A Joyous Tribute to the Everly Brothers by Don & Phil Everly with Simon & Garfunkel

In honor of Don Everly, who died yesterday, here’s Paul, Artie, Don & Phil Everly all together in 2005, singing “Bye Bye Love”

CREDITS:
Simon & Garfunkel & The Everly Brothers, “Bye Bye Love”
performed by Simon & Garfunkel & Don and Phil Everly
Madison Square Garden, New York
Paul Simon – Vocal, guitar
Art Garfunkel – Vocal
Don Everly – Vocal, guitar
Phil Everly – Vocal, guitar
Warren Bernhardt – Piano, keyboards;
Jamey Haddad -Percussion
Jim Keltner – Drums
Pino Palladino – Bass
Larry Saltzman – Guitar
Rob Schwimmer – Keyboards, theremin, vocals
Mark Stewart – Guitars, vocals.

Don Everly of the Everly Brothers died yesterday, August 21, 2021, at the age of 84 as we reported here. He was preceded in death by his brother in life and song, Phil Everly, who was two years younger than Don and died in 2014.

That the brothers were profoundly impactful on rock & roll and the arc of popular songwriting is well-known and indisputable. Lennon & McCartney were absolutely enthralled by their merger of perfect harmony singing and rock & roll, as were Simon & Garfunkel.

And, sadly, like all of the ones named above, Phil and Don famously didn’t get along for much of their lives. Yet they were linked forever in history and our hearts by making those records, and bringing the phenomenal fire, joy, and precision of their perfect harmony into our world.

When musically gifted siblings sing together, their sound is often extraordinary and unique, given that their voices are so similar. It’s like the sound of one soul singing, but in perfect harmony. That sound is there with the Brothers Gibb – aka the Bee Gees, as well as the Wilson brothers, Carl, Dennis, and Brian Wilson in The Beach Boys, The Roches (Maggie, Terre & Suzzy Roche, three sisters), and Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

That natural sonic closeness of sound coupled with true talent is the key, so that the voices match flawlessly not only sonically, but in terms of pitch and phrasing.

It’s that sound that The Beatles, as well as Simon & Garfunkel, aspired to create on their own.

“When John and I first started to write songs,” said Paul McCartney to Rolling Stone in 2014, “I was Phil and he was Don.”

The Everlys were not only musically great, but they were a commercial phenomenon as well, scoring thirty Top Ten hits. They were not songwriters, but they were very much song champions, bringing the songs of great songwriters to the world with so much spirit that those songs became modern standards.

For the married songwriting duo of Felice & Boudleaux Bryant, they were the best champions ever, delivering their rock & roll classics “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love” and “All I Have To Do Is Dream” in perfect Everly harmony to the world, where they have remained rocking and beloved forever.

Simon & Garfunkel famously performed and recorded “Bye Bye Love” for their landmark Bridge Over Troubled Water album, the only non-Simon-scribed song included.

Paul & Artie also performed and recorded “Wake Up Little Susie” in The Concert in Central Park in 1981, released as an album in 1982.

No greater tribute to Don & Phil Everly exists than this musical one, in which Simon and Garfunkel welcome Phil and Don onstage at Madison Square Garden in 2003 to sing “Bye Bye Love” all together.

Both of these iconic duos are energized and positively euphoric to merge their powers, and it is a joy to behold. Even at their already advanced ages – with the Everlys advanced by a few extra years – never have any of them performed the song with such strength, joy and infectious electricity.

It says more about The Everly Brothers than words can ever express.