Oh, Pretty Woman Lyrics

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1]
Pretty woman, walking down the street
Pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet
Pretty woman,
I don't believe you
You're not the truth
No one could look as good as you
Mercy!

[Verse 2]
Pretty woman, won't you pardon me?
Pretty woman, I couldn't help but see
Pretty woman, that you look lovely as can be
Are you lonely just like me?
Rwar-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r

[Middle-Eight]
Pretty woman, stop a while
Pretty woman, talk a while

Pretty woman, give your smile to me
Pretty woman, yeah, yeah, yeah
Pretty woman, look my way
Pretty woman, say you'll stay with me
'Cause I need you, I'll treat you right
Come with me, baby, be mine tonight
[Verse 3]
Pretty woman, don't walk on by
Pretty woman, don't make me cry
Pretty woman, don't walk away, hey

[Outro]
Okay
If that's the way it must be, okay
I guess I'll go on home, it's late
There'll be tomorrow night, but wait
What do I see?

Is she walking back to me?
Yeah, she's walking back to me
Oh, oh, pretty woman

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About

Genius Annotation

Roy Orbison’s 1964 mega hit, reaching no. 1 both in the US and the UK. He was the only American artist to reach no. 1 in the UK in a 69 weeks period at that time! Ranked #222 of the top 500 songs ever. Won multiple awards including a posthumous Grammy in 1991.

Apparently written about Orbison’s wife, Claudette, while she was preparing to go out. Still, at a certain point the song became downright impossible to separate from Julia Roberts.

The song had multiple parody and “serious” covers – see some in the annotations.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Roy Orbison say about "Oh, Pretty Woman"?
Genius Answer

Per the Rolling Stone

Orbison told Dees -

Get started writing by playing anything that comes to mind….My wife came in and wanted to go to town to get something.

Orbison asked if she needed money. Dees then cracked –

Pretty woman never needs any money.

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