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.

Leader Of The Band

1981

Dan Fogelberg

When most people who were both around in the early 80s and young enough (Either in years or in soul) to enjoy the popular music of the era think,' Dan Fogelberg Song', 'Leader Of The Band' is one of the two songs that come instantly to mind. 'Leader Of The Band was also, by far, Dan Fogelberg's most personal song. The tune was a love song to his dad, and a beautiful one...both in melody, and in thought...at that. He wrote it as a tribute to Fogelberg family patriarch Lawrence Fogelberg, who was a long time high school band leader and teacher in their home town of Peoria Ill, and who Dan credited him with molding him into the person he was.

The other song that everyone thinks of as a Dan Fogelberg hit is 'Same Old Lang Syne', and interestingly enough, the songs tied for chart position among his four biggest hits...both peaked at #9. 'Leader Of The Band' was released the day after Thanksgiving of 1981, on November 28^th, and peaked at #9 just more that three months later on March 6^th 1982

Everyone who was around back then recognizes that mellow, soothing. guitar intro, and I have a feeling most everyone can swing into '...An Only Child Alone And Wild, A Cabinet Makers Son...' right on cue. It's a beautiful song, and anyone who loved their dad can not tell me that they don't get a little misty-eyed when they hear it.

This is actually my favorite Dan Fogelberg tune, and it's way up on my list of favorite songs. I have a feeling I'm not alone in feeling that way, either. I've always though 'Leader Of The Band' should be required listening on Fathers Day...it perfectly illustrates what the relationship between a father and a son should be.

Lawrence Fogelberg got to hear his son's musical tribute to him...the song was released on November 26th, 1981, Lawrence passed away in August of '82. And Dan Fogelberg got to tell his dad how uin felt about him with a classic..

So Enjoy! Leader Of The Band, by Dan Fogelberg.

Hard To Say

1981

Dan Fogelberg

The wild thing about Dan Fogelberg's second biggest hit is the fact that it's the one I've heard the least on Oldies stations.

It's still an awesome little tune though, with an upbeat but mellow melody, and meaningful soulful lyrics...the latter definitely one of Dan Fogelberg's specialties. He wrote 'Hard To Say' while recovering form surgery, and (My take here) its a retrospective on how much a guy loves his girlfriend or wife, even though they're apart. Of course, their can be as many meanings of songs as there are fans of that song. What ever your take on it, it's very definite soulful ear candy, and makes you pause and reflect (Likely while mouthing the lyrics!)

'Hard To Say' was Dan's second biggest hit, peaking at #7 on The Hot 100 on Halloween of 1981 after being released two months earlier, on August 28^th. It hung around the charts for 19 weeks.

I..and everyone else alive and teenage to young Twenty-something in late summer and Fall of '8...heard it constantly, usually on WRVQ...'Q-94'...in Richmond, though it was also a force over on the area's easy listening station (98.1, or 'Lite98', WTVR-FM). Like all four of Dan Fogelberg's 'Big 4' . it was also a huge hit on the Adult/Contemporary charts, where it spent three weeks at #2

It always amazes me when songs this good don't show up on Oldies stations any more than they do. This is a sweet, thoughtful little tune, and it should be around forever.

So Enjoy! Hard To Say by Dan Fogelberg.

I really like the way this video gives a tip o' the hat to Dan Fogelberg's backing band...and let me tell ya, Dan had some pretty accomplished musicians backing him up on 'Hard To Say'. Tom Scott was blowin' the sax, and there are only a very few other saxophone players who approach his abilities on than most awesome of all wind instruments. He lent his talents to a slew of hits and popular TV theme songs during the 70s and 80s. Glen Frye...who was also lent his vocal skills to a little group called 'The Eagles...sang back-up vocals, and Keyboard duties were handled by Mike Utley, who for years played keyboard with Margaritaville's mayor and best know resident, the one and only Jimmy Buffet.