Bye Bye Love By The everly Brothers

Bye Bye Love

1957

The Everly Brothers

Three days into 2014 a member of one of the best loved brother acts in popular music history passed away, and I fully intended to post several of their songs as a tribute...but as happens to all of us more times than any of us would like to think about, life intervened and I had other things to take care of, a house to get moved into, health concerns to take care of, and two other blogs to get caught up with, so it didn't happen when it was supposed to happen.

Time continued to pass, and the end of May came around, and I thought to myself 'It's been nearly six months...should I even worry bout it now?'

The answer, of course, is yes, I should. We're talking about half of a legend here, the younger member of a much loved duo whose sound inspired the biggest pop band ever and whose songs are still around on Oldies Stations to this day. Their tight, legitimately awesome harmonies are still a standard that's aspired to, and their sound pretty much spearheaded the switch-over from do-wop to a more Rock oriented sound.

 The duo, of course, is 'The Everly Brothers', and the younger of the two, Phil Everly, is the brother who made the world a bit poorer when he joined Rock and Roll Heaven's 'Hell of a Band' on January 3^rd.

While The Everly Brothers recorded Top 40 hits right on through the Sixties, all of their biggest and best remembered hits were recorded during a three year span from 1957-1960. You've got to remember something about the Fifties, both the era and the music. World War II had just been won, America was wealthy and optimistic, and their was a general air of well-being and optimism in the air. The music reflected this attitude, especially after 'Rock' hit the scene...of course what they thought of as 'Rock and Roll' in the mid to late late Fifties is a far cry from what we considered Rock in the Seventies. Pop Music in the fifties tended to be light weight and fun. This would be the direction that the Everly Brothers music eventually took...though they actually started out as a Country act, and in fact most of their early hits charted on both the pop and Country Charts.

Don and Phil Everly came by their talent naturally...both parents were entertainers, and their dad could make a guitar absolutely talk to ya, so it was no real surprise when the kids decide to carry on in the music business. OF course what a lot of people who are only casually acquainted with their music don't know is...they started out as a Country act. One of the instruments they are known for is the steel string acoustic guitar, an instrument that all but screamed 'Country Music', especially back in the Fifties and Sixties, and definitely back in 1956 when RCA-Nashville studio manager and family friend Chet Adkins took note of their talent and helped broker a deal for them, at Columbia Records. They recorded a single under the Columbia label...and it flopped spectacularly (The name of the tune was 'Keep a Lovin' Me', if ya want to look for it. I mean, have any of you ever heard it? Thought not.)

So Columbia dropped 'em, a guy named Wesley Rose noticed their Songwriting talents and musical ability, signed 'em as songwriters, got them a record deal with Cadence Records, and a little tune named Bye Bye Love was the result.

AHHH! You say...Don Everly wrote 'em a hit!....well....no. The tune was actually penned by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who originally wrote it for none other than The King himself, Elvis Presley, who rejected it. After Elvis turned it down, they sent it to no fewer than thirty artists, all of whom also rejected it. Soundly. As in 'The heck is that???' soundly.

So Chet Atkins took a look at it, got with Cadence Records, and asked them to let Don and Phil Everly take a shot at it. So they took a look at it, tried recording it, and just couldn't come up with an intro that they...or anyone...liked. Ya know that classic intro? It wasn't original to Bye Bye Love.

They were all getting frustrated when Don Everly, just for the heck of it, played the intro to another song he was writing, and suddenly...it clicked! They did a rough cut with the new intro, tweaked it a bit, made it into a Rockabilly tune with their signature steel guitar and that awesome, semi-twangy close harmony that they came to be known and loved for, and, on March 9, 1957, they sent it out into the world. The World approved. Big Time.

It climbed both the Country and Pop charts simultaneously, hitting the coveted '1' spot on the Country charts, and scoring the #2 spot on the Billboard Pop charts, and a legend was born.

As for their little tune about a dude bemoaning the loss of his girl to another guy, it's still around, fifty-seven years after it was released. You can still hear it, fairly regularly, on Oldies stations throughout the land. (That'd be 107.3 here in the Richmond-TriCities area.) OF course, The Everly Brothers weren't finished. By any means.

