23 October 1964
Yes, that’s what it’s called, although the ‘oh’ doesn’t show up until the last line. Before that, however, ‘Oh, Pretty Woman’ gives us one of the most sensational openings of any hit single: strutting drumbeat; sashaying guitar. Familiarity may have you overlook it, but I defy you not to be swept up in its giddy swagger.
‘Giddy’ isn’t a word that comes to mind with Roy Orbison, the voice of electrified heartache. Here, though, he’s positively playful and wears it well: “Mercy!” and that feline growl are themselves brilliant pop moments. If she’s strutting her stuff, he’s got his ‘A’ game out too.
Alas, the raincloud is never far from Roy’s picnic, and to be honest that’s how we like it. The pretty woman here is less a sex object than a pretext for the inevitable Orbison heartbreak and the sheet lightning of that magical voice. In that light, the dreary and needy mid-section serves its diegetic purpose, even if “pretty woman yeah yeah yeah” is just placeholder text. Anyway, now she’s strutting and sashaying away to shop elsewhere, leaving a rejected and dejected Roy looking into his drink. (To be honest, he saw it coming when wondering if she was “lonely just like me”. That’s loser talk, Roy! Get your game face on!) So ends another Roy tale of woe from the trenches of romance. No flowers, please.
But wait!
Even when you know it’s coming, you can hardly restrain your surprise and glee. That strutting drumbeat again. That sashaying guitar again. “Is she walking back to me?” ventures Roy. She is! Okay, we know that Roy-world will eventually revert to the norm and he’ll end up under the combine harvester of love again; maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning, maybe in a month or year, but it’s on the way. No matter. This win, however fleeting, sets us up for that thundering, triumphant ending. May we all get one such victory as magical as this record.
