Everybody from Freddie Mercury to the Boss, on the edges of their seats listening to this micro-epic over the last 55 years – knowing full well the outcome, because they’ve heard it countless times. In the middle of the night – as Springsteen once put it, “best with the lights turned off” – relating to a saga of insecurities as if the singer could read their minds, their memories.
This atmosphere of tension building and building, voice climbing into the stratosphere with the payoff. Whammo! And then silence; perhaps the crackle of vinyl. It’s one thing to doubt yourself, another to doubt her.
I think this recording used one, uncut vocal performance. There is only one Roy Orbison.
