Oh, Pretty Woman

For the film with a similar title, see Pretty Woman (movie).

"Oh, Pretty Woman" is a song which was a worldwide hit for Roy Orbison. Recorded on the Monument Records label in Nashville, Tennessee, it was written by Orbison and Bill Dees. In 1964 the song sold more records in its first ten days in release than any other 45rpm single in history.

Orbison posthumously won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his live recording of the song on his HBO television special Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. In 1999, the song was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and was named one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine named it as one of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

Content

The lyrics tell how the singer watches a pretty woman walk by. He yearns for her and wonders if, as beautiful as she is, she might be lonely like he is. At the last minute, she turns back and joins him.

Cover versions and parody

The song was covered very closely by the group, Van Halen in 1982. It was covered in ska style in 1986 by the Holy Sisters of the Gaga Dada.

In 1989, the controversial 2 Live Crew recorded a parody of the Orbison song, using the alternate title "Pretty Woman" for their album Clean As They Wanna Be. The Crew sampled the distinctive bassline from the Orbison song, but the romantic lyrics were replaced by talk about a hairy woman and her bald-headed friend and their appeal to the singer.

Orbison's publisher, Acuff-Rose Music sued 2 Live Crew on the basis that the fair use doctrine did not permit reuse of their copyrighted material for profit. The case, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided in 2 Live Crew's favor, greatly expanding the doctrine of fair use and extending its protections to parodies created for profit. It is considered a seminal fair use decision.

In feature films

The original Orbison song, "Oh Pretty Woman", also inspired the title for the 1990 feature film, Pretty Woman starring Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. The film featured the song, so it licensed the song from Orbison. However, since titles cannot be copyrighted, neither Orbison nor 2 Live Crew has any claim on the title of the film. Oddly enough, observers noted that the film's poster could become involved in another sampling issue. Since Julia Roberts' head is superimposed on an anonymous model's body, the model has the right to demand a release for reproduction along with Roberts, and Richard Gere, who is also shown.

The song was also licensed for the 2003 hit Bollywood film Kal Ho Naa Ho, a remarkable incident because the Indian film industry has traditionally not been as conscientious about copyrights and licensing as American filmmakers.

External links

• Legal analysis, including the background, comparative lyrics, and information on the anonymous model's rights.