"Cathy's Clown" is a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

, written by

Don Everly Isaac Donald Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) was an American musician. Everly was one-half of the singing duo The Everly Brothers alongside his younger brother Phil Everly, Phil. Early life Don was born in Brownie, Kentucky on Febru ...

and recorded by

The Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

in 1960. The lyrics describe a man who has been wronged and publicly humiliated by his lover: "Here he comes / That's Cathy's clown". The choruses are sung by brothers Don and Phil in their trademark close harmony style, while Don sings the bridges solo. "Cathy's Clown" is noted for its unorthodox structure, such as beginning on a

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

and having

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

s but no verses. The song was a worldwide success and the best-selling single of the Everly Brothers' career. Because of its enduring influence on popular music the song was added to the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation ...

of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

in 2013.Daniel J. Levitin (2013
The Everly Brothers - Cathy's Clown
Library of Congress, accessed 12 Jan 2020

Recording

The musicians included the Everlys and Hank Garland on guitars,

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "whole-step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signatur ...

on piano,

Floyd Chance Floyd Taylor Chance (December 21, 1925 – April 11, 2005), often credited as Lightnin' Chance, was an American session musician who played bass on many successful country and pop records, especially in the 1950s and 1960s. His bass playing can ...

on bass and

Buddy Harman Murrey Mizell "Buddy" Harman, Jr. (December 23, 1928 – August 21, 2008) was an American country music session musician. Career Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Harman studied music at Roy C. Knapp School of Percussion. He returned to Nashville ...

on drums. The distinctive drum sound was achieved by recording them with a tape loop, making it sound as if there were two drummers. "Cathy's Clown" was recorded live in a single take, with Don and Phil sharing a microphone.

History

"Cathy's Clown" was The Everly Brothers' first single for Warner Bros., after they had recorded for

Archie Bleyer Archibald Martin Bleyer (June 12, 1909 – March 20, 1989) was an American song arranger, bandleader, and record company executive. Early life Bleyer was born in the Corona section of the New York City borough of Queens. His father was a well-k ...

's Cadence label for three years. It sold eight million copies worldwide, spending five weeks at number 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and one week on the R&B chart. The song spent seven weeks at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart in May and June 1960, and was the Everly Brothers' biggest-selling single and their third and final U.S. number 1 hit. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the number 3 song of the year for 1960. In 2004, it was ranked 149th on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine's list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring song ranking compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2 ...

. In November 2018, a judge ruled that Don was the sole writer of "Cathy's Clown", as Phil had relinquished his rights sometime before June 1980.

Acuff-Rose Music Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. was an American music publishing firm formed in 1942 by Roy Acuff and Fred Rose (songwriter), Fred Rose in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Currently, the company's catalog is owned by Sony Music Publishing. Early hi ...

, which owned the song publishing, and BMI (the brothers' rights society) removed Phil's name from all the royalty statements. In 2011, Don filed to regain ownership, with the estate of Phil following in 2014.

Associations

"Cathy's Clown" was inspired by

Ferde Grofé Ferdinand Rudolph von Grofé (March 27, 1892 April 3, 1972), known as Ferde Grofé () was an American composer, arranger, pianist, and instrumentalist. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement symphonic poem, ''Grand Canyon Suite'', and for ...

's ''

Grand Canyon Suite The ''Grand Canyon Suite'' is a suite for orchestra by Ferde Grofé, composed between 1929 and 1931. It was initially titled ''Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon''. It consists of five movements, each an evocation in tone of a particular scen ...

''. It was a major influence on the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, who — having "once toyed with calling themselves The Foreverly Brothers" — three years later copied the Everly's harmonies on their first U.K. No. 1 hit single, "Please Please Me (song), Please Please Me". "Cathy's Clown" is mentioned in the Opening sentence, opening line of Elliott Smith's song "Waltz 2 (XO)", the title track of his 1998 album ''XO (Elliott Smith album), XO''. Jan and Dean recorded a cover of "Cathy's Clown" for their album ''Filet of Soul'', but Liberty Records rejected both track listings that included the song. Liberty later selected its own track listing, which did not include "Cathy's Clown", and released it shortly after Jan Berry's crash near Deadman's Curve. Jan & Dean's cover of "Cathy's Clown" is available on the "Filet Of Soul Redux: The Rejected Master Recordings" release.

Chart history

All-time charts

Reba McEntire version

The song was recorded by American country music artist Reba McEntire in April 1989 as the lead single from her fifteenth studio album ''Sweet Sixteen (Reba McEntire album), Sweet Sixteen''. The song reached #1 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Hot Country Songs, Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Johnny Hallyday version (in French)

Also in 1960, the song was adapted into French language, French by Georges Aber and Pierre Delanoë as "''Le p'tit clown de ton cœur''" (meaning "The Little Clown of your heart"), and was recorded by French rock and roll singer Johnny Hallyday and was released as the lead single off of Hallyday's second studio album ''Nous les gars, nous les filles'' ("Us guys, us girls") that November, which was released two months later. Hallyday's version peaked at Number 48 on the French Belgian charts in early 1961.

Charts

Other notable versions

The song was covered by Bill and Boyd in New Zealand; their version reached number 1 on the List of number-one singles in 1960 (New Zealand), Lever Hit Parades chart in that country in July 1960. Another cover, by the English singer Dick Jordon, reached number 5 in New Zealand. English musician John Lennon also recorded a version, though only as a short demo that was never finished.

References

{{authority control The Everly Brothers songs Jan and Dean songs 1960 songs Songs written by Phil Everly Songs written by Don Everly 1960 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in New Zealand Warner Records singles Reba McEntire songs Song recordings produced by Jimmy Bowen 1989 singles MCA Records singles United States National Recording Registry recordings