The Everly Brothers-Lightning Express-Songs
Our Daddy Taught Us
The saddest
record ever made. The grimmest record ever made. This album takes on the
darkest, deepest records made by Sunn 0))),Swans or whoever is dealing with
despair and makes them pale in comparison.
Anyone else is just playing for effect. “Songs Our Daddy Taught Us” is
so hardcore that it defies belief. As an indication here is the track listing;
1. Roving
Gambler
2. Down In The
Willow Garden
3. Long Time
Gone
4. Lightning
Express
5. That Silver
Haired Daddy Of Mine
6. Who’s Going
To Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet
7.Barbara Allen
8.Oh So Many
Years
9. I’m Here To
Get My Baby Out Of Jail
10.Rockin’Alone
(In An Old Rockin’Chair)
11.Kentucky
12. Put My
Little Shoes Away
(Maybe this
doesn’t give too much of a clue away. Yet.)
I’d heard about
this record for a long time before I eventually got hold of it. To me The
Everly Brothers were purveyors of schmaltzy harmonising; good tunes and all the
rest but didn’t have that edge that their contemporaries such as Gene Vincent
or Eddie Cochran possessed. I suppose that the only songs I’d really heard by
them were the big hits ,”Cathy’s Clown”, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, “Bye Bye
Love” etc but that’s not unusual. I wouldn’t have necessarily gone digging
around for much more. As with more than a fair few of the artists or records
that I’ve belatedly discovered I can put it down to hearing John Peel sing
their praises. It must have been a radio interview when he was asked which
records affected him the most on an emotional level, that as well as mentioning
his well-known favourite-The Undertones, “Teenage Kicks”- he referred to this
album by The Everly Brothers as well. (I also discovered Shep & The
Limelites, “Daddy’s Home” through this same route. Another great tearjerker.)
As I recall, Peel said something about not being able to play the Everly
Brothers album without ending up in floods of tears. That was it for me-I just
knew that I’d have to get hold of it.
I was staggered
when I first heard it. Every song is unremittingly dark and despairing. Far
beyond the normal cliché of country songs, the narrative of each track is that
don’t expect things to get any better because they will only get worse. When
matters are at a low point, don’t anticipate that there’s an upturn around the
corner; it’s only going to spiral in one direction-downwards. There are songs
of death, betrayal, loss and destruction. Heartbreak and immense regret.
Sadness and of pitiful history repeating itself over and over again, for
generation after generation. The songs that I used to sing to my children
(badly, I must add, and not with vocal dexterity of Phil and Don) comprised of
such happy ditties as “The Wheels on The Bus” and “Two little Fishes Swam Over
The Dam”. It is no wonder that Phil and Don had such a fractious relationship
if their Daddy sat them down to learn such tunes as “The Lightning Express”.
This is a tale that’ll have anyone with a soul blubbling within thirty seconds.
(I’m not allowed to play it within earshot of Amy as it’s “too sad”). It’s the
story of a little boy who’s about to be thrown off a train as he can’t pay the
fare, but he pleads with the stern yet kindly conductor to be allowed to stay
for the journey. The child has to reach his mother that night as she is dying
and may not last much longer. He begs the conductor to ride the train as “the
best friend I have the world is waiting for me in pain…expecting to die any
moment…and may not live through the day…I want to reach home and kiss mother
goodbye before God takes her away…” . There’s a whip-round on the train by the
other passengers so his fare can be paid but you never get to know what happens
next except that the little boy’s words keep echoing through the conductor’s
head. This is the general tone of the rest of the album. Although it’s such
a good record it certainly isn’t one to be listening to if you feel a bit down in the
dumps.
(I don't usually post clips of the tracks but this is so exceptional...)
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