#the everly brothers
Bidding farewell on RBP
ALL DOWN THE LINE — NME’s Keith Altham drops in on Charlie Watts (1941-2021)andQ’s Robert Sandall meets the beloved Stones drummer in 1994. Plus Colin Escott walks Don Everly (1937-2021) back through the Everlys’ career in 1998, Gene Guerrero meets the great Nashville (singer-)songwriter Tom T. Hall (1936-2021) in 1971 and UB40’sBrian Travers (1959-2021) talks to NME’s Sean O'Hagan in 1986…
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Don Everly plays the drums
“Phil Everly was one of my great heroes. With his brother Don, they were one of the major influences on The Beatles. When John and I first started to write songs, I was Phil and he was Don. Years later when I finally met Phil, I was completely starstruck and at the same time extremely impressed by his humility and gentleness of soul. I will always love him for giving me some of the sweetest musical memories of my life.”-Paul McCartney
“I think about him every day, you know. I wake up, and his thought comes to me. I have a bit of his ashes here at my house. And I go by, and pick the ashes up, and I sort of say good morning to him. That’s a funny way to do it, but that’s what I do.” -Don Everly
Rest in Peace, Phil Everly | January 19, 1939 - January 3, 2014
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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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“I like things that are way older than I am and are going to outlast me. I’ve never owned a brand-new house—ever. I like that old things continue on and have a long history. My house has spent hundreds of years interacting with life. Like a river flows and flows, life flows the same way and has done so for hundreds of years through these rooms.” -Phil Everly
Phil Everly | January 19, 1939 - January 3, 2014
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POISONBERRY PIE
Poisonberry Pie is the definitive song that sums up Phil’s songwriting style in the late 60s and early 70s. While Don’s compositions tended to lean more towards the emotional with simplistic word choices and unique musical arrangements, Phil’s felt more like stories with complex (sometimes nonsensical) lyrics and a simple, folksy arrangement.
The song’s lyrics show the duality of Phil’s character in the early 1970s. The song includes very obvious references to marijuana – and Phil’s usage of it, but also has a negative comment about “women libbers”. In the late 1960s, Phil usually described himself as not very political, but in the 70s, he developed more of a conservative attitude.
In 2016, Don explained that Phil voting for a Republican (likely Richard Nixon in either the 1968 or 1972 election) was the turning point in their relationship since Don was “a complete Democrat.”Even though he wrote more than one song about marijuana (also the Everlys’ 1967 song, Mary Jane) in 1970 Phil shared his disdain for drugs saying, “It’s basic stupidity. If you can’t get down to living and playing (music) naturally, I think you’re wasting your life.” He also frequently shared his dislike for bands like Jefferson Airplane who were notorious for writing and recording their music under the influence of drugs.
An early demo of the song exists from 1971, but the song didn’t see the light of day until 1973 on Star Spangled Springer. Phil’s songwriting was prolific from 1971-1973, but most of his songs were never recorded by the brothers and were instead saved for Phil’s first solo album.
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BOWLING GREEN
Bowling Green is officially credited to Terry Slater and Jackie Ertel, though it was really written by Phil. According to Phil, “Bowling Green comes from the guitar riff that I was showing Terry. Terry took it and wrote this melody. It was the first thing we knocked off together, you know. The song gets a lot of covers.”
Phil – whose compositions were rarely recorded by the Everlys – had written a large number of songs around that time. He felt his songs were the answer to the brothers’ lack of success at the time, “I pushed Bowling Green on the recording date against a wall, like I had with Gone, Gone, Gone, and as they came out and were well received I still feel that we should’ve done that kind of material.”
The Everlys had been struggling with their sound at the time, and Bowling Green was an attempt to return to their roots. Phil wrote other similar-styled songs around that time, but none of these were recorded by he and Don. His song, Lady Anne, was also written at this time and eventually saw life on his first solo album.
The return to their roots was welcomed, and Bowling Greenreached#40 on the Billboard Hot 100. This gave the Everlys their first Top 40 hit in 5 years. The song was especially popular in Canada and reached #1.
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WHEN WILL I BE LOVED
- Released by Cadence Records in 1960
- Appears on The Fabulous Style of the Everly Brothers
- Amazon|Youtube
When Will I Be Loved is arguably Phil’s most popular composition, having been covered by numerous artists. Most notably, it was covered by Linda Ronstadt in 1975 and peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song was written in 1959 while the Everlys were on tour in Australia with Tab Hunter and Sal Mineo. Upon returning from Australia, Phil – whose songs were rarely recorded by the Everlys – brought the song to songwriter Felice Bryant to get her opinion on it: “Phil played me part of When Will I Be Loved and I told him I liked it and that he should finish it and he seemed surprised.”
According to Phil’s son, Jason, WWIBL was written about Jackie Ertel – Phil’s girlfriend at the time and eventual wife. They dated off-and-on for years before finally marrying in 1963. The couple’s early dating years (and Jackie’s potential reluctance to get married) seem to be the inspiration for many of Phil’s compositions at that time including Who’s To Be The One, Turned Down, and Wishing Won’t Make It So (all unreleased demos written by Phil in 1959 and 1960).
When Will I Be Loved was recorded in 1960, while the Everlys were still under contract with Cadence Records. The song wasn’t released until the summer of that year while the brothers were under contract with Warner Brothers. It peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and landed at #91 on Billboard’s 1960 Year End Chart.
What could be considered a throwaway track – they recorded the song under Cadence knowing they were leaving the label in a couple weeks – became the best-selling song written by either brother. Due to Linda Ronstadt’s success with the song, Phil was awarded the Robert J. Burton BMI Award for the most played country song of 1975.
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Since January is “Phil Month” as I so lovingly call it, I wanted to do something special to honor him. Phil’s songwriting has always been something that has sort of flown under the radar, even in the most diehard of Everly fans. For that reason, I plan on making a post each week, highlighting a song Phil wrote. Look for the first post tomorrow.
