Cathy's Clown was the biggest hit of the Everly Brothers' career, spending five weeks at Number One in the US, seven weeks at Number One in the UK, and selling over 8 million copies worldwide.
Phil and Don argued over who wrote it, though the tune was allegedly nicked from a section of The Grand Canyon Suite by American composer Ferde Grofé. I had a listen and couldn't hear any similarity myself. The Everly's close harmony singing style was particularly influential on The Beatles (who iffypedia says "once toyed with the idea of calling themselves The Foreverly Brothers", but I'm not sure I believe that). There's certainly a similarity between Cathy's Clown and The Beatles' debut single...
The Beatles - Please Please Me
The song also gets mentioned in the opening lines of one of Elliot Smith's biggest hits...
First the mic, then a half cigarette
Singing, "Cathy's Clown"
That's the man she's married to now
That's the girl that he takes around town
It also inspired these guys to name their band when they wanted to record a cover of a Gil Scott Heron song...
Jay And Cathy's Clowns - The Bottle
All of which brings us to a man who also named himself after a song: John Wesley Hardin. Here he is in 1990 with his own sequel to the Everly Brothers' smash...
I almost did not play the sequel, that photo of JWH is quite off- putting. The song is perfectly listenable, but my vote goes to Phil and Don
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