Running Scared ... Roy Orbison

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH-AafkQPEo

"Running Scared"
Single by Roy Orbison
B-side	"Love Hurts"
Released	March 1961
Format	45 RPM
Length	2:10
Label	Monument 438
Writer(s)	"Running Scared": Roy Orbison, Joe Melson "Love Hurts": Boudleaux Bryant
Producer	Fred Foster
Roy Orbison singles chronology
"I'm Hurtin'" (1960) "Running Scared" (1961) "Crying" (1961)

"Running Scared" is a 1961 American pop song written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson and sung by Orbison. An operatic rock ballad, the song was released as a 45rpm single by Monument Records in March 1961 and went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. "Running Scared" also reached #9 in the UK chart. The song was recorded as part of Roy's 1961 album "Cryin'" as the final track on the album.
Noted for being a song written without a chorus, the verse builds to a climax that, without vibrato, demonstrates the power of Orbison's clear, full voice. It is written in the bolero style; Orbison is credited with bringing this to the rock genre.
While "Running Scared" was an international hit, the B-side "Love Hurts" also picked up significant airplay in Australia. Consequently, chart figures for Australia show "Running Scared"/"Love Hurts" as a double A-side, both sides peaking at number five. This makes Orbison's recording of "Love Hurts" the first version to be a hit. "Love Hurts" later became better known in a version by rock band Nazareth, who had an international hit with it in 1975.

• Jack Scott, a Canadian born rockabilly singer from the same era, also had a minor 1962 hit with "Running Scared."
• The song was covered by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on the album Kicking Against the Pricks and by Brokeback on the album Morse Code in the Modern Age: Across the Americas.
• John Peel, the famous British BBC Radio DJ who died in 2004, listed "Running Scared" by Roy Orbison as one of the songs to be played at his memorial service.