So Enjoy! 'Bye Bye Love', by The Everly Brothers!

And as a bonus...this one's kinda special, IMHO. Eighteen year old Phil Everly and twenty year old Don Everly being introduced to the National Television audience by Julius LeRosa on June 22^nd, 1957, When Don stood up and hit that opening chord, little did he know he was kicking off a string of beloved classics.

Wake Up Little Susie by The Everly Brothers

Wake Up Little Susie

1957

The Everly Brothers

Felice and Boudleaux Bryant also penned The Everly Brothers second hit of 1957, and if you hear that guitar driven up-tempo intro and can't sing the opening line without even thinking about it, you've apparently been living in a cave. Under a rock. Possibly on another planet.

The song in question, of course, chronicles the distress of a teenage couple who went to the drive-in to watch a movie, fell asleep due to the apparent epic crappiness of said movie, and woke up to find that it was 4AM, and that 'We're in trouble Deep!'. Wake Up Little Susie is arguably The Everly Brothers' best known song, and it pulled the same trick that Bye Bye Love pulled...the classic double chart climb. It was released on September 2^nd, 1957 and shot up to the top of the Billboard Pop and Country charts as well as the Cash box Best selling records chart, this despite one minor little set-back.

It appears that the good people of Boston Mass....or at least those in charge of what songs were played on that beautiful city's airwaves...were displeased by the concept of a young lady and a young man being asleep together. (Note I didn't say sleeping together. BEEEEG Diferancia!) That's right, someone in Boston decided that the very idea of Wake Up Little Susie's concept offended their sensibilities, and that it might give the young couples of The Greater Boston Metro Areas...ideas. Therefore they banned it from being played on any Boston radio station. This obviously didn't hurt the songs popularity one iota, as it went on to become a classic.

Tune in to just about any Oldies station on any given day, and it's a good bet you'll hear this one before the day's over with. It's had that kind of staying power (As do nearly all of The Everly Brothers early hits, despite the fact that they're all closer to sixty years old than fifty.) The song's just as much fun to listen to today...fifty seven years after I was recorded...as it is now. As it should be...Susie, her beau, and The Everly Brothers are just that much a part of us.

So Enjoy! 'Wake Up, Little Susie', by The Everly Brothers!

First Bonus. An all-too-brief clip of The Brothers performing Wake Up Little Susi on The Ed Sullivan Show back on October 6^th, 1957, accompanied by Ed Sullivan's orchestra. Take a closes look at their guitars, and see if you notice something...they were steel string acoustic guitars. No amplifier anywhere in sight.

Second Bonus...The Everly Brothers performing Wake Up Little Susie live in 2004...47 years after they made it a hit. It's now, of course, a classic.

Another interesting little factoid about Wake Up, Little Susie. Did ya know that this was one of George W Bush's favorite songs?? It was indeed...he said so on Oprah Winfrey in 2000, during his Presidential campaign. When asked what his all-time favorite song was, he told her it was 'Wake Up Little Susie' by...Buddy Holly???? That's right. George W blew that one. And no, Buddy Holly never recorded it.

All I HAve To Do Is Dream by The Everly Brothers

All I Have To Do Is Dream

1958

The Everly Brothers

All I Have To Do Is Dream boasts what's arguably the shortest intro of any pop song...a single guitar-strummed note leading straight to the Felice and Boudleaux Bryant penned lyrics. Don and Phil Everly recorded it on just two takes in March of 1958 and released it as a single the following month. It shot up all three of the charts...Country, Pop, and R&B...topping out at #1 on all three on June 2 to become the only single to ever hold the top spot on all three of the charts at the same time. IMHO, it also gives 'Wake Up Little Susie' a run for the money for the title of Best Loved Everly Brothers song

That singular introductory guitar-strum, as well as the rest of the guitar in the song, was courtesy of Chet Atkins, who lent his signature sound to many of The Everly Brothers' songs. His stellar guitar playing along with Phil and Don's close harmony gave their music the immense staying power it's enjoyed over the course of pushing six decades. (Fifty seven years to be exact...their first two hits are the same age I am).

