#don everly
Don Everly plays the drums
The Everly Brothers: Phil Everly and Don Everly, performing on TV show, 1 April 1960. Photo by Harry Hammond.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by fans) | #2 - Let It Be Me
Released in 1960, Let It Be Me was the first song the Everlys recorded outside of Nashville. Archie Bleyer brought them to New York to record to get away from the increasing tensions between he and Wesley Rose. It was also the Everlys’ fist record to use an orchestra.
The experiment proved successful and the song peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Originally written in French, the English version has been covered numerous times since the Everlys released their version; most notably by Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and George Harrison.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by fans) | #3 - Kentucky
Released on the Songs Our Daddy Taught Us album in December of 1958, Kentucky became a staple in the Everlys’ live show.
It was never released as a single – as was Don’s intentions with the SODTU album – but it became a fan favorite and Don and Phil performed it numerous times on TV – including the Johnny Cash Christmas Special in 1970 – and include a sample of it at the end of their 1968 Rootsalbum.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by fans) | #4 - All I Have To Do Is Dream
Following up on the hits, Bye Bye LoveandWake Up Little Susie, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant submitted All I Have To Do Is Dream to the Everlys. Upon hearing the demo, everyone knew it would be a hit. In Phil’s words, “The first time I heard it sung by Boudleaux on acetate, I just knew. They could have put the acetate out and it would have been a hit.”
Released in March of 1958, All I Have to Do Is Dream charted in April and peaked at number one. It stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by fans) | #5 - Gone, Gone, Gone
Written on by Don and Phil, Gone, Gone, Gone was released in 1964. Don explains, “We started writing together really a lot then. We were living in Hollywood and Phil would come over and we would trash things out on the electric guitar in a room over the garage.”
The song reached #31 on the Billboard charts and #36 in the UK.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by the fans) | #6 - Cathy’s Clown
After signing a $1 million deal with Warner Brothers, the Everlys needed to come up with a hit fast to prove they were worth it.
Cathy’s Clown became the Everlys’ biggest hit, topping the Billboard charts for five weeks and the British charts for seven.
The name Cathy comes from Don’s high school girlfriend, and the subject of the song was influenced by a story their father Ike had told them when they were younger.
Though both Don and Phil mentioned multiple times that they wrote the song together, Phil’s songwriting credit was removed in 1980. In 2016 Phil’s widow, Patti and his son, Jason sued Don to reinstate Phil’s songwriting credit on the song. The case is still currently being argued.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by the fans) | #7 - Lord of the Manor
Lord of the Manor was released in 1968 as the b-side to Milk Train. Long past their hit-making days and before the release of the Roots album, the Everlys were beginning to experiment with a country-rock sound.
Though the songwriting credits were given to Terry Slater, he claims he never wrote it. According to Don, “That’s Phil’s song actually. Phil worked it out upstairs in my attic, you know. Phil came in with that song. Maybe I worked on it with him too. I don’t know.” Phil backs that up, saying, “Don and I wrote it. As I recall, I wrote the lyric. We used to go up to Donald’s house and fool around… I always thought it was a well-written lyric.”
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Top Everly Brothers Songs | #8 - Bowling Green
Released in 1967 on the album The Everly Brothers Sing,Bowling Green became the Everlys’ final Top 40 single.
Bowling Green was one of many songwriting collaborations between Phil and Terry Slater. Phil explains, “Bowling Green comes from this guitar riff I was showing Terry. Terry took it and wrote this melody. It was the first thing we knocked off together, you know.”
The song peaked at #40 and would be Everlys’ final Top 100 hit until 1984.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs | #9 - Claudette
Released in 1958, Claudette was written by Roy Orbison for his wife. According to Orbison, “I’d gone to Indiana to do a show with the Everlys and everyone was pitching songs to them. I wouldn’t do that. I just said hello and was headed for the door when they asked if I had any material. I said I had one song and played them Claudette and they said, ‘write the words down, Roy.’ So I tore off this cardboard box top and wrote down the words to Claudette.”
Released as the b-side to All I Have To Do Is Dream,Claudette peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Top Everly Brothers Songs | #10-18 (tied with 2 votes)
10. When Will I Be Loved (1960)
11. Lucille (1960)
12. Crying in the Rain (1962)
13. The House of the Rising Sun (1967)
14. Del Rio Dan (1972)
15. The First in Line (1984)
16. Love of My Life (1958)
17. Don’t Say Goodnight (1985)
18. Wake Up Little Susie (1957)
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Top Everly Brothers Songs | #19-26 (tied with 1 vote)
19. Take a Message to Mary (1959)
20. Arms of Mary (1985)
21. Sing Me Back Home (1968)
22. (Till) I Kissed You (1959)
23. On the Wings of a Nightingale (1984)
24. Born Yesterday (1985)
25. Bye Bye Love (1957)
26. I Can’t Say Goodbye To You (1962)
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Vote now for your favorite Everly Brothers song!
You can vote for as many songs as you would like (I believe), so vote away!
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Top Everly Brothers Songs (as voted by the fans) - Round 1
We all know how various music blogs rate the Everly Brothers’ music, but have you ever wondered what the fans think the best Everly Brothers songs are?
For round 1, please fill out what your top 3 favorite Everly Brothers songs are. If you’re struggling to think of only 3, you can fill this survey out as many times as you’d like.
Please, share this survey with your friends and post it in any Everly group you’re apart of. I want as many fans as possible to vote on this!
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Despite being pioneers of the country rock genre, The Everly Brothers rarely receive any recognition. Check out over 50 of their country rock songs from 1967 to 1973 on this new Spotify playlist.
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