Crying - Don McLean
"Crying" is a ballad written by Roy Orbison and Joe Melson that was a hit for Orbison.
The song was released as a 45-rpm single by Monument Records in July 1961 and reached No. 1 on the United States Cashbox chart for a week on October 7, 1961, and peaking at No. 2 on the rival Billboard Hot 100. Despite not reaching the summit in the latter publication, Billboard ranked the record as the No. 4 song of 1961.
Don McLean covered the song, taking it to No. 5 on the hot 100 in early 1981.
In 1987, Orbison rerecorded the song as a duet with K.D. Lang as part of the soundtrack for the motion picture Hiding Out. Their collaboration won the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. The duet version was a minor US chart hit for the pair, peaking at No. 42 on the hot country singles chart, though it was a more substantial hit in the UK in 1992, reaching No. 13 on the UK Singles Chart.
In 2002, "Crying" was honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. In 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it 69th on their list of the "500 greatest songs of all time"