Bye Bye Love (The Everly Brothers song)
| "Bye Bye Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Everly Brothers | ||||
| from the album The Everly Brothers | ||||
| B-side | "I Wonder If I Care as Much" | |||
| Released | March 1957 | |||
| Recorded | March 1, 1957, RCA Studios, Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Rockabilly, country, rock and roll | |||
| Length | 2:26 | |||
| Label | Cadence | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Felice & Boudleaux Bryant | |||
| The Everly Brothers singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Bye Bye Love" is a popular song written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant and published in 1957. It is best known in a debut recording by the Everly Brothers,[1] issued by Cadence Records as catalog number 1315. The song reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Pop charts and No. 1 on the Cash Box Best Selling Record charts. The Everly Brothers' version also enjoyed major success as a country song, reaching No. 1 in the spring of 1957.[2] The Everlys' "Bye Bye Love" is ranked 210th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
The Beatles covered the song during the Let It Be sessions in 1969. George Harrison reinterpreted it for his 1974 album Dark Horse, changing the words to reference his wife Pattie Boyd leaving him for his friend Eric Clapton. "Bye Bye Love" has also been covered by Simon & Garfunkel.
The guitar intro was not originally part of the song, but was something that Don Everly had come up with and was tacked on to the beginning.[3] Chet Atkins was the lead guitar player on the session.[4] Buddy Harman was the drummer.[5]
Simon & Garfunkel version
Simon & Garfunkel included a live version of the song on their 1970 album Bridge over Troubled Water.[6] Following the end of filming of Catch-22 in October, the first performance of their tour took place in Ames, Iowa. The concert included "Bye Bye Love", backed by the audience's hand clapping. Simon & Garfunkel were fascinated with its sound, so they repeated it a second time for a recording; while the first try failed, they liked the second attempt and included it on Bridge over Trouble Water.[7]
"Bye Bye Love" became a farewell song and a sign of a new career.[8] Peter Ames Carlin praised their version for its "close harmony pleasures".[9]
George Harrison version
In 1974, George Harrison recorded "Bye Bye, Love" for his album Dark Horse. As well as inserting a comma in the song title, Harrison wrote additional lyrics and a radically different melody line.[10][11] Author Chris Ingham describes Harrison's version as "recomposed in a minor key and featuring pointedly customised lyrics".[12] The new words were in reference to his wife Pattie Boyd having left him for their mutual friend Eric Clapton:[13]
There goes our lady, with a-you-know-who
I hope she's happy, old Clapper too
We had good rhythm (and a little slide) till she stepped in
Did me a favour, I ... threw them both out.
In a later verse, Harrison states that he has "got tired of ladies that plot and shove me", before apparently dismissing his wife's affair as "our lady ... out on a spree".
Rumours circulated that Clapton himself contributed on guitar and Boyd on backing vocals,[14] but they were incorrect,[15][16] although the new couple were credited on the inner sleeve notes.[13] Harrison had written their names along with other cryptic messages among the album's musician credits,[11] whereupon an assistant then sought permission from Clapton's record company and added the standard acknowledgment, reading: "Eric Clapton appears through the courtesy of RSO Records."[17]
The song also included a credit for "Rhythm Ace", which Tom Scott explained soon after the album's release: "Rhythm Ace is an electronic machine that plays any rhythm – a boogaloo, a cha-cha or a rhumba. I suppose a lot of people will think it's a person."[15] In fact, Harrison played all the instruments on the recording, using the multitrack facilities at his Friar Park home studio:[17] two 12-string acoustic guitars, drums, Moog bass as well as bass guitar, three electric guitar parts, electric piano, bongos, together with his lead vocal and backing vocals.
While Harrison dismissed the exercise as "just a little joke" in a 1977 interview,[18] his reading of "Bye Bye Love" drew an unfavorable response from music critics when Dark Horse was released in December 1974.[19] In music journalist Peter Doggett's description, "gossip columnists lapped up" the information Harrison disclosed in the song.[20] Among more recent assessments, Richard Ginell of AllMusic calls it a "slipshod rewrite"[21] and Alan Clayson refers to Harrison's "blatant ... liberty-taking".[13] Author Simon Leng views it as "one track on Dark Horse that seriously fails the quality-control test ... a desperately bad offering". He adds: "In its own way, 'Bye Bye, Love' is a classic 1970s period piece, from the era when rock stars used music to settle their own personal scores. Thankfully, George Harrison only made that mistake once."[17]
In a 2014 review for Uncut, Richard Williams said Harrison's reading of "Bye Bye, Love" was a highlight of an album that otherwise "only a devoted Apple scruff could love". With this cover version, Williams continued, Harrison "sought the kind of return to bare-bones rock'n'roll simplicity Lennon had achieved with 'Instant Karma'".[22] Ingham also rates "Bye Bye, Love" among the best tracks on Dark Horse, along with the title song and "Far East Man".[12] Blogcritics' Chaz Lipp describes it as "a funky and funny comment on the dissolution of his marriage".[23]
Personnel
The following musicians played on the Everly Brothers' recording:
- Don Everly – vocals, rhythm guitar[3]
- Phil Everly – vocals, rhythm guitar
- Chet Atkins – lead guitar[4]
- Floyd “Lightnin’” Chance – double bass[24]
- Buddy Harman – drums[5]
Other cover versions
The Everly Brothers' country success was concurrent with another country version, recorded by Webb Pierce, at the time one of country music's top entertainers. Pierce's version reached No. 7 on Billboard's chart of Most Played C&W by Jockeys,[25] while reaching No. 8 on Billboard's chart of C&W Best Selling in Stores, in a tandem ranking with its B-side, "Missing You".[26]
Rory Blackwell and his Blackjacks recorded the song the UK in 1957, issued by Parlophone/EMI.[citation needed]
The song was covered by Ray Charles on his seminal 1962 album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music.[27]
Highly influenced by the Everly Brothers, 1960's Mexican rock group, Los Hermanos Carrión, recorded a Spanish language cover entitled "Adios Adios Amor".
An uptempo version is included in the 1973 duet album Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn.[28]
The 1979 film All That Jazz features a rendition of the song performed by Roy Scheider and Ben Vereen with rewritten lyrics.[29]
David Lindley covered the song in 1981 on the album El Rayo-X, issued by Asylum Records.[30]
Lacy J. Dalton covered the song on her 1992 album Chains on the Wind. Her version peaked at number 69 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.[31]
A cover of the song by the Proclaimers is heard in the 1995 film Bye Bye Love.[32]
French-American singer-songwriter Madeleine Peyroux recorded the song in 2013 for her album The Blue Room.
Livingston Taylor also made a version of the song for his 2017 album Safe Home.
References
- ^ The Everly Brothers interviewed on the Pop Chronicles (1969)
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits: 1944–2006, Second edition. Record Research. p. 117.
- ^ a b Michael Kosser (2006). How Nashville Became Music City, U.S.A.: 50 Years of Music Row. p. 90. ISBN 9780634098062. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
- ^ a b "Inductee explorer | Rock & Roll Hall of Fame". Rockhall.com. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
- ^ a b "Buddy Harmon | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2016-08-28.
- ^ Eder, Bruce. "Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ Ebel, Roswitha (2004). Paul Simon: seine Musik, sein Leben [Paul Simon: His Music, His Life] (in German). epubli. pp. 64, 67. ISBN 978-3-937729-00-8.
- ^ Ebel 2004, pp. 67–68
- ^ Carlin, Peter Ames (2016). Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon. Henry Holt and Company. p. 184. ISBN 9781627790345.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002; ISBN 0-7432-3581-9), p. 46.
- ^ a b Lindsay Planer, "George Harrison 'Bye Bye, Love'", AllMusic (retrieved 22 March 2012).
- ^ a b Chris Ingham, The Rough Guide to the Beatles, Rough Guides/Penguin (London, 2006; 2nd edn; ISBN 978-1-84836-525-4), p. 134.
- ^ a b c Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003; ISBN 1-86074-489-3), p. 343.
- ^ Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8307-0), p. 135.
- ^ a b Michael Gross, "George Harrison: How Dark Horse Whipped Up a Winning Tour", CIrcus Raves, March 1975; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 14 July 2012).
- ^ Mark Ellen, "A Big Hand for The Quiet One", Q, January 1988, p. 66.
- ^ a b c Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ISBN 1-4234-0609-5), p. 152.
- ^ Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8307-0), p. 203.
- ^ Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY, 1978; ISBN 0-07-055087-5), p. 178.
- ^ Doggett, Peter (April 2001). "George Harrison: The Apple Years 1968–1975". Record Collector. p. 39.
- ^ Richard S. Ginell, "George Harrison Dark Horse", AllMusic (retrieved 11 March 2012).
- ^ Richard Williams, "George Harrison The Apple Years 1968–75", Uncut, November 2014, p. 93.
- ^ Chaz Lipp, "Music Review: George Harrison's Apple Albums Remastered", Blogcritics, 5 October 2014 (retrieved 7 October 2014).
- ^ "Session Legend Floyd "Lightnin'" Chance Dies at Age 79". Cmt.com. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
- ^ Most Played C&W by Jockeys", Billboard, July 22, 1957. p. 73. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- ^ C&W Best Selling in Stores", Billboard, June 10, 1957. p. 58. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
- ^ Cook, Stephen. "Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music – Ray Charles". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man – Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ Denby, David (1979-12-31). "Broadway Melody of 1979". New York. pp. 61, 63. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
- ^ Greenwald, Matthew. "El Rayo-X – David Lindley". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
- ^ "RPM Country Tracks". RPM. July 4, 1992. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2013.
- ^ "Bye Bye Love Movie Soundtrack". IMBD. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
