Tag: Bye Bye Love

Everly Brothers – Bye Bye Love

Love the intro to this song. It’s the kind of song that turns teenage heartache into pure joy. This song was my introduction to the Everly Brothers, and I have never stopped listening. 

The husband-and-wife songwriting team of Boudleaux and Felice Bryant wrote this song. Together, this talented couple wrote many hits for the Everly Brothers and other artists, including Wake Up Little Susie and All I Have To Do Is Dream. The Bryants are credited with being the first songwriters to come to Nashville and make a living only by writing songs. Almost 30 other artists had previously rejected this song before The Everly Brothers recorded it. It became their first hit in both the UK and the US.

Behind the scenes, the recording session was minimal: two voices, a couple of guitars, Floyd Chance on upright bass, and Buddy Harman on drums, but the sound was huge. The Everlys blended country, pop, and rock ’n’ roll, and it gave teenagers something they hadn’t quite heard before. That ringing acoustic rhythm became very influential, later inspiring everyone from The Beatles to Simon & Garfunkel, The Hollies, and countless power-pop bands down the road.

This song was more than just a hit; it opened doors. The Beatles modeled their early vocal style after Don and Phil. Keith Richards once said that hearing the Everly Brothers changed everything for him. The song has been covered by everyone from Simon & Garfunkel to George Harrison. It’s a rare song that never feels dated

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #1 on the Billboard  Country Charts, #2 on Canada’s CHUM charts, #1 in New Zealand, and #6 in the UK in 1957. It was recorded in Nashville at the RCA Studios.

Boudleaux: “I wrote ‘Bye Bye Love’ while traveling home one night. Felice was driving down the highway and I got the first verse and chorus right down there. I always make sure I have a pen and paper in the car for these occasions.”

“We really believed in the song and were disappointed when so many people turned it down. They said it was unsuitable, some even asked if we has anything better!”

Bye Bye Love

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness, hello loneliness
I think I’m-a gonna cry-y
Bye bye love, bye bye sweet caress, hello emptiness
I feel like I could di-ie
Bye bye my love goodby-eye

There goes my baby with-a someone new
She sure looks happy, I sure am blue
She was my baby till he stepped in
Goodbye to romance that might have been

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness, hello loneliness
I think I’m-a gonna cry-y
Bye bye love, bye bye sweet caress, hello emptiness
I feel like I could di-ie
Bye bye my love goodby-eye

I’m-a through with romance, I’m a-through with love
I’m through with a’countin’ the stars above
And here’s the reason that I’m so free
My lovin’ baby is through with me

Bye bye love
Bye bye happiness, hello loneliness
I think I’m-a gonna cry-y
Bye bye love, bye bye sweet caress, hello emptiness
I feel like I could di-ie
Bye bye my love goodby-eye

Bye bye my love goodby-eye
Bye bye my love goodby-eye

Bye bye my love goodby-eye
Bye bye my love goodby-eye

Max Picks …songs from 1957

I usually run this on Wednesdays after the Star Trek. We finished up season 2 and we are starting the last season…season 3 tomorrow!  Thanks for visiting the third installment of Max Picks. If you missed the first or second just follow the links.

1957

Let’s start this year with two brothers with some of the best harmonies ever in Rock/Pop…The Everly Brothers. Many guitar players could get close to the intro to this song but never exactly. The reason is Don Everly was using open G tuning…what Keith Richards later learned and made a career out of it…and that’s not an exaggeration. If you tune your guitar to open G tuning…you could play over half of the Stones catalog…believe me I do. Enough of guitar talk… this song was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. This song has sheer beauty to it and also drive. I love Elvis but I’m leaving him off of this one since we featured him in the last two.

Now we get to the one…the only Pat Boone! NOT. I had to make sure you were paying attention. Now lets get to the bad boy of the fifties and all the decades that followed. He made other “bad boys” look tame. Jerry Lee Lewis was the real deal. Pure Rock and Roll that made Elvis look subtle. I can imagine he was public enemy number one with a lot of parents. Forget that though… his music is like an adrenaline rush to get up and move. The song was written by Dave “Curlee” Williams and James Faye “Roy” Hall.

I promised more Buddy Holly in the last post so I’m coming through on that promise. I could not believe the songs I could pick from in 1957. Take a look at the singles he had this year. Oh Boy, Not Fade Away, Peggy Sue, Everyday, Rock Around With Ollie Vee, and last but not least…That’ll Be The Day. That simple intro to this song is magic. I could have picked any of those songs. This song was written by Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly, and Norman Petty.

Now we have a singer who had a voice that was as smooth as silk. Sam Cooke‘s voice still gets to me. It was named as one of the 500 most important rock and roll recordings by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Many artists have covered it but I’ll take Cooke’s version of it any day. It was written by the man himself.

I want to add a doo-wop vocal group because they were very popular then and this song is great. This song is called Come Go With Me by The Del-Vikings. The first time Paul and John met…John and his band The Quarrymen were playing this song with Lennon making up the words “Come and Go with me to the penitentiary” and probably some obscene words here and there. It was written by Clarence Quick.

As always…thanks for reading and listening!