Pick 3 from Roy Orbison  – this is tough for me since he is my ALL TIME FAVORITE singer!  No questions!  No hesitation! (Feel free to add your two cents.)

“Running Scared”

The casual fan may think of Roy as the master of ‘love-lost’ ballads, but my first pick, and one of my favorite Roy songs, details how Roy was the big winner in love… RUNNING SCARED. (Roy also wins the girl in “Pretty Woman”.)

I think this song is great as it builds into an enormous crescendo and then “You turned around and walked away with me.” Unbelievable story line, incredible vocals, really remarkable back-up vocals and a bass beat you can’t forget. Roy used to end his concerts with this song because he could leave the stage to that driving beat. Simply fantastic.

“Crying”

My second pick is CRYING. I picked this song simply because I think this is Roy’s best vocal performance ever and the song itself is truly outstanding. Plus, of course, who can forget the eighth-grade make-out parties where this song provided the “slow dance” opportunity to do a whole bunch of first-time stuff with your first-time steady?

“You Got It”

My third pick is YOU GOT IT.  Thank you Jeff Lynne for leading Roy back to the recording studio and giving us this key step in Roy’s resurgence in 1987.

This song, along with King of Hearts, Mystery Girl and his work with The Traveling Wilburys put the world on notice that Roy was back, better than ever. And the entire music community eagerly welcomed him with open arms!

Roy died on December 6, 1988… as Michael Jackson said in his song, Gone Too Soon!  What 3 would you pick from Roy?