They began writing and recording their own music in 1956, and their first hit song came in 1957, with "Bye Bye Love", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. The song hit No. 1 in the spring of 1957, and additional hits would follow through 1958, many of them written by the Bryants, including "Wake Up Little Susie", "All I Have to Do Is Dream", and "Problems". In 1960, they signed with the major label Warner Bros. Records and recorded "Cathy's Clown", written by the brothers themselves, which was their biggest selling single. The brothers enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in 1961, and their output dropped off, though additional hit singles continued through 1962, with "That's Old Fashioned (That's the Way Love Should Be)" being their last top-10 hit.
Long-simmering disputes with Wesley Rose, the CEO of Acuff-Rose Music, which managed the group, a growing drug usage in the 1960s, as well as changing tastes in popular music, led to the group's decline in popularity in its native U.S., though the brothers continued to release hit singles in the U.K. and Canada, and had many highly successful tours throughout the 1960s. In the early 1970s, the brothers began releasing solo recordings, and in 1973 they officially broke up. Starting in 1983, the brothers got back together, and would continue to perform periodically until Phil's death in 2014. Don died seven years later.
The group was highly influential on the music of the generation that followed it. Many of the top acts of the 1960s were heavily influenced by the close-harmony singing and acoustic guitar playing of the Everly Brothers, including the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Bee Gees, and Simon & Garfunkel. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked the Everly Brothers No. 1 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class of 1986, and into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Don was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2019, earning the organization's first Iconic Riff Award for his distinctive rhythm guitar intro to the Everlys' massive 1957 hit "Wake Up Little Susie".
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Everly_Brothers
I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry
The Everly Brothers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
He sounds to blue to fly
The midnight train is a-winding low
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I've never seen a night so long
When time keeps crawling by
The moon is gone behind the clouds
Have you ever seen a robin weep
When leaves have turned to brown?
Like me he's lost his will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The silence of a falling star
Lights up a purple haze
And yes I wonder where you are
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The Everly Brothers' "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry" is a melancholic song that describes the feelings of loneliness and despair. The song's narrator seems to be experiencing extreme emotional anguish, knowing that his love is not with him. The first stanza of the song incorporates the sound of the whippoorwill, which is a common bird in rural areas of the United States. The bird's mournful cry is thought to bring bad luck, and the singer seems to feel similarly unfortunate. The midnight train's low winding sound adds to the bleak atmosphere of the song.
The second stanza introduces the idea of time moving slowly and being painful to bear. The moon hiding behind the clouds is a metaphor for the singer's loss of hope and joy. He feels that the world is hiding its beauty from him, and he is left to suffer. The third stanza talks about a robin weeping, which is another metaphor for the singer's emotional state. Both the robin and the singer have experienced a loss that they cannot bear, and it has sapped their will to live.
The final stanza speaks of the singer's yearning and uncertainty about where his love is. The image of a falling star lighting up a purple haze is a powerful and beautiful one but offers no comfort to the singer. Ultimately, the song is a poignant reminder of the pain that comes with lost love and the enduring sense of loneliness that can accompany it.
Line by Line Meaning
Hear the lonesome whippoorwill
Listen to the lonely bird that is so sad, it cannot even fly
He sounds to blue to fly
The bird sounds sad and down-heated, like it is too sad to even fly
The midnight train is a-winding low
The train that runs at night is moving slowly and making a low noise
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I am feeling so lonely that my emotions are overwhelming and I want to cry
I've never seen a night so long
The night feels like it is lasting forever, time is moving so slow
When time keeps crawling by
Time is moving so slowly that it feels like it is barely moving at all
The moon is gone behind the clouds
The moon is hidden by clouds and cannot be seen
To hide his face and cry
It seems as though the moon is crying and hiding its face in the clouds
Have you ever seen a robin weep
Have you ever seen a bird cry tears of sadness?
When leaves have turned to brown?
When the colorful fall leaves have dried up and turned brown
Like me he's lost his will to live
The bird feels so lonely and hopeless that it has lost its motivation to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry
I feel so isolated and alone that it feels like my emotions will overwhelm me and make me cry
The silence of a falling star
The peaceful quietness that comes with the sight of a falling star
Lights up a purple haze
The falling star illuminates a beautiful and hazy purple tone
And yes I wonder where you are
I am questioning where you are and why you are not with me in my time of loneliness
I'm so lonesome I could cry
The intensity of my loneliness is so strong that it feels like my emotions will overwhelm me and make me cry
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: HANK WILLIAMS, SR.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind