Breakdown #6: The Everly Brothers
Every month I break down a different recording of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” for your enjoyment (and mine)
I was reminded this week that September is only a few short days away (two by the time you’re reading this). It seems like only yesterday I was writing about Skeeter Davis and the first two mosquito bites of my summer. I am more than happy to report that the welts have faded away. And today I’ll be discussing a far more important duo than the red and white welts on my feet.
A bit of background:
Any musician who has sung two part harmonies in the past 60 years are, in one way or another, indebted to the Everly Brothers. The Beatles, The Bees Gees, Simon and Garfunkel, and The Beach Boys, have all credited the pair as inspiration. Don and Phil Everly began their musical career young, accompanying their father and mother on the radio billing themselves as The Everly Family.
The brothers eventually outgrew the act and caught the attention of family friend Chet Atkins in Nashville. Atkins, better known as Mr. Guitar, would set them up with their first contract at Columbia Records. It was a short lived deal lasting less than six months and producing two singles that failed to chart. But the story of The Everly Brothers doesn’t end there.
Atkins would also help introduce the brothers to Wesley Rose. Rose, was the son of famed Nashville songwriter Fred Rose, who had founded the music publishing company Acuff-Rose with country musician Roy Acuff. Rose signed the Everly Brothers to Acuff-Rose Publishing and served as their manager. He also secured them a three-year deal with Cadence Records in 1957. It was through Acuff-Rose that the Everly Brothers would begin their partnership with husband and wife songwriting team Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The Bryants would pen all of the Everly Brothers top hits on Cadence, including their debut single on the label and their first million seller "Bye Bye Love," “Love Hurts,” "All I Have to Do Is Dream,” and "Wake Up Little Susie.” After their three-year contract with Cadence expired in 1960, the Everly Brothers signed with Warner Brothers Records. They would spend nearly a decade with Warner Brothers releasing albums such as “A Date with the Everly Brothers”, “Gone, Gone, Gone”, and my personal favorite (and often overlooked record) “Roots.” The Everly Brothers fast fame, also came at a price. Their contract with Acuff-Rose publishing was strenuous and Rose was notoriously difficult.
In 1961, the Everly Brothers terminated their contact with Acuff-Rose and lost access to Felice and Boudleaux Bryant in the process. They also, lost the rights to their own recordings made while with Acuff-Rose. At Warner Records, even when writing their own songs, the Everly Brothers were never able to replicate their early career prosperity. In July of 1973, the Everly Brother were set to have a two day final performance at Knotts Berry Farm in California before going on an extended hiatus. On the second day of performing, Don, in a drunken fit lashed out at the audience. Phil, in a state of anger and embarrassment, smashed his guitar and walked off stage. Don finished the set solo remarking that, “The Everly Brothers died 10 years ago.” It would take a decade of silence between the brothers to reunite them in 1983 at London's Royal Albert Hall. Phil died in 2014 and Don Died in 2021.
So, what is so special about this version?
After taking some time away to serve in The Marine Corps, the Everly Brothers released their eighth studio album “The Everly Brothers Sing Great Country Hits,” in October of 1963. The album consists of covers of country hit songs such as Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” and the Hank Williams tune "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry.” While many of these songs had originally been written in Nashville, the recording of the album took place nowhere near the Music City. It was recorded in Hollywood with several members of The Wrecking Crew, including then session guitarist Glen Campbell and renowned studio drummer Hal Blaine. “Silver Threads and Golden Needles” appears as the third track on the B-side of the record. The Everly Brothers were the greatest two part harmonizers in the history of American music. Their voices were haunting, heartbreaking, and jovial in a single note. And yet not even the angelical nature of the Everly Brothers harmonies could save this version of “Silver Threads and Golden Needles.”
The rock and roll soaked country ballad is tainted not by the sound of the song, but by the changed lyrics. In the process of the lyrical rearrangement, we lose the songs' deeply moving perspective. In its original form, the song is sung from the perspective of a lover who has grown tired of a partner flaunting their wealth to makeup for disloyal ways. This version attempts to turn the tables and tries to sing from the perspective of the wealthy partner. But this recording truly fails even that. A song does not need to be a ballad to be heartbreaking, but it should make some sense. Read the lyrics of this version and compare it to just about any other version of this song. You’ll see exactly what I mean. It is, sadly, a tone deaf rearrangement that manages to lack any pathos.
Silver Threads And Golden Needles Lyrics
(The Everly Brothers Version)
Silver Threads and Golden Needles
Will not tie your heart to mine
And I’lll never drown my sorrow
In the warm glow of the wine
I won’t buy your love with money
For I never was that kind
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot tie your heart to mine
I don’t want this lonely mansion
With a tear in every room
I just want the love you promised
Beneath the haloed moon
But you thought you could be happy
With my money and my name
And pretend I wouldn’t notice
While you play the cheating game
Silver Threads and golden needles
Will not tie your heart to mine
And I’ll never drown my sorrow
In the warm glow of the wine
I won’t buy your love with money
For I never was that kind
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot tie your heart to mine
Guitar break
Silver Threads and golden needles
Will not tie your heart to mine
And I’ll never drown my sorrow
In the warm glow of the wine
I won’t buy your love with money
For I never was that kind
Silver threads and golden needles
Cannot tie your heart to mine