All I Have To Do Is Dream, in fact, apparently had some particularly good staying power...it managed to chart five times in four separate decades. The Everly Brothers, of course, took it to #1 in 1958. Then five years later, in 1963, Richard Chamberlain added his own signature sound and more of a big band feel to it and cracked the top 5 with it, taking it to #4 . Than it charted twice on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970s...Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry recorded a version that stuck tight to the original, and reached #27 with it in 1970 and five years later The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band landed at #66 when they went Country with their cover, which was very different from The Brothers' original. Then finally, Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal took it #51 in 1981with a version that did stick pretty tightly to the original.

Of course the Everly Brothers' is the one that's still heard, regularly... It's a classic love song, and I think that's part of both it's charm and it's staying power. All of us have known someone who we're head over heals in love with, and who we felt this very way about in their absence. That's very much part of the reason that it's not only another song you're just about guaranteed to hear on any given Oldies station on just about any given day, it's still requested fairly regularly, often dedicated to a significant other.

And ya know what...from listening to those dedications on long night-shifts when Oldies 107.3 is one of the few things keeping me awake, not all of the ones making the dedications are as old as the song. All I Have To Do Is Dream keeps getting rediscovered by couples in love. Classic Oldies are good at making that happen...that's why Oldies'll never die.

So Enjoy! 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', by The Everly Brothers!

A slew of bonuses with this one! First up, Richard Chamberlain's 1963 cover, which evoked the Big band Era, and made it to #5 on the Hot 100 while it was at it. His would be the highest charting cover of the song.

Next , Glen Campbell and Bobbie Gentry's awesome cover of All I Have To Do Is Dream, which made it to #27 on The Hot 100.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's made their cover of All I Have To Dream their own when they made it into about a pure a Country song as you can get. It sounded awesome as a Country tune, and made it to #66 on the Hot 100 while it was at it.

And finally...Andy Gibb's romance with Victoria Principal back in the early 80s yielded their cover of All I Have To Do Is Dream...they kept the song's original feel, and took it to #51 on the Hot 100.

Bird Dog by The Everly Brothers

Bird Dog

1958

The Everly Brothers

I truly think every guy can identify with this song! The Everly Brothers little musical tale about a dude named Johnny and his plot to take another guy's girl away from him became The Everly Brothers second hit of 1958. Interestingly enough, it was actually considered a Country song, and that's the genre it was released in, as well as the chart it scored the highest position on. Like the great majority of their early hits, it was written by Boudleaux Bryant.

It was released in April, 1958, and shot up the Country chart first, making it to #1, before crossing over to the Pop charts and scoring the runner up spot. Another interesting little bit is just what Pop chart it hit #2 on. Remember a little chart known as he Billboard Hot 100? It debuted in August of 1958, making Bird Dog one of the very first Billboard Hot 100 hits.

Thus was classic 'Sock Hop' Music at it's finest, from an era where the songs could be danced to, and had lyrics that you could understand. Like all of The Everly Brother's hits, Bird Dog's had remarkable staying power, and still shows up on both Oldies and Classic Country stations pretty regularly...leaving all of us to wonder, musically of course, if Johnny ever got the girl...or got his lights punched put by her guy!

So Enjoy! 'Bird Dog', by The Everly Brothers!

In 1984 The Everly Brothers went on tour with a Reunion Concert...they performed several of their hits at Royal Albert Hall, in London, and proved that they did indeed, still have it! Here they rock the house with Bird Dog

Devoted To You by The Everly Brothers

Devoted To You

1958

The Everly Brothers

'Devoted To You...Bird Dog's 'B' side...didn't do too shabby a chart-climbing job itself. Also written by Boudleaux Bryant, it slowed things way down, from 'Sock-Hop' dancing to Slow Dancing music and climbed to #10 on the newly introduced Billboard Hot 100.

Devoted to you has been called 'One of the most romantic songs ever recorded' and while it has The Everly Brothers awesome harmony, it also has a bit different sound than most of their music, and is 180 degrees away fro the record's 'A' side.

The young girls of The Fifties fell head over heals with the song (And in fact, Don and Phil Everly) and I have a feeling that a few million teen girls either begging their parents for the money or saving Baby Sitting/After School Job money to buy to buy the 45 helped push it to that #10 spot.

