50 years ago: The Everly Brothers “Cathy’s Clown” hit #1

Cathy’s Clown The Everly Brothers

Writer(s): Don Everly, Phil Everly (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 18, 1960 Peak: 15 US, 15 CB, 14 HR, 11 RB, 17 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU, 8 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 8.5 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Don and Phil Everly were pioneers of rock and roll, combined elements of country and pop. They found success with “Bye Bye Love,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “All I Have to Do Is Dream” and more in the 1950s. On songs like the latter, the brothers “radiated a tremulous lost-little-kid vulnerability. That approachability might have been one key to their longevity; they were still making hits back when many of their peers were falling off.” SG “Of that initial big-bang wave of ’50s rock ‘n’ roll stars, the Everly Brothers were arguably the least threatening.” SG In 1960, when some rock stars were already peaking, the Everlys signed a 10-year, million-dollar contract with Warner Brothers. FB It was reportedly the first million-dollar contract. KL Their first single on the new label, “Cathy’s Clown,” was the best-selling of their career. SG It was also their longest-running #1 in the UK, where they topped the charts five times. The song also has the distinction of being the first single to be atop the charts simultaneously in the United States and the UK. FB The “perfectly solid pop song about romantic bitterness” SG was written once Don and Phil Everly were home in Nashville after a tour. Warner Brothers was eager for a hit and didn’t see one in the eight songs the Everlys had recorded so far. Don wrote the melody and the chorus while Phil wrote the verses. FB It was another example of how they “simply knew how to put a song together.” SG “They managed to make even the bitterness sound friendly and approachable.” SG Graham Gouldman of 10cc said, “I loved the Everly Brothers and still do. They would sound like three people singing and they recorded brilliant songs, looked great, and played beautiful guitars. ‘Cathy’s Clown’ was the first record I bought and I can still hear its influence in my writing. I loved the fact that one note was being held with another melody descensing underneath it. I used that idea in ‘For Your Love’ for the Yardbirds.” KL Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 68. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 67. SG Stereogum (2/23/2018). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/12/2022.

50 years ago: The Everly Brothers “Wake Up Little Susie” hit #1

Wake Up Little Susie The Everly Brothers

Writer(s): Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant (see lyrics here) Released: September 2, 1957 First Charted: September 16, 1957 Peak: 14 US, 11 BS, 14 DJ, 2 HP, 12 CB, 15 HR, 18 CW, 11 RB, 2 UK, 13 CN, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 8.6 video, 65.61 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant met and married in 1945. They struggled financially, writing more than 80 songs while living in a mobile home. In 1948, they wrote the top-ten hit “Country Boy” for Little Jimmy Dickens. In 1950, they moved to Nashville as full-time songwriters. They got their real break in 1957 when they wrote “Bye Bye Love” for the Everly Brothers. The brothers Don and Phil were born in 1937 and 1939 respectively. The family moved to Tennessee in 1953 and after Phil graduated in 1957, the pair started a recording career. “Bye Bye Love” was their first chart single, reaching #2 on the U.S. pop charts and going gold. The follow-up, “Wake Up Little Susie,” was another song written by the Bryants and did even better – topping the pop, country, and R&B charts. Boudleaux said he wrote “Wake Up Little Susie” “to pick up on the thrilling acoustic guitar strum that opens ‘Bye Bye Love,’ which it does in spades.” DM The song was written from the point of view of a high school boy and his girlfriend Susie on a date. It revealed “the perils of going to see a very long, very dull movie when you should be home in bed.” DT It spun “a tall tale about a couple who go to a drive-in and…fall asleep until 3:00 A.M.?” DM Radio stations suspecting more had happened than what the lyrics reveal banned the song. Boudleaux said, “It was amazing to us that anybody saw anything pornographic in it.” SJ His wife Felice said, “That goes to show you how well people listen.” SJ The boy in the song actually fears friends and families will assume the couple had sex – as many listeners wrongly did – and that they will lose their good reputations. WK In 1982, Simon & Garfunkel’s live version of the song from their 1979 Central Park reunion reached #27. Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 204. DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 280. SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 56. DT Dave Thompson (2011). 1000 Songs That Rock Your World. Krause Publications: Iola, WI. Page 110. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 8/6/2023.

50 years ago: The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love” charted

Bye Bye Love The Everly Brothers

Writer(s): Boudleaux Bryant, Felice Bryant (see lyrics here) Released: March 1957 First Charted: May 13, 1957 Peak: 2 US, 3 HP, 11 CB, 11 HR, 17 CW, 5 RB, 6 UK, 2 CN, 14 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 3.0 radio, 13.0 video, 40.5 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: By 1957, rock and roll had become “ a vehicle for the banal contrivances of camera-friendly faces singing songs about teenage romance.” RY The term “rock and roll” had become a catchphrase for corporate-sponsored teen music with a beat.” RY There were exceptions, however. The Everly Brothers were one of the acts that “brought something new and innovative to their music.” RY They were the first to introduce lead-vocal harmony to the genre. RY The Everlys came from a musical family. Their parents sang country music on the radio and brought the kids up “with the traditional country style of picking and singing.” AC Once Phil and Don Everly graduated from high school, they moved to Nashville and almost immediately were landing gigs in clubs, thanks to their father’s connections.Dad also asked his musician friend Chet Atkins to introduce his boys to Wesley Rose, a publisher, who convinced Archie Blyeyer to sign them to Cadence Records. SS Meanwhile, the writing team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who married five days after they met, had more than 80 songs and were seeking a publisher. A musician friend suggested they contact Fred Rose, a new publisher in Nashville. They found some success with a few country and pop hits over more than a decade of writing, SS but really hit gold when Cadence Records bought the song “Bye Bye Love” for the Everly Brothers after more than thirty other artists turned the song down. SS Despite the absence of traditional country instruments such as fiddle or steel guitar, it was “a very country-sounding cut.” AC The Everlys took it to the top of the country charts and #2 on the pop chart. It was the first taste of success for the Everly Brothers, who would go on to have more than thirty more hits. “The unearthly combination of Don and Phil Everly’s voices was so perfect, so pure, that it seemed to emanate from a single source.” RY They also had songs, which – thanks to the Bryants in many cases – were infused “with thoughtful lyrics that spoke to the hearts and minds of teenagers.” RY Resources: AC Ace Collins (1996). The Stories Behind Country Music’s All-Time Greatest 100 Songs. New York, NY; The Berkley Publishing Group. Pages 111-13. RY Thomas Ryan (1996). American Hit Radio: A History of Popular Singles From 1955 to the Present. Prima Publishing: Rocklin, CA. Pages 19-20. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Pages 690-1. Related Links: First posted 8/26/2022.