The Everly Brothers

It's an unhappy coincidence that a CD of The Everly Brothers greatest hits was in my car already when news came that half of the pair, Phil Everly, passed away. This news prompted me to listen to the CD right away.

The Everly Brothers were huge in the late '50s and early '60s, a bridge between Appalachian country and pop and rock. They were even more important as influences on artists to come, such as the Beatles and Beach Boys, and were covered by artists like Simon and Garfunkel and Linda Ronstadt. But what stands out about them are their exquisite harmonies.

Phil and Don Everly were the sons of Ike Everly, who was a musician from Kentucky. They were radio stars at an early age, and then had a string of hits starting in 1957. Many of them are known to us even if we didn't know they were by The Everly Brothers. Their first hit was "Bye Bye Love," written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, and is a classic break-up song:

"I'm through with romance, I'm through with love
I'm through with countin' the stars above
And here's the reason that I'm so free
My lovin' baby is through with me"

The Bryants wrote many other songs for the Everlys, most notably the beautiful "All I Have to Is Dream," "Bird Dog," and "Wake Up, Little Susie," a fascinating time capsule of '50s life in suburbia. As anyone's who heard the song knows, the singer and his girl, Susie, have fallen asleep at the movies, and it's now four A.M., and they are in "trouble deep."

"The movie wasn't so hot
It didn't have much of a plot
We fell asleep, our goose is cooked
Our reputation is shot"

 

The Everlys did write some of their own songs, such as "When Will I Be Loved," which was a huge hit for Linda Ronstadt, and "Cathy's Clown," which is my favorite Everly song but for some odd reason is not on the CD I have. It's hard to imagine why their number one single is not on an album titled "Their Twenty Greatest Hits," but I imagine copyright issues ruled the day.

 

"Cathy's Clown," which was inspired by Ferd Grofe's "Grand Canyon Suite," was very influential on the Beatles, as a riff from that song was used in "Please Please Me." The song is also very mature for teenage heartache stuff, and it's about a guy who is ridiculed by others for being wrapped around the finger of a manipulative woman, and has had enough: 

 

"Don't want your love any more
Don't want your kisses, that's for sure
I die each time I hear this sound
Here he comes, that's Cathy's clown"

What is most lasting about The Everly Brothers are their exquisite harmonies. Listening to their vocals it's almost impossible to tell where one vocal ends and another begins--it's like one voice, singing two keys at once. Even though they became passe after the Brits they inspired took over the music scene, they continued to perform and tour throughout the decades.

I also think it must be unnerving for Don Everly right now. Like Tom Sawyer watching his own funeral, he is exposed to all sorts of obituaries, eulogies, and encomiums about his and brother's music, even while he is still alive.