Unlike much of their music, you almost never hear this one on oldies Stations. Once in a while if the Music of the Fifties, or The Everly brothers are featured you'll hear it, but it seems to have been out of general rotation for a awhile now. Kinda sad, really, because it's truly a beautiful song. One any young lady would love her beau to sing to her (Or, if his voice is anything like mine, he'd probably get told 'Just put the record on!)

So Enjoy! 'Devoted To You' by The Everly Brothers

In 1984 The Everly Brothers went on tour with a Reunion Concert. Here they are singing Devoted To You at Royal Albert Hall, in London, in 1984. Their harmony was just as rich and pure in '84 as it was 25 years earlier, when the single dropped.

('Till) I Kissed You

1959

The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers took this one to #4 in 1959, and here's an interesting little tidbit about it...while the song title is ('Till) I Kissed You, that exact line never appears in the actual song. They sing 'Till I kissed 'ya' throughout the song. Also, this was one of their first hits not to be written by Boudleaux Bryant. This one was penned by Don Everly, and was only the second song, and first Pop hit, written by either of The Everly's. While he was at it, the song also broke into the Top 10 on the Country chart, snagging #8 there.

This was another 'Sock Hop' staple during the late Fifties and early Sixties, and lent itself well to many of the dance moves of that era, and the kids loved this kind of music back then just as much as we 'Seventies Kids' would love our music a couple of decades later.

Till I Kissed Ya was also covered extensively by Reggae artists, interestingly enough, and was also taken to #10 on the Billboard Country charts by Connie Smith in 1976.

The original's still around today, on Oldies Stations everywhere, and like all of The Everly Brothers early hits, will probably be around when all of us are gone. As it should be!

So Enjoy! (Till) I Kissed You, by The Everly Brothers.

And as a Bonus...The Everly Brothers performing live on The Saturday Night Beechnut Show (Dick Clark's other music program...on January 23^rd, 1960. Like the acts on American Bandstand, the artists actually lip-synced to their songs, but it's still cool to see what music TV was like 20+ years pre-MTV. I remember this show, By by the way...and the original American Bandstand

Cathy's Clown by The Everly Brothers

Cathy's Clown

(1960)

The Everly Brothers

In 1960, Warner Brothers wooed The Everly Brothers away from Cadence records with what's said to be the first million dollar record deal in history, and Don and Phil Everly rewarded them by penning a #1 hit right out of the gate. It chronicles the thoughts of a guy breaking up with a girlfriend who was so n emotionally abusive to him for so long that his friends bestowed the titular nickname upon him. Interestingly enough, some people have said that Don Everly was actually inspired by a high school girlfriend when he came up with the tune.

Cathy's Clown was released in April 1960 and shot up the charts to #1, hanging on to the top spot for five weeks...it would be their hottest selling hit, as well as the third of three #1 songs. It would end up selling 8 M copies worldwide before all was said and done. Not only did it top the Billboard Hot 100...it topped the U.K. Music chart at the same time, the first single ever to pull that little trick off.

The Everly Brothers trademark ultra tight harmonies are particular evident in this song, and several people have said that a certain...er...obscure group from England whose members were named John, Paul, George, and Ringo was greatly inspired by it's tight harmony on several of their songs, most especially 'Please Please me', their first U.S.single.

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Cathy's Clown #149 on it's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. It joins good company...it's one of four of their early hits that made it onto that list. (Bye Bye Love #207, Wake Up Little Susie #301, and All I Have To Do Is Dream aced out Cathy's Clown by 8 spots on the list, landing at #141)

Hopefully, Phil Everly's smiling down, knowing that he and his bro managed to record a run of true classics. Count Cathy's Clown as another Everly brothers song that'll be around as long as there are Oldies Stations. (I heard it on Richmond's 107.3 not all that long ago, in fact). And...as long as those same Oldies stations are still pumping the classics out onto the airwaves, Phil Everly will always be with us.

So Enjoy! Cathy's Clown by The Everly Brothers.

And as a bonus...The Everly Brothers , accompanied by The Crickets, perform Cathy's Clown on the Alma Cogan Show across the Pond in the UK, waaaaay back in 1961.