Dream, dream, dream...

[Merckx index]

Phil Everly is dead. To those of us who grew up in the U.S. in the 50s and 60s, he needs no introduction. He and his brother were not just another pretty voice, but as Bob Dylan said, "they started it all". In their way, almost as influential as Presley.

I'm not even much of a music fan, but I remember him and brother Don fondly. Nineteen top 40 hits between '57 and '62. I guess my favorite was Devoted to You. And Let it Be Me.

 

[Echoes]

I grew up in Belgium in the nineties and yet I'm sad (though the bros were already long retired now).

The beatles copied their harmonies on the Everly's. The Byrds as well

Almost as influential as Presley? But Presley never even invented anything. They were much more influential.

When they were inducted into the R&R Hall of fame, Neil Young said all the bands he's been a member of tried to emulate the Everly's harmonies but never could equal them.

Graham Nash: "The Everly's were my true teachers. Their harmonies were two-voiced but I added a third one - mine - beyond their LP's. That's how I found my feeling and that's how I later could adapt my voice to anybody." (or something like that).

Nash went to see them in 1957 in the Opera House in Manchester and by 2.30pm they were still there signing autographs and talking to him and his friends, which impressed him because they weren't forced to do that.

David Crosby hated that generation's rock & roll. I rather liked the folk tradition (Weavers, Kingston Trio, etc.) but when the Everly released All I Have to do is Dream, he got into it. He & Nash were really impressed by their ability to mix the "precision of a choir" and the rhythm of a pop song.


My own favourite is Bird Dog (but it's a Boudleaux-Bryant song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US49tQbYsg0

If I were to favour a self-penned song I'd say Gone Gone Gone. I'd really that that song was the real folk rock start (before the Byrds and the Beatles), even close to country rock :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLpDr9kdD7o

Ever noticed that the intro lick that Don added to Bye Bye Love sounds like ZZ Top's La Grange: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCWMMKS6W4Q (Don thought to write a whole song out of it and Chet Atkins advised him to add it to Bye Bye Love).

Let It Be Me is a French sonog by Gilbert Bécaud (Je t'appartiens): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4n4UQtJRpw

Phil recorded a very emotional version of The Last Thing on my Mind, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBFGOqoG6vo

Also love Should We Tell Him (deserves a mention because penned by Phil alone): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwsN75G73Hk

RIP Phil and thanks for all the work you are leaving behind for us to enjoy.