Season 282 - Men In Black

This is one of my wife's 3 favorite Cash songs, I figure someone will do at least 1 of the other 2 at some point this week, so I did this one for now.

 
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I have always had Roy Orbison up there at the top of my list of great singers, and this has been confirmed by my attempts to do this one, and a few others. Didn't he have an amazing range? For the first time ever, I have had to use a capo, to get the right compromise between reaching the notes and getting easy-ish chord changes.
(Please excuse the distant barking of Alfie, as people arrive for a party next door, in verse 2. I just didn't want to have another go).

 
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I've ended up doing a Hank Williams song that was covered by both Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison. I have to say though that my favourite version is by Jerry Lee Lewis, so I'm mixing with good company here.

 
One of my all time favorite songs. Recorded by a slew of artists, including prominently by Johnny Cash, but Del Reeves, who I'm a big fan of, did my favorite version of this.

 
In Dreams - Roy Orbison

Roy Orbison had the greatest singing voice in the history of rock n roll ... I do not :)
 
I have taken a page from Lynda's book. This is played on a tenor ukulele tune as a Baritone, DGBE.


Roy Orbison, "The Big O" Started playing in a band in high school. He realized he could make a living playing music back then. He was Influenced strongly by rockabilly and C+W music. Lefty Frizzell was a particularly strong influence and when he co-founded The Traveling Wiburies with George Harrison He adopted the name Lefty Wilbury. When he died of a heart attack at age 52 he had two albums in the Billboard's Top 5 LP list. It is said he worked himself to death.

 
Like It's Over, this is another one of Roy Orbison's broken heart songs. I was saying in the comments for York Steve's great cover of Its Over, few people can deliver a heartbreak song as well as Roy could. And blimey, when you come to try and sing his songs you realise what an awesome set of pipes the man had :D
 
I'm just a sucker for punishment...Elvis Costello recorded The Comedians on his 1984 album "Goodbye Cruel World". Several years later, when he was asked to contribute a song for Roy Orbison's "Mystery Girl" album, he rewrote it - kept the chorus, wrote a completely new set of verses, and changed the arrangement to something like "It's Over" or "In Dreams". It became a simple story of someone stuck on a ferris wheel, watching his girl run off with the fairground operator. What a heartbreaker.
Once again, I can't hope to emulate the Big O's amazing range. Having already gone up, up, and up, he puts in a sort of upward key change for the last chorus, but no, I'll stay just where I am, thanks very much.

 
Season 282. Submission 1. "Love Me Tender" (Written by Elvis Presley and Vera Matson, 1956)


This song has been recorded by Johnny Cash, among many other artists.

Starring here are Seamus (the Cairn terrier who will be 4 on Sunday) and Jax (the Dachshund/Spaniel mix, who is somewhere between 15-17).


Thank you for hosting, Keith, and your great theme!



 
I know of a song that Johnny Cash recorded years ago, but it was never released. It is probably still somewhere deep in the Columbia vaults.
If I get some time, Il see if I can learn it.
 
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