The Everly Brothers
December 4th, 2006
On the night of the 14th May 2004 I was writhing in my bed with an awful stomach ache, full of regret that I had eaten a brown yolked egg. I decided to turn on my Definitive Everly Brothers
I find I can remember things incredibly well through association with the senses, especially by smell or sound. A certain brand of soap brings memories flooding back, as does the acrid smell of a garden bonfire. When I was walking back from college on the 5th October this year, there was white smoke billowing out from a front garden, probably from burning the oak-leaves that pile up every autumn. The smoke drifted over the road and turned the sunlight, which was already milky, into a white haze. It was quite amazing walking through the smoke as it evoked so many memories, when I arrived at home I just laid down quietly for a while.
I have listened to the Everly Brothers since two years ago, but not since recently have I given them any proper attention. It’s surprising how modern they sound, given they recorded a lot of tracks before the ubiquity of the Beatles. I use the Beatles as a benchmark when discussing the progression of the Rock and Roll style of music, but only because they were the pinnacle of the movement in terms of popularity–not necessarily as a matter of quality. It’s interesting that the Beatles are still immensely popular; they have topped the “Top Artist” chart at Live.fm for a while now.
In terms of vocal harmony in Rock and Roll, the Everly Brothers are among the original and most talented. Later rivals to the two-voice harmony Simon and Garfunkel showed appreciation for the Everly influence, by making them a feature in their reunion tour.
Like Simon and Garfunkel, they are also talented guitarists, playing chords and lead riffs with a country influence, most noticeable in the bouncy “Muskrat”. Appealing to the younger audience in the late 50s, they made a mark with such songs as “Wake Up Little Susie” and “Bye Bye Love”, the latter with the seemingly innocent jaunty rhythm, but with powerful lyrics, that perhaps passed under the radar to all but teenagers, who could empathise with the sentiments they conveyed. This is reminiscent of Buddy Holly’s “Midnight Shift” that has similar surprisingly dark undertones. They are also one of the few artists who can add any more to Buddy’s songs, with the excellent renditions of “That’ll Be The Day” and “Love Is Strange”.
Proving that they could switch genres from Rock and Roll to Romantic ballad with the best of them, they produced such memorably poignant songs as “Ebony Eyes” and “It’s All Over”–a particular favourite of mine. Other songs such as “Gone, Gone, Gone” and the electric “Green River” show that they can sound as relevant today as ever.
It’s nice to not associate them with brown egg yolk any more. Oh–and if you were thinking how marvelous my memory must be to have remembered the exact date of the incident, I confess I worked it out by looking at the timestamps of some photos I took at The Shadows Last Tour, which thankfully I was well enough to see the next day.