| Track | Album/Single |
|---|---|
| Cathy’s Clown | A Date With the Everly Brothers LP |
| The Collector | Two Yanks In England LP |
| Cryin’ In The Rain | Cryin’ In The Rain / I’m Not Angry |
| The Ferris Wheel | Gone, Gone, Gone LP |
| The Girl Sang The Blues | The Girl Sang The Blues / Love Her |
| Green River | Stories We Could Tell LP |
| Let It Be Me | Let It Be Me / Since You Broke My Heart |
| Nancy’s Minuet | So It Always Will Be LP |
| Poor Jenny | Take A Message To Mary / Poor Jenny |
| So Sad | It’s Everly Time LP |
| (‘Til) I Kissed You | (‘Til) I Kissed You / Oh What A Feeling |
| When Will I Be Loved | When Will I Be Loved / Be-Bop-A-Lula |
Everlys playlist
Don & Phil Everly released their first record in 1956 and I probably heard them for the first time the following year, aged 10. Some thirty years later, they were among the first 10 artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, introduced by Neil Young who observed that all his bands “had tried and failed to copy the Everly Brothers’ harmonies”. Their output in the first few years was phenomenal, instantly recognizable and hugely successful across the world, with a particularly faithful following in the UK.
“Jenny has a brother and he’s hot on my trail, her daddy wants to ride me out of town on a rail …” I tried to make it 10 but that was impossible, so 12 it is. It could obviously have been many more: Dream, Suzie, Bye Bye Love, but that’s the catch … and I cheated.
Don Everly (1937–2021)
Phil Everly (1939–2014)
Merric Davidson is a retired publisher who started this site in 2013. He posts toppermost on Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram.
TopperPost #1
How about that classic double A-side from ’61, a massive number one in the UK, Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes?
But that would have made it up to 13 tracks – or 14 to be precise – and I couldn’t have given myself that permission. Fine double A-side though!
A friend who was ditching vinyl gave me their Golden Hits of The Everly Brothers LP the other day. I already had it on CD, but the vinyl was an album everyone I knew owned except me, and I always wanted it. The twelve tracks summed up the start of the Everlys switch from Cadence (UK London-American) to Warner Brothers. I’d take ten of the twelve right away, as it’s the strongest memory I have of them and in the sequence I know and love: That’s Old Fashioned, How Can I Meet Her, Crying In The Rain, Don’t Blame Me, Ebony Eyes, Cathy’s Clown, Walk Right Back, Lucille, So Sad, Temptation. (I’d skip I’m Not Angry and Muskrat). That album is definitive Everly Brothers for me. But a mere ten?
Can I stick to just that album? I also love their 1964-65 run of phenomenal later British hits that did less well in America: Ferris Wheel, Gone Gone Gone, The Price Of Love, Love Is Strange.
Then reach back to London-American 1957-1960 (for Wake Up Little Susie, Bye Bye Love, All I Have To Do Is Dream, (Til) I Kissed You, Claudette, Let It Be Me. And how about their 1984 reunion The Wings Of A Nightingale, given them by Paul McCartney?
Doh! That’s twenty-one. And I haven’t even started on LP tracks yet.
Due out tomorrow: “Foreverly” by Billie Joe & Norah: which is Billie Joe Armstrong (from Green Day) and Norah Jones, and is a recreation of The Everly Brothers “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us.” This is the second Everlys tribute in a year, following Dawn McCarthy & Boniie “Prince” Billy’s “What The Brothers Sang.”
Phil Everly (19 January 1939 – 3 January 2014) rest in peace
I was reading this post on New Year’s Day when I decided to find TopperPost #1. My parents had the singles of Cathy’s Clown – which I remember Dave Cash playing regularly on Radio 1 in the late 1960s – and also Walk Right Back/Ebony Eyes both with a red Warner Brothers label. Sad news.
There’s one particular track that I’d have had a problem not including in my own Ev’s Top Ten and not all that many people are aware of it. The number is “I Wonder If I Care As Much” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3p2O76DSNM and it appeared on the flip of “Bye Bye Love” (and was written by Don) – the slow mournful one contrasting with the upbeat but bitter sweet A side. Structurally it was like a slow pop ballad but with a steel guitar in the backdrop enhancing the country connection. The boys evidently liked the song since they had another go at it in “Roots” though I prefer the original.
And, in terms of favourite albums – ref Peter’s comments – I’d go for the first, the one with the subtitle “”They’re Off And Rolling” says Archie”. To record tracks from two Class A rock heroes, in “Be Bop A Lula” and “Keep A’Kockin'”, and come up with totally different versions which match the originals in originality – can I say that? – deserves a medal by itself. Not only that, there’s a pretty strong argument that this was the first bona fide Country Rock album. Elvis came close but was less consistent in terms of approach.
Like Merric, “Nancy’s Minuet” would be on my list. B side of “So It Always Will Be”. Funny, I’ve been playing “Abandoned Love” their Dylan cover from 1985 ever since I saw Chuck Prophet & Stephanie Finch cover it live. I think of it as an Everly’s number because their version came out before Dylan’s. On their rock covers, I prefer their Lucille to Little Richard’s original too. If I could only have the London stuff or the Warner Bros stuff, I would opt for the latter.
Peter, you should be on Twitter. I’ve been posting Don & Phil’s “Abandoned Love” with some regularity for I don’t know how long. Several years back I used to run a Sunday morning show as a pseudo DJ featuring #BobCovers and I guess that’s where I came across the track. I still see it as being in the top echelon of covers of The Blessed Bob (though as you observe it wasn’t technically a cover when it was released). And yes, “their “Lucille” when it came out caused me to question my long held view that Richard (like Jerry Lee) just couldn’t be covered.
This month two new Ace CD compilations, Jon Savage’s “1968” and Bob Stanley’s “State of The Union” both choose to feature “Lord of The Manor” by The Everly Brothers. It was the B-side of Milk Train, and an inferior live version appeared on The Everly Brothers Concert in 1970. It’s obscure, weird, absolutely wonderful, and so a fitting ‘What About …?” for Toppermost #1.
RIP Don.