The Hollies

This year The Hollies will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The criteria for induction into that body seems to be liberal--The Hollies, to me, were a minor part of the British invasion, with a handful of hits that have endured for forty-plus years on oldies radio. I picked up their greatest hits disc and have been playing it all week in the car.

The group was founded by Graham Nash and Allan Clarke, and were noted for their harmonies. Taking their name from Buddy Holly (although this is in some dispute) the indelible hits from the early days included "Bus Stop," "Stop, Stop, Stop," "Carrie-Anne," and "Carousel." I think these songs are what people think of when they think of The Hollies, and are indicative of their sound.

After Nash left, in 1968, to join Crosby and Stills in a new trio, The Hollies still had some hits, but the sound was less definitive. "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" was an earnest reflection of the civil rights movement, while "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" had the swamp-rock sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Their last hit, from 1973, was the deliciously cheesy "The Air That I Breathe."

Listening to the songs over and over gets one to pay attention more closely to the lyrics. "Bus Stop," a short story about two people meeting at a bus stop and sharing an umbrella in the rain, has the interesting slant that the singer, a man, has marriage on his mind--"someday our names will be the same"--a twist of sorts, since usually pop songs have women more interested in commitment. And in "Carrie-Anne" the singer recalls a role-playing game they used to play: "I'd be the janitor, you'd be the monitor." The mind kind of reels at wondering what that game really was. "Dear Eloise" is a kind of creepy song in which the narrator has written a letter to his old girlfriend, who's been dumped by an older man who went to sea. He decides that Eloise having her heart broken "could be the best thing that's ever happened to me."

The Hollies were a fun group with some catchy songs, but never really expanded upon that. I certainly don't begrudge their entrance into the Hall, but you have to wonder where the line gets drawn on who belongs and who doesn't.