbison sings through two octaves, beyond the range of most rock singers.
"Answer Me" is a popular song, originally titled "Mütterlein", with German lyrics by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch. "Mütterlein" was published on 19 April 1952. English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman, and the song was published as "Answer Me" in New York on 13 October 1953. Contemporary recordings of the English lyric by Frankie Laine and David Whitfield both topped the UK Singles Chart in 1953.
Roy Orbison was an American singer-songwriter who found the most success in the early rock and roll era from 1956 to 1964. He later enjoyed a resurgence in the late 1980s with chart success as a member of the Traveling Wilburys and with his Mystery Girl album, which included the posthumous hit single "You Got It". At the height of his popularity, 22 of Orbison's songs placed on the US Billboard Top 40 chart, and six peaked in the top five, including two number-one hits. In the UK, Orbison scored ten top-10 hits between 1960 and 1966, including three number-one singles.
"I Believe" is a popular song written by Ervin Drake, Irvin Abraham, Jack Mendelsohn and Al Stillman in 1953. The most popular version was recorded by Italian-American singer Frankie Laine, and spent eighteen weeks at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer in 1944. He originally wrote it as a theme for his radio program. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra, and Roy Orbison.
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"All I Have to Do Is Dream" is a song made famous by the Everly Brothers, written by Boudleaux Bryant of the husband-and-wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and published in 1958. The song is ranked No. 141 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is in AABA form.
"Heartbeat" is a rockabilly song originally recorded by Bob Montgomery and credited to Norman Petty. It was recorded most famously by Buddy Holly in 1958. The B-side of the single was "Well... All Right". "Heartbeat" reached the UK top 10 twice: once in 1975 for Showaddywaddy at number seven and again in 1992 for Nick Berry, recorded as the theme to the television series Heartbeat, which reached number two.
"A Little Bitty Tear" is a song written by the American country songwriter Hank Cochran. It has been recorded by many musical acts, the first being American recording artist Burl Ives. It has since been recorded by others, including Wanda Jackson, Bing Crosby, Chet Atkins, The Shadows and Cochran himself.
"Let the Good Times Roll" is a song that was recorded by Shirley and Lee in 1956. This song was written by the duo, Shirley Goodman and Leonard Lee.
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"Oh, Pretty Woman", or simply "Pretty Woman", is a song recorded by Roy Orbison and written by Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, making it the second and final single by Orbison to reach number one in the United States. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart, where it spent three weeks at number one.
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