Album: Mystery Girl
Year: 1989
. . .
Man, life is cruel, ain’t it?
After hitting the very top of the charts with the utterly undeniable “Oh, Pretty Woman!” Roy Orbison would never ever break the U.S. top 20 again in his lifetime. That’s just how fast the pop world changed as the British invaded and bands became ascendent.
And, eventually, after 15 years of futility — fifteen non-charting albums and a couple dozen low-charting singles — he gave up the ghost, and stopped issuing albums of original music. Which, of course, was about the time his older music started getting revived: Van Halen’s cover of “Pretty Woman” in 1982 went to #12 (their highest chart position prior to you-know-what) and David Lynch’s use of “In Dreams” in Blue Velvet helped introduce Orbison’s music to a younger generation, and then Bruce Springsteen organized the concert video Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night, which came out in 1988 and did exceptionally well. The Orbisonaissance was under way!
Meanwhile, Orbison had decided to strike while the iron was hot, and started working on his first album in nearly a decade, using ELO’s Jeff Lynne as a producer, but of course, they got somewhat sidetracked by another project, The Traveling Wilburys. We’ll get to the Wilburys soon enough, but suffice it to say that when it came out in October 1988, was a huge huge deal, and put Orbison back in the public eye in an even bigger way.
Which means that the world was ready for the album that Orbison had been recording with Lynne — using Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers as the backing band — and which featured songs from Elvis Costello, collabs with Lynne & Tom Petty, and this gorgeous song, written by Bono and the Edge.
Darkness falls and she will take me by the hand
Take me to some twilight land
Where all but love is grey
Where I can’t find my way
Without her as my guide
And then, on December 6, 1988, 52-year-old Roy Orbison dropped dead from a heart attack. Because life is cruel.
Which means he missed his re-emergence into the top ten, as the very Wilburyish “You Got It” peaked at #9, and indeed was a massive hit all around the world. Now, of course, it’s possible — even probable — that his death had something to do with the high chart placing, though given the success of George Harrison’s “Got My Mind Set on You” single — the recording session for its b-side what what started the Wilburys in the first place — and subsequent successes of “I Won’t Back Down” and “Free Fallin’“, it’s equally possible that the world just loved what Jeff Lynne was doing as a producer.
Anyways, “She’s a Mystery to Me” is a deceptively simple song — just Bono on the guitar, Benmont Tench on the keyboards, Howie Epstein on the bass and Jim Keltner on the drums — that lives and dies by Orbison’s vocals. On the verses and on the pre-chorus, he’s singing at the low end of his register, sad and resigned to the situation he’s in.
Night falls, I’m cast beneath her spell
Daylight comes, our heaven turns to hell
Am I left to burn
And burn eternally?
She’s a mystery to me
But then on the chorus, he unleashes the full force of his vocal and it gorgeous beyond belief, especially as the musicians build behind him.
She’s a mystery girl
She’s a mystery girl
She’s a mystery girl
She’s a mystery girl
In the end, Orbison let’s out a couple of amazing “shhhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’s a mystery girl” taking the song right over the top.
Unlike “You Got It,” the Bono-produced “She’s A Mystery To Me” didn’t do anything on the charts, though U2 weren’t exactly wusses in the hitmaking department at the time. Perhaps more people would have bought it if they had known there wasn’t going to be any more new U2 songs for over two long years.
“She’s A Mystery To Me”
“She’s A Mystery To Me” Official Video (Directed by David Fincher)
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