ROY ORBISON / DON McLEAN – Crying

“Crying” is a song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson for Orbison’s third studio album of the same name (1962). Released in 1961, it was a number 2 hit in the US for Orbison and was covered in 1980 by Don McLean, whose version went to number 1 in the UK.

The true greatness of the saints consists in that incomparable power of defeating the Fear of Ridicule. We cannot weep without shame; they invoked the “gift of tears.” A preoccupation with honor in our “dryness” immobilizes us into the spectators of our bitter and repressed infinity, our streams that do not flow. Yet the eyes’ function is not to see but to weep; and really to see we must close them: that is the condition of ecstasy, of the one revealing vision, whereas perception is exhausted in the horror of the déjà vu of an irreparable recognition scene which occurred at the beginning…“

CIORAN,

A Short History of Decay

Dave Marsh calls the song a “rock-bolero” with “blaring strings, hammered tympani, a ghostly chorus, the gentle strum of a guitar, [and] a hint of marimba”. Billboard observes an “expressive reading” on the “country-flavored ballad.” The personnel on the original recording included Orbison session regulars Bob Moore on bass; Floyd Cramer on piano; Buddy Harman on drums; and Boudleaux Bryant, Harold Bradley, and Scotty Moore on guitar.

I was alright for a while, I could smile for a while Then I saw you last night, you held my hand so tight When you stopped to say, “Hello” You wished me well, you couldn’t tell

That I’d been crying over you Crying over you then you said, “So long” Left me standing all alone Alone and crying

Crying, crying, crying It’s hard to understand That the touch of your hand Can start me crying

I thought that I was over you But it’s true, so true I love you even more than I did before But darling what can I do? For you don’t love me and I’ll always be

Crying over you Crying over you Yes, now you’re gone And from this moment on I’ll be crying, crying, crying, crying, Crying, crying, over you