"Not Alone Any More" is a song by the British–American
supergroup the
Traveling Wilburys
The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ' ...
from their 1988 album ''
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1''. It was sung by
Roy Orbison and serves as his main contribution to the album. The song was written mainly by
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...
, although all five members of the Wilburys are credited as songwriters.
A longtime admirer of Orbison, Lynne wrote "Not Alone Any More" as a vehicle for the singer's operatic vocal style. The song's lyrical theme of loneliness similarly recalls Orbison's dark ballads of the early 1960s. On release, the song was much admired by music critics. With the commercial success of the Wilburys, and the recognition afforded Orbison following his death in December 1988, it marked his full return from the career downturn he had experienced since the mid 1960s.
Background
George Harrison and
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, he has cont ...
first discussed the idea for the
Traveling Wilburys
The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ' ...
in early 1987 when they were recording Harrison's album ''
Cloud Nine''. Lynne chose
Roy Orbison as a potential bandmate, while Harrison's first choice was
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
.
Later that year, Lynne began working in Los Angeles on Orbison's album ''
Mystery Girl
''Mystery Girl'' is the twenty-second album by American singer Roy Orbison. It was his last album to be recorded during his lifetime, as he completed the album in November 1988, a month before his death at the age of 52, and it was released post ...
''. As a result of this collaboration, Orbison, whom Harrison had befriended during a
1963 Beatles tour, joined Harrison, Lynne, Dylan and
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the la ...
at the April 1988 recording session for "
Handle with Care". The latter was intended as a
B-side for Harrison's next single but instead led to the formation of the Wilburys and the decision to record an album together.
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin (born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky; March 27, 1927 – July 31, 2022) was an American record executive who worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was chairman and chief ex ...
, the record company executive who encouraged Harrison to form the group, later said that, while there was mutual admiration among all the participants, "Roy Orbison was somebody they all idolized ... it was Roy who gave the project that special glow from rock 'n' roll's early formative years."
The band allocated ten days for writing and initial recording of the remaining songs for the album, due to the restrictions imposed by Dylan preparing to relaunch his live act and by Orbison's touring schedule. The songs were written quickly, with all the members as creative equals, and often working from an initial idea by one member. Lynne recalled that the writing and recording of each song was completed in a single day, which would usually end with Orbison regaling his bandmates with stories about
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
and
Sun Records
Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny ...
,
where Orbison had begun his recording career in 1956. Although he contributed the least as a writer, Orbison described the collaborative process as one in which "there was no ego involved ... everyone would be throwing something in here and something in there." His principal contribution as a singer was on "Not Alone Any More".
Harrison said that they had considerable difficulty writing a song that suited Orbison, given that his best songs from the 1960s contained unusual elements in their composition and structure. Initially, "Not Alone Any More" was "simple beyond belief", according to Lynne, and had just three chords. In its completed form, the song was written mainly by Lynne. Petty recalled in 2012: "
Not Alone Any More'was really Jeff and Roy's song. I mean, we all contributed a little bit, but in the end, they had the handle on that one ... the rest of us kind of backed off and let them go."
Composition and lyrics
The composition is in the
key of
D major
D major (or the key of D) is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor.
The D major scale is:
:
Ch ...
, with its verses using a chord pattern comprising D, B minor, F minor, G and A. In the four-
bar instrumental passage that opens the song, however, which is then repeated as a link between the first two verses, the D chord is followed by a change to C. The
time signature
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...
throughout is 4/4, played to a
moderate
Moderate is an ideological category which designates a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. A moderate is considered someone occupying any mainstream position avoiding extreme views. In American ...
beat.
The lyrics evoke the forlorn romantic style typical of Orbison's work. According to Orbison biographer
Ellis Amburn: "
Not Alone Any More'is a variation on the theme of his old songs, such as '
Blue Angel'. A sensitive lover offers a woman sympathy for her heartbreak and suffering, thinking that this will make her love him. She, however, has found herself another man, and she's no longer in need of a shoulder to cry on." In music critic Jim Beviglia's interpretation:
The lyrics are straightforward and simple, the tale of a guy whose negligence cost him true love and whose ignorance won't let him believe she might ever find someone new until it's too late. The song is framed around his remembrances of her former predictions, every one of which comes true in the worst possible way for him. 'You always said that I'd be back again,' he begins. 'That I'd come running to you in the end.' And then: 'You always said that I would know someday / Just how it feels when your love walks away.' Yet even when he admits his part in her leaving, he can't comprehend that she's gone: 'I let you down, I let you go / I lost you, how was I to know.' When the narrator admits, 'I never could see past yesterday,' in the final verse, he is at least finally seeing the error of his ways, although that can provide him no consolation.
Recording
The Traveling Wilburys recorded the basic track for "Not Alone Any More" between 7 and 16 May 1988 at a makeshift studio in
David A. Stewart
David Allan Stewart (born 9 September 1952) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for Eurythmics, his successful professional partnership with Annie Lennox. Sometimes credited as David A. Stewart, he won Best British ...
