"It's Over" is an American song composed by

Roy Orbison Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as ...

and

Bill Dees William Marvin Dees (January 24, 1939 – October 24, 2012) was an American musician known for his songwriting collaborations with singer Roy Orbison. Career Born and based out of Borger, Texas, United States, Dees played guitar and sang with a ...

and sung by Orbison. The single was produced by

Fred Foster Fred Luther Foster (July 26, 1931 – February 20, 2019) was an American record producer, songwriter, and music business executive who founded Monument Records. As a record producer he was most closely associated with Roy Orbison, and was also ...

and engineered by Bill Porter. "It's Over" typifies the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

tic rock ballad. The song also appears on Orbison's 1964

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

'' More of Roy Orbison's Greatest Hits'' and his 1989 posthumous album ''

A Black & White Night Live ''A Black & White Night Live'' is a Roy Orbison music album made posthumously by Virgin Records from the HBO television special, '' Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night'', which was filmed in 1987 and broadcast in 1988. According to ...

'' from the 1988

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

television special. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' said of the song that "the drama-ballad king scores again with pathos and chorus and strings that build, build, build." '' Cash Box'' described it as "a throbbing, martial beat-like lover's lament that once again builds to a big finish" and praised the instrumental

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

Bill Justis William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, " Raunchy". As a songwriter, he was also often credit ...

Chart performance

The song was released as a

45rpm single In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separa ...

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 ...

in 1964, The single entered the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

'' Cashbox'' chart on April 11, 1964, peaking at No.10 (on May 23, 1964), and reached No. 9 on the ''

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describ ...

chart. Meanwhile, after entering the United Kingdom singles chart on April 30, 1964, "It's Over" reached No. 1 on June 25, 1964 (making it Orbison's second UK No.1 single he first was "Only the Lonely" in 1960">Only_the_Lonely.html" ;"title="he first was "Only the Lonely">he first was "Only the Lonely" in 1960. "It's Over" spent 2 weeks at No.1 on the UK Singles Chart">UK singles chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Chart performance

References