Top Ten 1963 Songs: In Dreams (#1)

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Tomorrow starts the merry, merry month of May, and I’ll jump ahead ten years to 1973. But today closes out the look at 60-year-old songs, and closing things out is my favorite from 1963. Hang on tight. #1: In Dreams - Roy Orbison I love the stuffing out of music, as you probably have surmised (given that about 90% of my discussions here are music-related), but there comes a point where you over-analyze the everloving daylights out of something. Case in point: the Picky Wedia article about this song. Let me tell you everything you need to know: Roy Orbison had a voice great enough for three people. He was also a terrific songwriter. Put those two together, and Orbison gave us one of the greatest opening lines in rock and roll history (“A candy-colored clown they call the Sandman tiptoes to my room every night, just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper ‘go to sleep, everything is all right’”) and one of his most memorable songs. If you want to read how it’s comparable to an operatic piece, go see the Wikipedia thing. Here, I’m going to tell you that this is ONE. FREAKING. GREAT. SONG. Roy Orbison died in 1988, on the heels of a comeback thanks to his part in the Traveling Wilburys. That Wilburys stuff is great, but there are people who weren’t even born when he died discovering the majesty of this man’s singing and songwriting. Why? Take a listen to this. It says more than that Picky Wedia article or anyone could ever articulate. Thank God for the greatness of Roy Orbison. Thanks for reading. In Dreams Written by Roy Orbison Recorded by Roy Orbison From In Dreams, 1963 Just before the dawn: