Showing posts with label the everly brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the everly brothers. Show all posts

Friday, January 10, 2014

All I Have To Do Is Dream

When I was a little kid, my cousins and I formed a trio. We had matching outfits - western shirts, embroidered black skirts with fringe (well, my cousin Paul didn't have a skirt), boots. We made a lot of money in tips, because who, after all, can resist a kid trio, especially one with "talent"? I got stuck playing the "drum" (yes, one drum), while Paul played accordion and Karen somehow learned how to strum a guitar.

No one ever said it aloud, but it was inferred that Karen was the best singer of the bunch. She was. Nevertheless, I was miraculously chosen to sing the lead verse on Bye Bye Love. Still today, that is my one and only claim to fame.

It's only natural, then, that I would have a soft spot in my heart for this song:


I'm old enough to remember when the Everly Brothers were huge. Sure, in the early sixties Elvis tended to kick every other act off the top of the charts, but the Everlys still scored hit after hit after hit. Many of their top-selling singles were recorded before I was old enough to know that the sounds coming out of the speaker were actually records and not somebody sitting somewhere singing into the other end of the radio. But hits back then didn't zip onto the radio one day and zap away the next. Disc jockeys still played songs that were two or three years old! Thus I heard a lot of Everly Brother hits.

Just to set the record straight, a lot has been written this past week about the Everlys writing a lot of their own songs. Maybe they did, but they didn't write most of the hits. That honor belongs to the husband and wife team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote  Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have To Do Is Dream, Bird Dog, Devoted To You, and Love Hurts, among others.

One song the Everly Brothers did write, and one of my favorites, is:


Idiot that I am, I didn't realize that this was originally an Everly Brothers song:


I'm used to hearing it like this:


I could spend all night reminiscing about these great songs, but I don't have all night. So, I'm just going to throw out some that I really like (and can find on YouTube). I've chosen to use a lot of their Albert Hall performances because the song quality (and the picture quality) is better than the earlier performances. As a purist, I try to use original performances generally, but sound is king tonight.

LET IT BE ME


WALK RIGHT BACK



CRYING IN THE RAIN


BIRD DOG (for fun)



WAKE UP LITTLE SUSIE


TIL I KISSED YOU



No, Linda Ronstadt didn't originate this song:


Unfortunately, I can't find a complete performance of one of their best, LOVE HURTS, online; but I did find a three-song medley and it's awfully good. Enjoy this:



The last single I purchased by the Everly Brothers was a hit in 1984; their last hit single. The internet tells me Paul McCartney wrote this song, but I haven't been able to verify that.

Like all the great early artists (ahem, Roy Orbison), by the eighties the brothers were considered "old"; "washed up", "has-beens". Our culture is disposable. Nobody wants to look "uncool". So, we listen to our old records (excuse me, mp3's) in the privacy of our own homes, preferably through headphones, so no one can point at us in ridicule for actually liking good music.

ON THE WINGS OF A NIGHTINGALE


Everybody says the Everly Brothers sounded so great because they were siblings. Well, yea. It's like recording harmony with yourself, if "yourself" is a better singer than you are.

But setting aside the sibling fallback for a moment, here are the two main reasons the Everlys were so great:

1.  GREAT SINGING
2.  GREAT SONGS

It's not rocket science.

Also, over the years, it became sort of a running joke that the duo would break up, refuse to work with each other ever again, then reunite, then break up. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Well, now let's seriously talk about siblings. How would you like to spend every waking hour with your brother (and/or sister)? You wouldn't, would you?  Sure, you like them. You just don't want to have to like them ALL THE TIME. Endure a two hundred-day road trip with your sibling and then we'll talk. I think it irked Don and Phil when people snickered about their feuds. People didn't seem to understand that, even though they loved each other, they really, really couldn't stand each other....at least sometimes.

Phil Everly always did the harmony part. I wonder if he ever wanted to sing lead (like I got to do that ONE TIME). I hope he understood how big a part he played in the sublime sounds that wafted out of our speakers.

Don Everly is still alive and kicking. But we will never again see the EVERLY BROTHERS.

But then, all we have to do is DREAM.


Rest in peace, Phil Everly.

Thank you for the harmony.

















Thursday, July 24, 2008

50 Years Ago! Top Country Hits Of 1958

Okay, fifty years ago - really? Geez, it seems like only yesterday, or maybe 20 years ago at the most. Okay, it doesn't really seem like yesterday, because I was only 3 years old in 1958, so I hardly remember these songs when they were hits.

I thought it might be fun to see what was hitting the charts, lo those 50 years ago. And to contrast the country music of then to the country music of now.

Well, we all sorta know where country music is now, and it's not pretty.

I think this quote from Jennifer Nettles (of Sugarland) in the latest Entertainment Weekly pretty much sums up the general attitude in Nashville today:

At the very least, Nettles sees Nashville changing.

"What is country anymore?" she asks.
What, indeed?
The article goes on to call Sugarland's third album "an unusually diverse CD that attempts to expand the template of mainstream country by embracing old-school R.E.M, Marvin Gaye, even hair metal.

"We've earned the space to express ourselves," says (Kristian) Bush.
O-kay! So, now we know, I guess.

So, let's cleanse our palates with some offerings from the year 1958.

This first video is one of many hits for Johnny:

JOHNNY CASH - BIG RIVER


"We've earned the space to express ourselves". Give me a break.

Ray Price had a bunch of hits in 1958. Here's one of the best:

RAY PRICE - INVITATION TO THE BLUES

Recognize the harmony singer? Look closer. Why, it's the songwriter himself, ROGER MILLER!


Well, here is one of my all-time favorite singers:

FARON YOUNG - ALONE WITH YOU


Here is someone you don't see anymore (well, he's passed away, but you know what I mean.) Don Gibson had FOUR number one hits in 1958. Here's one:

DON GIBSON - OH, LONESOME ME

I think this song was covered numerous, numerous times by many artists. Good for Don.

Remember this? Yes, this is not the 1958 performance. Conway did re-record this song a few years after he made this song a HUGE hit. The 1958 performance was grainy and had poor sound quality. The one here will just make you dizzy (sorry). But I still like the sound better on this one:

CONWAY TWITTY - IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE



You know, people tend to forget Webb Pierce, but there was no one bigger in country music in the late 1950's. Not to cast any aspersions, but he did insist on a co-writing credit for any song that he recorded. But I guess it was a win-win situation for all. At least Mel Tillis holds no hard feelings about that (I read his autobiography). I guess either you accepted Webb as a "co-writer", or you didn't get your song recorded at all. Not a hard decision when you have a family to feed.

Here's one written by Mel:

WEBB PIERCE - TUPELO COUNTY JAIL



Again, not a video from 1958, but still worth watching! Yea, I'm a huge Marty Robbins fan. Here he is, singing:

THE STORY OF MY LIFE


Well, this is not a 1958 rendition of this song (because Hank Locklin wasn't old and bald in 1958), but you have to give this guy credit! Much like Ray Price, even at an advanced age, he's still going strong!

HANK LOCKLIN - SEND ME THE PILLOW THAT YOU DREAM ON


Interestingly, a lot of artists we think of as "rock" actually had big hits on the country charts in 1958. Elvis, for one. I can't find any of those videos, but his hit songs from that year were:

Hard-Headed Woman
I Beg Of You
Wear My Ring Around Your Neck
Don't

By the same token, the Everly Brothers were major country stars that year:

All I Have To Do Is Dream
Devoted To You

And this one:
(No, this video is not from 1958. The one from '58 was very poor quality.)

THE EVERLY BROTHERS - BIRD DOG

Oh yea, there was one other guy who seemed to have racked up a bunch of hits that year. He was sort of country, then rock, then country again.

Let's have a gander, shall we?







Oh yea, and THIS one:


One more time:



Okay, so where were we? Oh yea.

"We've earned the space to express ourselves."
Ha ha ha ha!

You ain't earned nothin' yet, honey.


Wednesday, November 21, 2007

20 Best Country Songs Of All Time - Continued

Here's one you wouldn't expect to be included in this category.

However, I make the case that this song, while considered rock and roll in its day, actually was a unique representation of country music.

Recorded when Don was age 20, and Phil was age 18 (as they tell us in this video), the song was written by a well-known songwriting team, Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who were very prolific and successful songwriters, back in an age when the lines between country and rockabilly were blurred.

This songwriting team was responsible for songs such as, "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have To Do Is Dream", "Love Hurts", "Rocky Top", "Raining In My Heart" (recorded by Buddy Holly), among many other classic songs.

These songs, if released as records today, would be classified as country songs.

Therefore, I place "Bye Bye Love" in my Top 20 of the Best Country Songs Of All Time.

(Plus, it holds kind of special memories for me, but be that as it may.....)