MUSIC HISTORY

Submitted by ub on

“Oh, Pretty Woman” dominated the charts in 1964, and made history decades later by shaping how we understand fair use and parody in copyrights.

  • Roy Orbison hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 26, 1964, with "Oh, Pretty Woman."
  • It stayed at the top for three weeks, knocking out “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals.
  • Inspired by a real-life moment with Orbison’s wife, Claudette Frady, and co-written with Bill Dees, the song was written and recorded in three weeks.
  • Dees described the creative spark as almost instantaneous, hearing heels on the pavement and visualizing the "pretty woman."

Supreme Court Case (1994)

  • In 1989, rap group 2 Live Crew released a parody of “Oh, Pretty Woman” on their album As Clean As They Wanna Be.
  • Acuff-Rose Music, which held the rights to the original song, sued for copyright infringement.
  • The legal question was: Can a commercial parody be considered “fair use”?

Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. 

  • U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9–0 in favor of 2 Live Crew.
  • The court held that commercial use can still be protected under fair use — especially in the case of parody, which is a form of criticism and commentary.
  • This expanded the interpretation of fair use, allowing artists, comedians, and satirists greater creative freedom across all media.
  • Before this case, commercial use was often presumed not fair use.
  • After the ruling, parody was explicitly protected, even if it earned money.
  • It laid the groundwork for everything from Weird Al’s parodies to meme culture and modern remix art.

Cultural Legacy

  • Van Halen famously covered “Oh, Pretty Woman” on Diver Down (1982), where it hit No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
  • The song also re-entered public consciousness through the 1990 film Pretty Woman starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere — though that didn’t directly relate to the lawsuit, it boosted the song’s cultural staying power.

  • The "click, click" of heels that Dees imagined became part of the song’s timeless visual storytelling — it’s a rare example of a tune where you can hear the image.

     

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