"Cathy's Clown" is a popular song, written by Don Everly and recorded by The Everly Brothers 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) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and having bridges 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 of the Library of Congress 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 on guitars, Floyd Cramer on piano, Floyd Chance on bass and Buddy Harman 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'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'' magazine's list of the

500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey 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 2004 in ...

. 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, 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, known as Ferde Grofé (March 27, 1892 April 3, 1972) (pronounced FUR-dee GROW-fay) was an American composer, arrangement, arranger, pianist and instrumentalist. He is best known for his 1931 five-movement tone poem, ...

'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 scene t ...

''. It was a major influence on the

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

, who — having "once toyed with calling themselves The Foreverly Brothers" — three years later re-created the song's vocal arrangement in their first U.S. single, " Please Please Me". "Cathy's Clown" is mentioned in the opening line of

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

's song "Waltz 2 (XO)", the title track of his 1998 album '' XO''. Jan and Dean recorded a cover of "Cathy's Clown" for their album ''Filet of Soul'', but

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

rejected both set lists that included the song. Liberty later selected its own set list, 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 Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

in April 1989 as the first single from her album '' Sweet Sixteen''. The song reached #1 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Country Singles & Tracks Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Other versions

The song was covered by Bill and Boyd in New Zealand; their version reached number 1 on the Lever Hit Parades chart in that country in July 1960. Another cover, by the English singer Dick Jordon, reached number 5 in New Zealand. A cover of "Cathy's Clown" by Neil Sedaka appears on his 1983 album '' Come See About Me''. Also covered by Phish at their July 2, 2019 show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center as the show opener.

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