ORBISON HAS A POSSE

Yesterday I was down at the beach catching up with fellow locals, many of which I've never run into anywhere else. Some surf, some never get in the water at all. Some live out of their car, some bus in from somewhere and then head out on that last bus run out of town, and some own their own home somewhere in the neighborhood. You know, all walks of life, and all that jazz. I don't know where they go when they leave, or where they live. It doesn't matter.

Roy Orbison on a go kart. That's right. King of the party.

One guy who is down there nearly every time I'm down there is Larry, known to many around here as "the guitar guy". Larry has been sitting on the same rock, or the bench directly across from it, for years. Decades. Playing fragments of his own songs, interspersed with breaks, sometimes listening to whatever game is on, with his transistor radio held up to his ear. When he is playing, I rarely interrupt him to exchange greetings, because Larry is a Christian, and his self penned songs are his missionary work, unintelligible as they often are. Hey, if that's his thing, who am I to interrupt? But yesterday, he stopped as I was walking by, After I apologized and said he didn't need to stop, he told me that it was okay, he was just playing "Ooby Dooby". Well, shit, I've known Larry for years and never heard him mention someone else's song. So I asked him who's version, expecting him to say Creedence's. He said "Roy Orbison's", and his tone said "of course". Oh yeah. Now I'm dumbfounded. Larry doesn't follow popular culture, or current events. What was he like when he first heard it? Was he around when it was released? He could be that old. All I know is that from here on, every time I hear the song, I'll think of Larry. And that's how that happens.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Roy Orbison - Ooby Dooby mp3 at Ace Terrier (?)
Roy Orbison - Go, Go, Go mp3 at Rocky 52
Roy Orbison - Domino mp3 at Retrolicious
Roy Orbison - Coke commercial mp3 at The Podcast Place
Bonus:
Janis Martin - Ooby Dooby mp3 at Mp3 Rockabilly