Phil's Quotes
When we first started recording, it was before rock, so people thought
we were hillbilly hicks. That was something we had to deal with; the girls
didn't think we were cool, although they did a few years later. We had
ducktails and wore peg-leg pants. We looked like rock n' rollers.
In the beginning of rock n' roll, there was always innovation. Artists
were always trying to do something new and something different.
Singing harmony is not the same as singing a part in a choral group,
where you know you're going to have to hit this note and then that note.
There are nuances that change every day. Maybe today you have a slight
cold or voice fatigue, or you've done something and there's a slight difference
in your breathing.
If you lose your concentration singing harmony, then it's lackluster
and no fun to watch.
The '60s weren't my cup of tea. I never bought that philosophy that,
you know, we're all brothers and that'll solve everything. And I never
believed that music dictated the times. I always thought it reflected them.
Don and I are infamous for our split, but we're closer than most brothers.
Harmony singing requires that you enlarge yourself, not use any kind of
suppression. Harmony is the ultimate love.
Whenever people talk about Don and I recording again, which almost everybody
usually mentions, I always say 'Well, there's plenty of things that you
haven't heard! Plenty of things out there to discover!'
In my old age, it's kind of funny - at night, what I like to do is watch
TV when I go to sleep. And what I really like is to put on a Gene Autry
film, because he sings really well. So he sings me to sleep. I grew up
as a Roy Rogers fan, of course.
You couldn't get me to go travel around and sit in a hotel room again.
I have no interest in doing that. So everybody's happy. I am, at 74. Some
people like doing it, but I never was much for that, anyway. It's a lot
of work. So the only thing I miss about all of it is the camaraderie of
the tour, but that doesn't offset the rest of it.
I grew up as a Roy Rogers fan, of course.
My son and I run a string company, and he has a studio there, and I
go down sometimes and we'll record.
It's hard to get fluffed up about love anymore. I've lived it. I try
to avoid it. If I'm extremely fond of a woman, if I think I might really
wind up walking down the aisle again... I go in another direction.
DON'S QUOTES ABOUT PHIL
I always thought I'd
be the one to go first. The world might be mourning an Everly Brother,
but I'm mourning my brother Phil.
I was listening to one of my favorite songs that Phil wrote and had
an extreme emotional moment just before I got the news of his passing.
I took that as a special spiritual message from Phil saying goodbye. Our
love was and will always be deeper than any earthly differences we might
have had.
When Phil and I hit that one spot where I call it 'The Everly Brothers,'
I don't know where it is. 'Cause it's not me and it's not him. It's the
two of us together. I sing the lead, and so I can drift off. Then we'll
come back in together and the whole thing happens again. It amazes me sometimes.
That's the one part where being brothers makes a difference. It's just
instinct. That's the charm of what the Everly Brothers are: two guys singing
as one.