's house in Los Angeles. Set up in the kitchen, the five band members typically played acoustic guitars, accompanied by a drum machine. Orbison recorded his vocal in a room in the house allocated for the band's vocals. The group were in awe of Orbison's prowess as a singer. Lynne recalled of the sessions: "Everybody just sat there going, 'Wow, it's Roy Orbison!'... Even though he's become your pal and you're hanging out and having a laugh and going to dinner, as soon as he gets behind that
icand he's doing his business, suddenly it's shudder time." Lynne biographer
John Van der Kiste
John Van der Kiste (born 15 September 1954 in Wendover, Buckinghamshire) is a British author, son of Wing Commander Guy Van der Kiste (1912–99). He was educated at Blundell's School in Tiverton, where he briefly formed a rock band Cobweb with fe ...
describes "Not Alone Any More" as a "soaring ballad" and "a perfect showcase for Roy's unmistakable vocal".
As the group's producers, Harrison and Lynne completed the album during the second round of sessions, held at Harrison's
Friar Park
Friar Park is a Victorian neo-Gothic mansion in Henley-on-Thames, England, built in 1889. It was originally owned by eccentric lawyer Sir Frank Crisp and purchased in January 1970 by English rock musician and former Beatle George Harrison. ...
studio in Henley in England.
[ Available a]
Rock's Backpages
(subscription required). Up to this time, the two of them, and Petty also,
were unimpressed with the track; Lynne said "it was driving me nuts 'cause it wasn't really doing Roy justice." According to Lynne, he returned to the studio one night, accompanied by Harrison's engineer, Richard Dodd, and overdubbed new guitar chords played on a
Fender Telecaster
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...
.
[, event occurs between 14:50 and 15:12.] In the process, Lynne removed the previously recorded guitar parts, leaving just Orbison's vocal and the drum backing.
He later said that while the melody remained unchanged, "suddenly the tune jumped into life and Roy's singing had much more meaning to it." When the others arrived, "
hey
Hey or Hey! may refer to:
Music
* Hey (band), a Polish rock band
Albums
* ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014
* ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980
* ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
heard it as this new thing – as the same tune with different chords – and they all loved it."
According to the recording notes, Lynne added guitar, bass guitar and a backing vocal on 23 May, and tom-toms were overdubbed during a session with drummer
Jim Keltner
James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...
on 16 June.
In author
Alan Clayson
Alan Clayson (born 3 May 1951, Dover, Kent) is an English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as ...
's description, the production represented a "do-it-yourself" version of Orbison hits such as "
Running Scared" and "
It's Over", from the singer's years as a
Monument Records
Monument Records is an American record label in Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958 by Fred Foster, Buddy Deane (a prominent Baltimore disc jockey at WTTG), and business manager Jack Kirby. Buddy Deane soon left ...
artist in the early 1960s. Clayson says that, whereas those earlier recordings featured dramatic orchestral arrangements and "wailing chorale", the effect was achieved on "Not Alone Any More" through the inclusion of "chugging guitars, Jeff's one-finger, crash-diving fairground organ, some staccato sha-la-la-las and a secondary riff of unison piano and guitar". Beviglia also comments on the effectiveness of an arrangement that features "a churning
rhythm section,
ynneand Harrison's aching backing vocals, and a downward spiraling synthesizer riff that mirrors the crash and burn of the protagonist", saying that it "leaves enough space for Orbison to work his melancholy magic". Beviglia concludes of Orbison's performance on the song: "As he repeats the closing word 'anymore', drums come crashing down around him, just as the narrator's word crumbles at his feet. But Orbison keeps going higher and higher, projecting infinite sorrow and anguish."
Release and reception
''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'' was released on 18 October 1988 with "Not Alone Any More" sequenced as the final track on side one of the LP and cassette. Keen to maintain the group identity, the songs were credited to all five band members, although the allocation of each composition's publishing rights reflected its principal composer. In the case of "Not Alone Any More", the song was assigned to Lynne's publishing company, Shard End Music. When promoting the album, the band furthered the Wilburys' fictional history created by
Derek Taylor
Derek Taylor (7 May 1932 – 8 September 1997) was an English journalist, writer, publicist and record producer. He is best known for his role as press officer to the Beatles, with whom he worked in 1964 and then from 1968 to 1970, and was one ...
, and adapted into a liner note essay by
Michael Palin
Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter, and public speaker. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. Since 1980, he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Palin w ...
, whereby they were a band of musician brothers, the five sons of the philandering Charles Truscott Wilbury. Orbison adopted the pseudonym Lefty Wilbury in honour of his musical hero
Lefty Frizzell
William Orville "Lefty" Frizzell (March 31, 1928 – July 19, 1975) was an American country music singer-songwriter and honky-tonk singer.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982. Frizzell released many songs that charted ...
. He said in one interview: "Some people say Daddy was a cad and a bounder, but I remember him as a Baptist minister."
