"All I Have To Do Is Dream" - Chords & Lyrics

Next up is "All I Have to Do Is Dream" which was written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, the songwriting team who wrote quite a few of the tunes made famous by the Everlys. The song was recorded in 1958 and features some excellent guitar work by Chet Atkins.

 

Here are the chords and lyrics for the tune. The Everly Brothers played the song in the key of E.

"'Til I Kissed You" - Melody & Harmony

Here is the melody and harmony part to "'Til I Kissed You". I spent quite a bit of time on this one because certain parts were difficult for me to decipher. I think I got it right, but if anyone finds anything they believe to be incorrect, please leave me a comment.

Like some of their other tunes, the rhythm here is not meant to be followed precisely as the Everlys tend to lay behind the beat sometimes, etc. If you listen to the recording, you'll understand what I mean. Also the 8th-notes are swung on this tune and unfortunately I don't have a way to indicate that in the notation software I'm using. Please don't attempt to sing this with straight 8ths - you will sound like a robot. :)

This sheet does not show the full form of the song since certain parts of it are repeated. If you're looking for the full form, please refer back to the Chords & Lyrics sheet.

"'Til I Kissed You" - Chords & Lyrics

Next up - "'Til I Kissed You" written by Don Everly in 1959.

 

This song is pretty straight forward - and only has three chords (I, IV, vi). Here are the chords and lyrics - the melody and harmony will be in the next post.

"Cathy's Clown" - Melody & Harmony

Sorry for the multi-month delay in posting. The summer in Chicago has been amazing so I forced myself to limit my time in front of the computer. I also was just having a really hard time trying to nail down the harmony for "Cathy's Clown" and wanted some time to sit on it. There's only harmony on the chorus, and it's not very complicated, but I was having a very hard time deciphering the exact harmony notes. So, while I believe this to be pretty accurate I'm not 100% sure with this one. If you have any suggestions for corrections please leave a comment.

Also, the brothers tend to slide into a lot of the notes in this song, so listen for that in the recording. They also sometimes lay behind the beat, especially on the verse, which I didn't really indicate in the sheet music. This sheet doesn't have the full form of the song, as the chorus is the same each time. If you want the full form of the song, check out the Chords & Lyrics page.

"Cathy's Clown" - Chords & Lyrics

This particular Everly Brothers tune has been running through my head all week, so I figured I'd take it on next.

"Cathy's Clown" was written by Don and Phil in 1960. Although the chords and lyrics of the song are pretty straight-forward and simple the fantastic harmony part on the chorus and the interesting rhythm played underneath really hooked me. Don and Phil had a real knack for writing very simple songs that had enough of a twist to make them very memorable. It's a really hard thing to do!

Here are the chords and lyrics. I'm still working out the vocal harmony part but will hopefully get that finished soon.

So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) - Melody & Harmony

Here is the melody and harmony part for "So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)". I believe this is accurate, but if you come across any errors, please let me know. I originally started this one a couple weeks ago and put it aside after getting stumped by some of the harmony notes. I think I'm starting to get a better feel for this because when I took a second shot at it, the process seemed much easier.

I think what made this one more challenging is that there is a mix of parallel harmony and also harmony where one part stays on a single note while the other changes (don't know the term for this).

This song also has a very interesting rhythm to the vocal lines. Many of the syllables are on the off-beats which creates an overall "behind-the-beat feel" to the whole thing. This did make it a little tricky to notate, and I tried to indicate what they did on the recording as best as I could.

Finally, this is just meant to show the melody and harmony parts and doesn't outline the whole form of the song. Please refer to the Chords and Lyrics sheet for the whole song form.

Enjoy!

"So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)" - Chords & Lyrics

This week's tune was written in 1960 by Don Everly and is a beautiful song about lost love. It seems like many of the best songs were written about this topic, and the Everly's canon is rife with them (though of course many of them were written by other songwriters).

Again this one is written in "Nashville Numbers" notation to make it easier for people to transpose the song into a key that might be more comfortable for them.

"When Will I Be Loved" - Melody & Harmony

This song was a lot easier to decipher than "Love Hurts". There's a lot of repetition and most of the bridge doesn't even have a harmony part. I'm fairly sure this is accurate, though on the quick syllable "it" in the phrase "It happens every time" on the bridge, I am guessing that the harmony note just starts on the same note as the rest of the phrase, even though it's really difficult for me to hear.

NOTE: The eighth notes are swung on this song, and unfortunately the basic software I'm using to write these parts out doesn't have a way for me to indicate that. So PLEASE DO NOT SING THE EIGHTHS STRAIGHT. You'll sound like a robot. Also this sheet doesn't show the true form of the song, which repeats the bridge and last verse, and repeats the last line. The chords and lyrics sheet has the true form written down.

Again, if you find there are errors, please let me know. I don't claim that this is perfect - although I try my best to make them as accurate to the recording as possible. ENJOY!

"When Will I Be Loved" - Chords & Lyrics

This week's song is "When Will I Be Loved" written by Phil Everly in 1959. I was originally working on another tune and the harmony parts were stumping me so instead I worked on this song as it's got a pretty small harmony part and was a bit easier for me to work out.

I wrote this chart using "Nashville Numbers" which I usually try to do unless the song changes keys or has too many chords that are out of the key. The original key was B so, if you're not familiar with Nashville Numering, the "I" chord is B, the "IV" chord is E, and the "V" chord is F#. That's it. Three chords. Nice and simple.

"Love Hurts" - Melody & Harmony

So this is my first attempt at transcribing the vocal melody and harmony part. It took me a while and I listened through the song probably over a hundred times! Anyway, aside from a few notes where I really had a hard time hearing the harmony note, I believe it's accurate.

The few areas where I have my doubts:

• The "to" on "to take a lot of pain", the "I've" in "I've really learned a lot", and the "I" in "I know it isn't true". They are all the same note but I cannot pick out the harmony note in the recording. I basically guessed that it follows the melody (a major third above the melody note). If you can hear the note and it differs from what I wrote, please let me know.

• The only other area I'm slightly doubtful is the first few notes of the bridge. I really listened to this section over and over so I'm pretty sure it's right (even though there is a tri-tone interval on the word "fools").

"Love Hurts" - Chords & Lyrics

The first tune I'm going to work on is "Love Hurts", written by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. It was recorded by the Everly Brothers in July 1960 and was released on the Album "A Date with the Everly Brothers". 

Here's a link to the PDF file of the Chords & Lyrics sheet. The Everlys played it in the key of Gb, which isn't really a super friendly key for guitar, so I wrote out the chart in the key of G.

Here's a video of the original version of the song. It was covered by many artists including Roy Orbison and Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris.

Coming up next will be a breakdown of the harmony parts...

Introduction

I am starting this blog because with all the stuff available on the internet, I was unable to find any information on the harmony parts of the Everly Brothers. I thought surely someone has already transcribed the beautiful two-part harmony parts of at least their hits - but no. So, I'm going to give it a shot.

I've been playing music most of my life, but only reason started delving into singing. I love the sound of two voices blending together as well as the Everlys did and have been working lately on covering some of their songs.

My plan is to transcribe Don's and Phil's individual parts. I'm hoping to do about a song a week, although the first few may take longer as I'm still training my ear to pick up the individual parts. They blend so well that it's not always easy to do. There are a few more experienced musicians in town that cover many of these tunes, so I hope they might be able to offer some help if I get stuck.

Also looking for feedback from anyone else that happens to come across this. If you find any errors in my transcriptions, please let me know.

I hope this proves to be a useful resource for anyone trying to play these great tunes.