Flashback Friday: "Cathy's Clown" - The Everly Brothers (1960)

Ah, another step back to the early 60's. It's interesting to see just how digestible pop music was back then. The majority of what people got were short, catchy pop tunes that you could listen to without much thought. And yep, this is where the Everly Brothers come in.

Probably one of the most famous and influential duos in pop history, The Everly Brothers thrived on catchy hooks and short songs to keep their listeners coming back. And come back they did, with their success culminating in 1960 with their #1 hit, "Cathy's Clown".

Honestly, if we're just talkin' Everly Brothers songs, I personally prefer "Wake Up Little Susie", but that's not to say this song doesn't have charm as well. "Cathy's Clown" is understandable as a big hit; it's short and digestible, like many of the Everly Brothers songs, but also commands enough of a presence to make it memorable.

So, the song's content basically deals with a girl treating her boyfriend like crap, and talking smack about him. Enough so that people call him "Cathy's Clown". So he decides to break up with her. Simple enough premise for a song, and pop music used to be really good at getting simple messages across in short time while still sounding like a complete song. Nowadays, in the catalog of short hits, we have shit like

There's no comparison. Back in the day, even short songs could get across a narrative - or SOMETHING, at least. "Cathy's Clown" is a perfect example of that, and The Everly Brothers are a perfect example of a good old pop act.