Roy Orbison: You Got It

"You Got It" is a song from Roy Orbison's album, Mystery Girl(1989). The song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the adult contemporary chart, returning Orbison to the Top 10 for the first time in 25 years. It also hit number three on the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1989. This was a few months after Orbison's death of a heart attack on December 6, 1988, at the age of 52. While "You Got It" was Orbison's last hit single in the United States, the single, "I Drove All Night", made the UK Top 5 later in 1992. In addition, it was his only solo top ten hit on the Hot Country Songs charts, peaking at #7. Although it is an Orbison solo single, Orbison's fellow Traveling Wilburys bandmates, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, co-wrote the song and played instruments on the record.


In the U.S., the song became a hit again in 1995 for Bonnie Raitt, who recorded a version for the soundtrack of the film Boys on the Side. It peaked at number 34 on the Hot 100. Whoopi Goldberg also sang the song for the film. South African singer Ray Dylan released a version of the song on his album "Goeie Ou Country".

Orbison gave his only public rendition of the hit at the Diamond Awards Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, a few days before his death. This footage was incorporated into the song's music video.

The song's refrain "Anything you want, you got it, anything you need, you got it, anything at all, you got it" is used in the Die Antwoord song "Ugly Boy."


Facts about Roy Orbison:
  • Many people assumed Roy was going blind, but he was anything but. he began wearing his trademark dark glasses in 1963, just before a British tour with The Beatles.
  • Roy died of heart failure at his mother's house in Hendersonville, TN on December 6th, 1988. He was visiting family for the holidays while on break from the road.
  • He was a huge influence on many artists, including John Lennon, Mick Jagger, and Tom Petty.
  • His wife was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1966. Two years later, two of his sons died in a fire.
  • Elvis Presley and The Beatles both opened shows for Orbison early in their careers.
  • He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
  • Along with Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, and George Harrison, Orbison was a member of The Traveling Wilburys.
  • Roy's first American hit single was recorded in 1956 for Sam Philips' Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. Entitled "Ooby Dooby," it eventually made it into the Top 60 in 1956.
  • Orbison's hair was never naturally black. He merely dyed it that color to fit into his "Man In Black" image. Roy's hair was actually dark brown.
  • Roy Orbison was a keen painter and made model aircraft to competition level. One of the last things he did on the day he died was fly his model airplanes.
  • Music scholars have suggested that Orbison had a three- or four-octave range and his powerful, impassioned voice earned him the sobriquet "the Caruso of Rock." In fact it is claimed that Orbison and Enrico Caruso were the only 20th century tenors capable of hitting E over high C.


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