\"Oh, Pretty Woman\" or \"Pretty Woman\" is a song recorded by Roy Orbison, written by Orbison and Bill Dees.It was released as a single in August 1964 on Monument Records and spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 26, 1964 the second single by Orbison to top the US charts. It was also Orbison's third single to top the UK Singles Chart (for a total of three weeks). The record ultimately sold seven million copies and marked the high point in Orbison's career.[4] Within months of its release, in October 1964, the single was certified gold by the RIAA. At the year's end, Billboard ranked it the number four song of 1964.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked it #224 on their list of the \"500 Greatest Songs of All Time.\"
There were four guitar players on the session: Roy Orbison, Billy Sanford, Jerry Kennedy, and Wayne Moss. Billy Sanford, who later played on sessions for Elvis Presley, Don Williams and many others, played the intro guitar. Williams introduced him as a kid who had just arrived Nashville, with a borrowed guitar, who heard Orbison was minus a guitar player, who went over and got the gig. Other musicians on the record included Floyd Cramer on piano, Bob Moore on an upright bass, Boots Randolph on saxophone, Charlie McCoy on harmonica, Buddy Harman on drums, and Paul Garrison on percussion. Orbison played a 12-string Epiphone. Bill Porter served as recording engineer for the song