Unlocking Hidden Gems: 9 Surprising Songs Written by Roy Orbison You’ve Never Heard Of
Roy Orbison’s voice—ever heard a singer whose vocal cords seem to have a direct line to the emotional stratosphere? That’s Orbison for you. His vocal range was nothing short of celestial, prompting Dwight Yoakam to poetically dub it “the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window.” But here’s a twist: behind that soaring voice was a songwriter who crafted songs drenched in raw, aching vulnerability—a rare emotional honesty for men in the early ’60s. Beyond his tragic life story—losing his first wife and two children—Roy’s melodies didn’t just make charts; they etched themselves into the soundtrack of sadness, hope, and everything in between, influencing legends from Johnny Cash to Linda Ronstadt. So, have you ever wondered which hidden gems in music history bear Orbison’s signature hand? Let’s dive into nine songs you might not know he wrote but definitely shaped. LEARN MORE
Roy Orbison was a singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his stratospheric vocals and his ability to blend rock and roll sounds with deep vulnerability. His voice is what stands out to most listeners first—a voice that Dwight Yoakam described as “the cry of an angel falling backward through an open window.”
His songwriting was also imbued with a unique emotional rawness, and helped him stand out from other rockers at the time. Orbison “[built] a persona from song to song about himself as this suffering male character who experiences these intense emotions linked to extreme loneliness, crying, suffering, and pain, at a level of intensity that was not the norm for men at that point of time in the early ’60s,” biographer Peter Lehman wrote of the artist.
Orbison was born in Vernon, Texas on April 23, 1936, and broke out as a songwriter before releasing a number of Top 40 hits of his own in the early 1960s. However, his career stalled in the late ‘60s. During this time, he lost his first wife, Claudette, in a motorcycle accident, as well as two of his children in a house fire.
Yet by the 1980s, his songs had been covered by a number of famous artists. Some of his tracks were used in famous films, such as “In Dreams,” which was featured in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. In 1988, he joined the band Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty. Because of all this, Orbison’s career began to thrive again. He finished recording his final album, Mystery Girl, shortly before his death in 1988 at the age of 52.
Since then, Orbison’s legacy has only grown more respected. His transportive, almost mystical songs have soundtracked many a movie scene and have provided solace for the heartbroken across decades. The artist was also a skilled songwriter with a knack for weaving musically complex compositions that sounded effortlessly simple—and occasionally, he lent his skills to other artists. That was the case with the following nine songs.
- “See Ruby Fall” // Johnny Cash
- “You Tell Me” // Johnny Cash
- “You’ve Got Love” // Buddy Holly and the Crickets
- “As Long As I Can Dream” // Exposé
- “Claudette” // The Everly Brothers
- “So Long I’m Gone” // Warren Smith
- “Precious” // Arlene Harden
- “When the Blue Hour Comes” // Rodney Crowell
- “Blue Bayou” // Linda Ronstadt
“See Ruby Fall” // Johnny Cash
Music legends Johnny Cash and Roy Orbison first crossed paths when Cash was on tour with Elvis Presley. At the time, Cash suggested Orbison reach out to Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, which helped kickstart his career. The pair shared a long friendship and supported each other throughout their lives. “It was a particularly close friendship, too,” Cash said. “We became like brothers right from the start, and we stayed that way until the end.”
The pair collaborated a number of times and even lived near each other in Tennessee at one point, yet they only wrote one song together. That song was “See Ruby Fall.” The pair pulled the title from a phrase written on signs that directed visitors to an underground waterfall in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The lyrics tell the story of a woman who leaves a relationship to pursue a more thrilling life downtown. The song was released in 1969 as the first single off Cash’s 1970 album Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.
“You Tell Me” // Johnny Cash
While Cash and Orbison only wrote one song together, Orbison also penned a song specifically for his friend: the track “You Tell Me.” Written while they were both signed to Sun Records, the track was released in 1958 just after Cash left for Columbia Records. The song, which is about someone wondering why their partner left them, helped cement their friendship. Orbison, for his part, released his version of Cash’s song “You’re My Baby” in 1961.
“You’ve Got Love” // Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Buddy Holly died at just 22 in a 1959 plane crash sometimes referred to as “The Day the Music Died.” Before then, the rising star managed to record a few Orbison-penned compositions, including “You’ve Got Love,” which was released in 1957. Other songs by Orbison that Holly recorded include “A True Love Goodbye” and “An Empty Cup (And a Broken Date),” the latter of which Orbison co-wrote with Norman Petty.
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