"Oh, Pretty Woman"

Roy Orbison singing
"Oh, Pretty Woman" (1990)

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

Pretty Woman
Film Poster (1990)

Roy Orbison singing
"Oh, Pretty Woman" (1964)

"Pretty Woman"
Album (1990)

Preface: For Song #39, I've selected Roy Orbison singing "Oh, Pretty Woman" (1964), from the film Pretty Woman (1990) starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The song was written by Roy Orbison and Bill Dees. It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 from September 26, 1964, the second and final single by Orbison to top the US charts. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart (for a total of three weeks). Within months of its release (October 1964), the single was certified gold by the RIAA. At the year's end, Billboard ranked it the number four song of 1964. The film received Academy Award nomination on Best Actress for Julia Roberts' performance, which catapulted her to superstardom. The film grossed US $463.4 million worldwide (on $17 million budget) and was the fourth-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide.
AFI's 100 Years... 100 songs (2004) didn't rank "Pretty Woman" among its top 100 songs.

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1]
Pretty woman, walking down the street
Pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet
Pretty woman, I don't believe you
You're not the truth
No one could look as good as you
Mercy!

[Verse 2]
Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see
Pretty woman, that you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me?
Rwar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r

[Middle-Eight]
Pretty woman, stop a while
Pretty woman, talk a while
Pretty woman, give your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me
'Cause I need you, I'll treat you right
Come with me, baby, be mine tonight

[Verse 3]
Pretty woman, don't walk on by
Pretty woman, don't make me cry
Pretty woman, don't walk away, hey

[Outro]
Okay
If that's the way it must be, okay
I guess I'll go on home, it's late
There'll be tomorrow night, but wait
What do I see?
Is she walking back to me?
Yeah, she's walking back to me
Oh, oh, pretty woman

© Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com
July 4, 2023