The album was a commercial and critical success, and confirmed Orbison's comeback from relative obscurity since the mid 1960s. Author Peter Lehman describes Orbison's inclusion in a band with Dylan and Harrison as arguably the "turning point" in his return to mainstream popularity. In a contemporary review for ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'',
David Wild described "Not Alone Any More" as "Totally boss" and added: "
he songis a gorgeous pop ballad on which Roy Orbison – assisted by some wonderful backing vocals from Harrison and Lynne – hurts as good as he ever has. It proves that Orbison has lost none of his tremendous vocal prowess, and makes one eager to hear Orbison's upcoming solo album."
Petty recalled that Orbison was delighted with ''Vol. 1''s reception, particularly following the news that it had been certified platinum for US sales of 1 million.
Orbison's death on 6 December, from a heart attack, created further interest in the Wilburys' album. The release of ''Mystery Girl'', led by the single "
You Got It", an Orbison–Lynne–Petty collaboration, followed in January 1989 and became Orbison's most successful album.
"Not Alone Any More" received heavy rotation on US radio, although it was not issued as a single. Writing in 2002, music critic
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
described the song as "a prototypical Orbison ballad" and a highlight of an album that "serves as a fitting final showcase for rock legend Orbison". In ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Best Albums of the Eighties" feature, the magazine's editors said: "The five half-brothers of the Wilbury family were hokey but hip, and their individual strengths complemented one another perfectly. There was Orbison (Lefty Wilbury), whose haunting, dynamic vocals are enshrined on the operatic 'Not Alone Any More,' and who reclaimed his former glory only to pass away shortly after the album became a huge hit."
Having been out of print since 1996, ''Vol. 1'' was reissued as part of the 2007 box set ''
The Traveling Wilburys Collection
''The Traveling Wilburys Collection'' is a box set compilation album by the British-American supergroup the Traveling Wilburys. It comprises the two studio albums recorded by the band in 1988 and 1990, with additional bonus tracks, and a DVD co ...
'', the vinyl release of which included alternate vocal takes of "Not Alone Any More". Reviewing the box set for ''
Uncut
Uncut may refer to:
* ''Uncut'' (film), a 1997 Canadian docudrama film by John Greyson about censorship
* ''Uncut'' (magazine), a monthly British magazine with a focus on music, which began publishing in May 1997
* '' BET: Uncut'', a Black Enter ...
'' that year, Bud Scoppa described the song as Orbison's "last rock
aria
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
" and a performance in which he "absolutely blows the roof off". In his article on the song for ''
American Songwriter
''American Songwriter'' is a bimonthly magazine covering songwriting. Established in 1984, it features interviews, songwriting tips, news, reviews and lyric contest. The magazine is based in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The ''American Songwri ...
'' in October 2015, Jim Beviglia wrote that Orbison's voice was "perhaps the
ilburys'ultimate secret weapon" and the collaboration only fully succeeded through Lynne creating "a stratospheric weeper on the level of Orbison classics like '
Crying
Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state, or pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, and even happiness. The act of crying has been defined as "a complex secr ...
' and 'It's Over'". Beviglia concluded by saying that when Orbison died at the age of 52, "he went out at the peak of his powers with 'Not Alone Anymore'" and his legacy remains "greatly
nhancedby this tear-stained triumph".
Jeff Burger, writing for ''
The Morton Report'' in 2016, highlighted the song and "Handle with Care" as ''Vol. 1''s fun-filled "ear candy" that "profit from Orbison's inimitable soaring vocals, Harrison's trademark guitar, and Lynne's production". Petty credited Lynne with making Orbison "feel comfortable with recording again" through their collaborations on ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'' and ''Mystery Girl'', and in doing so, he "completely revitalised
rbison'scareer". Petty said of "Not Alone Any More": "
ynnecompletely re-wrote the song around this lead vocal that was down there. And wrote this incredible song, you know, and it's now one of my favorite ones on the album. And there's nobody
lse LSE may refer to:
Computing
* LSE (programming language), a computer programming language
* LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology
* Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...
that could do that."
In September 2016,
Legacy Recordings included both "Handle with Care" and "Not Alone Any More" on its Orbison compilation album ''The Ultimate Collection''. Guitarist
Adrian Belew
Robert Steven "Adrian" Belew (born December 23, 1949) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist primarily known as a guitarist and singer, he is noted for his unusual and impressionistic approach to ...
covered "Not Alone Any More" on his 1990 album ''
Young Lions''.
In 2009,
Lucy Walsh
Lucy Marie Walsh (born December 3, 1982) is an American actress, singer, songwriter, and pianist. She is also known for her television and film roles. She is the daughter of Eagles' guitarist Joe Walsh and his third wife, Juanita "Jody" Boyer.
P ...
contributed a recording of the song to the Orbison tribute album ''Under the Covers''.
Notes
References
Sources
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{{authority control
1988 songs
Traveling Wilburys songs
Songs written by Jeff Lynne
Songs written by Bob Dylan
Songs written by George Harrison
Songs written by Roy Orbison
Songs written by Tom Petty
Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne
Song recordings produced by George Harrison
1980s ballads
Rock ballads
Songs about heartache
Torch songs